So I played for like 2 hours. Built a 2nd base, shot down 2 ufos, did 1 random alien hunt, 1 downed ufo, 1 office building raid. Playing on veteran except dynamic ufo health turned off, because ufo hp scaling to how many interceptors you bring is retarded.
Feels very much like x1. The previews for firing angles are nice, and I think the ui is slicker in general. The office raid was at least interesting, since you need to get in, loot shit and then get out before the swat teams arrive (they're way too strong and too many to fight, at least early on). For the alien hunt the last alien decided to hunker down in a broom closet, which is always annoying. AI felt a bit better than I expected, more flanking, did some hit and run. At the same time, ufo hulls still seem indestructible and los over elevation differences are just as fucked as x1. It also sure seems like ufo breaching will be the exact same thing. And you still get the trap option of not doing downed ufo missions in exchange for cash (drastically less compared to just doing the mission).
Interception minigame seems to be exactly the same as x1, although there's also a big popup going ACHTUNG UNFINISHED CONTENT but at this point I assume this means "I want to make the sprites sharper and keep everything else the same".
It is good, just as x1 is good but still profoundly disappointing. It's just so hard to believe this guy has spent 7 years to make this. The original project timeline seems to have been for the game to release just 2 years after the original, which would explain the limited scope, but....
The loading times are also really slow for some reason, which is very annoying.