The game was so good that I never noticed any of the problems you say exist. Maybes thats how reviewers experienced it too.

Well, it did feature a love scene. That goes a long way, with me.

i agree, some nintendo games.. *cough cough mario* get free passes

As long as you stick to the story and just the occassional side quests (like the ones on the story worlds) then it's a fantastic game!

It's long enough so it doesn't wear out its welcome and the pacing is brilliant (as long as you do Virmire last).  If you any point stop to work on side quests though, it destroys the pacing and the flaws just start sticking out like a sore thumb.

I think around hour 12-ish of my last playthrough I was done with the game and didn't want to go on but still made myself (think it took about 22 hours).  I had finished the first three story worlds, done some side missions, and was holding off on Virmire until I finished all the side missions.  Finishing those side quests was just a torture I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

I started thinking maybe I was so bitter because I was doing a complete (or near complete) playthrough but I already did a near complete play through of Mass Effect 2 (even got every upgrade I could find and had a large deposit of minerals left over!) and I wasn't ready for the game to end like I was ready for Mass Effect to end. 

That complete play through of Mass Effect was just brutal.  I never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever want to touch that damn game again.

-edit-

So where you can you point out that Mario games have giant flaws?  Oh, you were just trying to troll...

I understand what your getting at, but I think ME is a poor example to rant on.  I personally played Mass Effect through 3 times, put in about 110 hrs, my gf put in roughly 70 hrs, and my brother put in about 180hrs.  None of us ever experienced what your complaining about in terms of frame rate.  We played the game on two separate xboxs and played the game off disc.  I can promise you that there would be no way in hell that I would ever play a game more than a few minutes if its framerate dropped every battle or every intense scene.  So, while your own personal experiences evidently were lacking, this is one gamer who's experiences with the game were 99% top notch.  My ONLY complaint about the game?  That odd wandering eye... so many people seem to have it!  Must be something in the space water ha ha.

I guess that's what happens when PC games end up on consoles. >.>

Those sound like the same problems someone with a low end pc would bump into.

I got 'stuck' in the wall in ME2 twice, and once in a dead zombie. Had to reload the save...annoying. Got worse though.