This was not an improvement in my personal opinion. There were times in the first game that I was stuck. But with a change in strategy I managed to complete them enough to get another upgrade and improve my scores. This is not the case for this game. Maybe because you can sort of grind achievements for money but... I just didn't like this. I will restart my game one more time and try a different upgrade strategy. I'm a little sad that this was the sequel.
Most infuriating part of this game is the bullshit final helicopter scene. The gravity of the situation wears off after the first dozen attempts and becomes more and more annoying. I am disappointed by this sequel.