I can eviscerate HW2's problems all day, it's a game that made me legit ANGERY. Mission design goes from subpar to HW1 derivative (destroy Hyperspace Inibitors, yawn) to annoying (the Keepers and the Movers, imagine having the Graveyard Dog but essentially worse in every regard) to bothersome (Bentusi Ruins) to frankly infuriating (Thadis Shabbah and the THIRTEEN BATTLECRUISERS meme, the last mission is such a shitshow that I don't even know). Lore alterations should be criminal acts, but what can we do? I prefer to judge every singular piece of entertainment and art first on its own, and only then in comparison what it relates to (prequels, influences etc.). I understand your contempt for it, quite like how I despise Skyrim even in comparison to Oblivion and especially Morrowind, but really - H2 on its own is good. It is unfair to call H2 "essentially crap", it really is a good game and a generally nice experience. And ship design is beautiful too, quite distinct and much more refined than how it was in H1, although I admit some designs in H1 were very nice (the "needle ship" for instance). The soundtrack is also quite good, personally I find it much better than H1 and have it on my phone to listen to whenever I want, incorporating "desert tribal Middle-Eastern influences" rather well for a "vast, mostly empty and tribal galactic space" theme. That aside, H2 has improved on graphical department immensely compared to H1 (art direction is another matter), and since video games are visual media that does matter. yeah, I didn't feel anything of the Homeworld there.
Recently, by which I mean in the last 2 years, I've completed H1 Classic, and enjoyed it quite a bit. It may have seen like I panned Cataclysm as "essentially crap", but I merely said it was "uglier and less good", not that it was bad in itself.