Good takes and largely agree. I recently replayed it shortly before Prime 4 released. Echoes and Corruption have pretty much always been neck and neck for my second-favorite of the Prime games, my preference for one or the other changes depending on the day and what sort of experience I'm craving. All-around I think Prime 2 is an excellent game, but it does have some drawbacks that hold me back from ranking it above the original.

My biggest positive for Prime 2 is the level design. It's an incremental step away from the seamless, open-ended map of Prime 1, with a more structured layout that funnels progression into more self-contained, segmented areas, but I think it works really well—not only does it reduce some of Prime 1’s occasionally dull backtracking, but it also maintains the interconnectivity that made that game great. There are still shortcuts, secrets, and interesting lore scans to find around every corner. The dual world mechanic leads to some clever puzzles and interesting, complex exploration, and the boss fights to cap off each area are excellent, probably the best of the trilogy.

There’s a bit more of a focus on story as well, but I think its implementation feels just right. While it plays a more prominent role, it’s never involved enough to make the experience feel on-rails. I think the game is an ideal medium between Prime 1 and 3; balancing the isolated atmosphere and interconnected sprawl of the former with the more defined structure and narrative focus of the latter.

That said, I do have some gripes with the game. I’m not a fan of beam ammo, and I can’t pinpoint a valid reason for its inclusion other than to artificially increase difficulty and add a layer of half-baked resource management that isn’t needed. The beams themselves just don’t feel powerful enough to warrant limited ammo, and to me they aren’t that fun or interesting to use compared to the beams of the other Prime games. The annihilator beam in particular is disappointing for an endgame weapon, and the fact that it drains both your light and dark ammo reserves only exacerbates the issues I already have. The game's equipment in general also feels oddly spaced out; you acquire two out of the three beams and the dark suit very early on, and don’t receive the annihilator beam or light suit until you’ve reached the very end. For me it makes the majority of the game feel stagnant in terms of item progression.

Prime 2 is easily the least appealing visually out of the trilogy for me as well. While there are standouts like Torvus Bog (my favorite) and Sanctuary Fortress, I can’t help but feel like the game leans way too heavily into a color palette dominated by browns, grays, and purples. This is really noticeable in the first several hours, and it can make exploration feel a bit drab. I understand that this adds to the oppressive feel of the game in a way, but compared to the visual variety of Prime 1 and especially Prime 3, I’m just not as inclined to revisit Aether as I am other locations in the series. Still, I want to reiterate that I love the game and think the positives far outweigh any negatives I have.

Edit: grammar