Gameplay and graphics not too different from the first one, maybe a little better. I only played it for about 4 hours so far, so I can't comment to much on the story. I like the weapons in this one better so far, they look a lot funkier too. I think the new characters are a huge improvement, took me a while to decide which one to use. They kept a lot of stuff from the first game and added a lot of new stuff. A lot more options for customizing your character's appearance. I don't like the new way of acquiring ammo and backpack storage upgrades. Looks like they replaced weapon proficiencies with something called Badass Rank, which you get for completing challenges. I'm not a fan of that so far, though I do like that they added more challenges. Pretty sure there is way less benefit from the new system than there was from the old weapon proficiencies/challenges in the first game.
Overall, I like the game so far, but IMO it seems like they tweaked it too much from the first one.
Picked it up yesterday and it seems a little more "cartoony" to me in the graphics department ,but overall game play is pretty much the same with a different story...I only played 3 hours lastnight
Check redbox unless looking for it on computer. Im renting it now, about same from last one but much more details and options. I like it. I playing on ps3