A fresh remake of the original with enough new content to warrant another playthrough.
The gameplay is fast paced and fun, and suitable for short bursts of playing (essential to handheld games). While they didn't change the original formula of the game, they completely revamped the graphics. All of the original sprites and environments were re-worked into 3D objects, though the gameplay remained 2D. A few changes were made as to the locations of some of the items in the game as well, most likely made to make players, who played the original, explore a little bit more.
In addition to playing the story (much more of a story now) of X, you also can unlock Vile as a playable character upon beating the game the first time. Vile comes with his own unique story (even though it takes place in all the same levels) and more importantly, his own unique style of gameplay. More on that later.
The story gets brought more into the forefront here this time as well. With a full-blown anime style introduction and epilogue, and character/boss dialogue (with great voice acting) you actually can feel like you're involved in this incident in the Megaman world.
Back to Vile now. In his story, Vile uses a completely different play mechanic than X does. Vile has three different attacks that he can use at anytime during a level. One is assigned to the triangle button, another to the square button, and another one to the circle button. Upon defeating an enemy, you unlock a variety of different weapons that can swapped with your already equipped items. Each item has a very different type of attack with its ups and downs and it is up to the player to customize Vile for their own best play style.
The game also includes a full 24-minute long "The Day of Sigma". It's a full anime style video which highlights the origins of this incident in particular and gives a great deal of back story to the Megaman X world. It's unlocked after beating the game.
Overall, the game is a great buy especially now that you can pick it up for discounted prices in most places. Even if you played the original, it's worth it to pick up this new remake.