I just finished this game. I believe I had pretty much the same experience with it as I did with the first game. Same strengths, same flaws. Sometimes better, sometimes worse.
Besides 1 and 4 I played a bit of 3 on PPSSPP, but never finished it. I think they're fun despite the retarded stories and braindead balancing. Have you guys played any of them?
Completed the main story, but have some hard and all the exreme skirmishes left to play. Some squad stories, too. I think those are probably the coolest addition to the formula (speaking od addtitions, I never really used the ship, it seems almost completely useless). Making you play through short missions, where you only get a handful of characters and learn more about them in order to get their true potentials is a cool idea. In general, there is a ton of extra content, which is nice, but I have to admit I don't think I'm going to do most of it, because I am simply tired of the gameplay. Even cheesed through the last few missions. I'm at a point where I just read the briefings and don't want to play anymore. I read somewhere that there's a true ending or something like that, so I will probably just get that, complete a few more extra mission and then be done with the game for good. Put around 50 hours into it. Might get up to 60. All in all I would say this was a pretty good game, but less memorable than the first one. Probably because back then it was more unique. Will we ever get a game where we play as the Imperial Army?
Also shocktroopers have the best girls. Vancey, Viola, Emmy, Fleuret, Ferrier and Lily are all great.