Xelloss on 20 January 2010
If you are playing on 360, I recommend a quick rental of ME1. The story and details and background/side quests are quite interesting and will help you get more into ME2 most likely.
If you are playing on PC, ME1 was available direct from EA store as a digital DL for 10$ last I saw. I actually bought it there myself recently for said price, in anticipation of ME2. I was not dissapointed, the game is well worth the 10$ and if you did not like ME1 combat as much - on the PC you can bring up a "cheats console" and basically just focus on story without worrying about combat if you desire. ( maybe on 360 as well, not sure tbh)