From the looks of things Mass Effect is so far ahead of the curve that Pachter may just be right about this one. The trailers and live streans dont lie, voice acting, body movement and interactive conversations are miles beyond anything else in the industry. The same could be said about Mass Effect 1 but there were some limitations there plus the mediocre combat dropped it off anyone's radar but the fans of action RPGs. Combat looks great now and as all reviews agree it could very well be the best looking 360 game so far. The story is supposed to be slighly disappointing, but when you say that about a Bioware game then it still means the story is better then that of 99% of all other videogames. If critics get to decide who wins GOTY then Mass Effect 2 is a very strong contender. If gamers decide who gets it then not so much, Mass Effect is known as too much RPG by most gamers and only sold over 2 million copies.