your teammates keep dieing(question mark) maybe you should supply some support. you know heal them power them up. and don't use the sniper its crap.

The sniper rifle is horrible untill you become proficent with it. Even then it was my least favorite weapon and the last one I got the achievement on. Biotics were the most fun with tech abilitys second imo. The vast majority of the exploration aspect of the game sucks. Its poorly implemented filler. There were a few decent side quests though. Squad AI does suck so be glad the geth AI is not much better.

If your not enjoying the mechanics of the game its worth finishing for the storyline just skip over all the side stuff. I would recomend rescuing your Asari Ally ASAP and micro managing her biotics. If your a Soilder Tali and the blue bitch make for a nice grouping.

Mass Effect was a wonderful game despite all of its many flaws. I have high hopes Bioware will learn from its mistakes and make ME2 a giant bowl of pure awesome with caffine on top.

-Fighting isnt that bad, i dont feel any problem with the sniper.

-Its hard in some points, the IA of your allies its bad, they dont help to much, but, they dont die all the time, you just have to put them in a cover place and they will help you without have to be exposed. And cover is part of the game, you are not going to fight everyone like rambo.

-Radar isnt good, if you want to know where to go, see the map.

-Exploring planets is boring.

With only 4 hours i dont know where you are, maybe somewhere betwen feros/noveria but, belive me, its just the begining, specialy in the "story" part. While you get experence it will be easier, because you will be able to use the powers.

-The fighting isn't random. Every battle has a purpose, but not all battles string the storyline. You don't just kill off random thugs. One day of gameplay isn't enough to be a proper judgement of this game (Seriously).

-The game is not too hard, you just have to control your attributes and your partners. Use your partners strengths to your advantage, and if you are a sodlier it is your duty to provide medical assistance as well as be the frontline for them. Your partners will not be very proficient in very much in the beginning of the game as you go through character development. Every mission, they gain EXP, so use it wisely.

- The radar isn't awful, the world is open ended. There are multiple floors in the game, so the blip could be focusing anywhere. Use clues and think about your actions before you move.

-Exploring planets isn't fun, unless you're a tech.The planets are about exploring and getting minerals,computer programs and more to fulfill achivements. When you start doing missions to take out groups on other planets, it will apply to your soldier class(assuming you're a soldier first).

My advice to you is to keep playing. First impressions with this game mean nothing.

you hit the nail on the problems... and there will be one more problem once you start managing the inventories of each member, especially (my biggest gripe) when you accumulate unwanted weapons and want to sell them.

unless you are going for achievements or other stuff there's no reason to explore the planets, except for a bit of backstory and to check out what are the sidequests.

I never used the sniper, so I didn't exactly have problems with it, but I also played as a soldier and don't recommend it, simply because you end up playing it as a shooter (with some "generic" skills), and it falls short of being a good one.

The main quest is what so stands out the side quests are quite boring yes. But what makes this game also fun is leveling up. After beating the game you can replay it with more experienced characters it is fun because you do things like you couldn't before (like open a door at your first mission that you couldn't the first time because you were a low level that makes the story deeper and more interesting).

And oh yeah if you really find it so boring to explore those planets just do the main quest then.

@ almost all

I get the feeling that you guys just never got the hang of the game. i never had a problem with anything playing ME. The shooting was very intuitive, my teammates would help me out often, and i sincerely liked going about all the planets looking for all the side quests.

And you say that the game is too tough? No way man, if anything you just have to remember not to go gun blazin and you won't have a problem. Maybe you made bad upgrades for your weapons and armor? It's vital that you power those up as much as possible.

I try to take cover, but it's not all that well made of a cover system. I'm working on getting my allies to take cover. I guess I'm still figuring out the game. And what's mainly turned me off from the game is likely all these boring side-planets with absolutely nothing interesting on them. Now when I go to planets required for the main story, I don't even want to explore them because I'm so bored of them.

I disagree with everything except the extra planets. They are only useful if you want to find the artifacts for some extra GS.
That, and the inventory was more confusing than it should've been, but I got used to it by the end.

I don't think anybody can help that you suck at the game though :P