I absolutely loved the first DOS "Lemmings", but when I tried this it didn't feel quite right. The new abilities didn't seem as well thought out as the previous set set of abilities, I thought they changed the abilities way too much from the first game, it was far more confusing, and the level design wasn't as much fun. I had troubles even remembering what the various characters did, there were too many abilities, and the original abilities were either removed or not often used. I would have loved to see less extreme additions: a few new abilities plus all the old ones.
I can't really point to many specific things that I thought were wrong with the second game, but it just didn't hold my attention like the original. It felt cluttered and confusing, and I quickly lost motivation to beat the levels.
I still play the original "Lemmings" sometimes, and it's hard as ever, lol. I wish I had my old list of passwords for the levels I had beaten, as I don't remember how far I got on the second-to-hardest difficulty, but would like to continue my run.
I would probably buy it if it came to GOG, if for no other reason than massive appreciation for the original game. I might give part 2 another try, see if my view of the game has changed over the past decades since I originally played it as a teen.
"Lemmings" was one of the most unique games ever devised. It was an early example of "every pixel is interactable" like you see in modern games like "Noita". It was really satisfying destroying specific pixels/heights/depths to maximise effectiveness, or building stairs off the final pixel of the previous stairs to gain a bit of extra distance (with a high risk of falling off). Some of the levels would take a long time to wrap your head around and come up with a strategy, despite being able to view the whole level. Extreme puzzle game, and extremely cute game! Some of the finest animations I've ever seen on such micro sized characters (only a few pixels).