I've played both Mass Effect 1 and 2.
I was totally psyched to start Mass Effect 2 with all the abilities that I ended Mass Effect 1 with. I thought that was a really logical thing to do. Then you die within 5 minutes of starting Mass Effect 2. LOL
I'm not keen on the new power structure of it but it does grow on you. I'm also not keen on probing every new world with the scanner. I much prefer how they did it in Mass Effect 1. Major time suck in 2.
It took me a long time to get to like Mordin Solus. And he's now one of my favorite characters. But he always dies on my suicide mission and I don't know why.
I can be mean to every character there is EXCEPT Tali. For some reason I just can't do anything mean to that character. Every other character it doesn't bother me. I even killed off Wrex Urdnought in one of my replays. And he's too cool for school!
This is one of the best written games out there. I can't wait for 3 to come out.
Sklar