Pretty much agree with all of that. I'd like them to essentially ditch shooting combat and get the melee to where it should be.
The story was weak and I hated the cheap cutscene cartoons - although that might be personal taste.
One thing I'd like added is some detection and stealth, which I actually think would fit with the overall 'feel' of the game. I remember dropping into the office early on and thinking, cool, now I'll nose around for evidence, etc. then find a way out, but there was none of that and I was forced right back into running - and while running is central to the game, being forced to do it for the bulk of the game felt wrong to me, and made the story feel very constrained. You need to mix up big action levels with other stuff (as Uncharted 2 so ably does, for example) and I think some stealth and detection would go a long way to that in ME Universe.
I think an engine designed more like Assassin's Creed or Uncharted would work better than UE3 engine, which is built around smaller, discrete levels. ME should have massive, expansive levels, with lots of room to really move around - although I will say I was impressed at times what they got out of the UE3 engine with ME.
Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...
