R2 is completely different from R1. There's very little mindscrews or games to be played, and devolves from a well-played game of strategy to plothax. Though thoroughly enjoyable if you turn your brain off for the duration, it's too different of a feel. By then, I think that Sunrise was running out of ideas (and hoping it would simply tide people over until the new season of Gundam), thinking that the fans would focus solely on the characters and the failed "Gattai" syndrome they tried to get going on. Lots of explosions, though, so it got unnecessarily good reviews from idiots on MAL (including my own 9/10).

The ending was horribly predictable, but it worked.