Upfront, I am a Yes...but with caveats, it depends on what you're looking for in a game.
I played dozens of hours in the first AFE game. That first game was one of those kinds of games where I was chomping at the bit for any amount of news related to it coming upon its release. However after playing it, while I enjoyed the first, it didn't live up to my expectations.
AFE2 clearly has a bigger budget, where they spent it well in some places, but cheaped out on others. We finally have NPC animations when they talk...however their voice-over work is mid at best, bargain bin the rest of the time. My friends and I are still not sure if some of their voices are AI, or at the very least, AI written.
After beating the main story, I can say that it is far less in scope compared to the first. To be fair, the first game literally had a companion novel that was canon to the franchise. AFE2 does not have that tie in and I do think it suffers due to it. I'd describe the story as very much a "mission of the week" for the colonial marines, much in the same way a crime show might resolve a case in like a week. And I try to ignore gendered politics in gaming, but it is rather unnatural in this case where there's literally only one recurring male character in the whole story, if you don't count the armory clerk. It doesn't really take away from the story, but the exaggerated testosterone energy IS what makes the colonial marines sorta iconic in the original Aliens film. Its just not balanced well here.
ALL THAT BEING SAID: I do believe the meat and potatoes of what you'll be playing in the game is an improvement from the first.
Enemy spawns and pathing have definitely improved to be more dynamic, and scripted hordes are mixed in with far more dynamic ones. Enemies can spawn behind you which makes the motion tracker much more of a tool to pay attention to, compared to an aesthetic gimmick in the first game.
Progression is a bit slow at first, but now the challenge card systems is permanent: you dont burn cards when you activate them. What this means is, once you collect a couple you'll just start running them in every match and you can really start to ramp up your leveling quickly. You can also choose to matchmake with challenge cards turned off too if you just dont want to deal with some of the wacky ones.
I'm not sure what others are hearing, but for me most of the guns do sound punchy most of the time. The Smart gun sounds MUCH better from the first game, especially in the ADS state (some guns sound louder when in ADS compared to hipfire). While the default Pulse rifle doesn't have the iconic sound, you do unlock the OG Pulse rifle at level 10, and the new M44 variant from Aliens Romulus at 12 I think, And they have the iconic growl.
Ability perks appear to have expanded potential, alongside the addition of the "build a marine" specialist where you can mix and match abilities from all the classes. They've also added an "overclock" system akin to Deep Rock Galactic's overclock system when you max a gun out. These overclocks can really alter the performance of some weapons, which I feel will be seriously necessary for the higher difficulties.
I dont want this review to get too long, so I'll finish it up with: If you like squad horde shooters, Aliens, or were a fan of AFE2, I think you will enjoy this. So long as you're willing to overlook some of the cut corners of production in the writing/story, because for me those elements are game breaking. If story is THAT important to you, than AFE1 is going to be superior. Oh and this time Horde mode was released at launch with 3 maps which is a nice cherry on top. (last time we had to wait months for 1 horde map, that wasn't even good).
I have yet to truly sink my teeth into the difficulties, but from what I've tried the friendly fire turned on is going to take some getting used to... I might update my review for that.
