I remember reading an interview with the devs when MP2 came out that they wanted the areas to feel less “video-gamey”, where you had a fire level, an ice level, etc, and wanted more natural biomes. I feel like they were successful, and despite the reuse of the world through Dark Aether, it feels varied and interesting.

I appreciated the X-Wing book series for acknowledging that, and making them less maneuverable in atmo than X-Wings.