Yeah I see what you mean about the toy-ish look of some things, sorta reminds me of the earlier days of S1. While the first game's characters are far more matte and similar to the steel-and-concrete halls of Kaida HQ, especially retaining the mostly matte concrete look, the new characters look a lot more plastic.

Definitely agree with the pacing, it feels a little like S1's tactical mode is more similarly paced to S2 than the rest of S1, but overall it's probably one of the most promising releases I've kept an eye on to date.