Picked up the game yesterday, and spent a few hours in Albion. Here are some initial thoughts:

The Good

Love the graphical style, which is very similar to the original. The characters' feet aren't quite as big, but that's not a bad thing. The cities feel very fleshed out, and real, at least in a fantasy story way. It makes the world quite deep and rich, and you feel the NPCs carry on their lives when you are off slaying hobbes.

Combat works well. The one button per style thing flows pretty naturally, and, at least early on, you can kind of button mash if you don't want to keep using the same attack over and over. There is enough of it to know that it is a major part of the game, but it is spread out enough so that you almost welcome it when there is some.

Allowing everyone to dress up their character how they see fit is a huge bonus. My chick is already is hot pants, mid-calf boots, and an assassins coat. With her dark hair and makeup, she is not unpleasant to look at hour after hour. Funny thing here: the devs felt that it was a problem in F1 that everyone just got the same armor, and looked alike. But, as it is a single player game, how many people saw other players' characters? Same thing here, as when you multiplayer, you just look like a henchman. Still makes me think they designed a single player MMORPG.

And, of course, your dog. Is he a major impact on the game? Yes and no. You could easily ignore him and play through the game without a problem, but, when he's not on screen, it is a bit of a concern. You'll stop and wait, then call him, then maybe toss him the ball before you go on your way again. It's not that you need him, but he does quickly become a part of your game world.

The Bad

The worst part of F2 has to be the inventory system. Press > to get in. Move to category. Move to item. Do whatever. Once it is done, do you stay in the inventory? No! It pops you out, and you need to navigate it all over again. If you want to sell things in a shop, you have to go down the full path for each and every item. That, my loyal readers, is a pain. Oh, and let's not forget the "You just sold a " box that pops up after selling/buying/etc. Look, I know this is a Microsoft product, and that Windows loves to pop up boxes telling you what you just did, and making you click something to get it to go away, but did such a design philosophy need to carry over here? Yes, I just sold a piece of rancid beef jerky. I know that. You don't need to tell me that, then make me click A to make the notice go away, just so I can be thrown out of my inventory before I can sell again. Are the devs and testers scared to tell Peter that not all of his decisions are buckets of rainbows? Patch, please!

Also, it's still annoying, as it was in F1, to have to hold a trigger to collect any experience. Just let it flow to me. Seems old school.

Finally, while I only did the blacksmith job, it really wasn't the most exciting thing ever. Mix in a few different button presses next time. Though someone did comment on how interesting it was that such a hero was also a great blacksmith. Just background banter, but cool anyway.

The no money for quests thing is a novel idea, but I can't decide if making players take jobs opens more of the game world to more players, or forces them into it. The difference is subtle, but definite.

Lots more to do and see. There may be an update or two along the way, or simply a post-mortem after the final boss is dispatched. In the mean time, I'll be looking for your floating bubble in my world!