I don't hate the tonal shift in this game like others do. The Gothic tone made for an interesting change from the fantasy Arabian theme of the first game, and it makes sense from a story perspective too. I'm glad it was only a temporary change, but I also feel that without it, the SOT trilogy wouldn't have been anywhere near as memorable. I'm not so fond of the angsty Prince, or the hyper-sexualised female characters and enemies, which are just eye-roll inducing these days and make the game feel more juvenile than it really is. The atmospheric music pieces aren't as good as the first game either, and they get repetitive, as does the heavy metal that plays during every combat encounter.
The new open-ended design, and ability to explore environments in both the past and present is a cool concept, but also kind of feels like an excuse to pad the game with backtracking. Which it does. Relentlessly. But the level design is excellent, and the way you become familiar with each area over time and start getting through them quicker is very satisfying. The in-game map is terrible though, so it can sometimes get disorientating.
The combat mechanics have been improved, with more attacks and more ways of dealing with groups. That's great, but in turn there's a much larger focus on combat, with very few moments of downtime. Some enemies just aren't fun to fight, like the Ninjas, and a lot of the time I just wanted the combat to hurry up and end so I could get back to platforming. Fights you're not enjoying can go on for so long that you may find yourself wanting to echo the Prince's words that he often says during combat: "I grow tired of this." Unfortunately the dodgy camera was not improved, and is just as annoying as ever.
This is a better PC port than Sands of Time was, but still not good. Controller support is better, but the audio will almost always desynchronise during cutscenes. Sometimes, the audio for voices doesn't bother to play at all. Expect these problems, because they seem very common.
This one is harder to appreciate, especially at the start, and also when you're nearing the end... The last quarter of the game really tested my patience, because the backtracking and combat go into overdrive. Yep, it's undoubtedly more flawed than Sands of Time. It's still a good game though, if you give it a chance.