Maybe it's just me but I found DX lacking atmosphere.
I think this was more due to technological limitations than a lack of artistic vision. The colors and the scale of the levels were fairly convincing, but the scenery and characters were too simplistic in appearance to convey any sort of gritty, post-apocalyptica. Despite this it still ran like crap on my former system.
I hope the sequel will have some truly immense open spaces with vast foreboding structures of unimaginable proportions and functionality. The kind of scenery we've all seen in futurist-inspired movies like Blade Runner, Minority Report, and those anime flicks.
That mission in DX2 we've read about concerning a two-tiered Seattle sounds about right.
"Nothing livens up a robotic hymn of doom more than an amazing pair of jugs." - Brak