I think my final score for this game will land into the 8.5 to 9 area. It is a step up from its predecessor, but the leveling system and the mineral gathering is pretty bad. They cut alot of the ability leveling and you are very limited on weapons. I still love the game though. WAY better than the 1st.

Mass Effect 2 is great, i don't know its hard to find the word to explain it its almost like its not definable with anything ever done before.

My thoughts:
I'm about 25 hours in, and have 7 crew members and 3 loyalty quests done. So I'd like to think I'm approximately halfway through the game, give or take.
Here are my thoughts in a pro/con format:
Pros:

• Graphics. Jaw-dropping. Are there better games out there, visually? I am sure. However, no game could argue that they have the size or scope of what Mass Effect 2 provides. It provides great graphics, but over dozens of unique landscapes.
• Story. One of the few sequels that takes a fantastic storyline from the original game and expands and actually improves upon it. It does great justice to ME1 in terms of codex entries and understanding of how the world has changed. It does it in a very respectible way. Honestly, ME2 begins like ME1 ends - ME1's strongest point was the last 3 hours, and ME2 has been its strongest during the first 3. This is the most epic RPG, ever. I've been playing RPGs for almost 20 years and can say this has the best crafted story in history.
• Sound. Right up there with ME1. The audio soundtrack is just as incredible as ME1. ME1 was a 10/10 for me, and ME2 continues with some incredible tracks.
• Presentation. Jaw-dropping. The dialogue/discussion format has been ramped up to be even better. ME1 was fantastic, and ME2 is even better. Not only do you have paragon/renegade-tinged answers, you now have QTE events that are very time specific that ramp up the action. Paragon leads to usually saving a life in a split second. Renegade usually results in a hole in someone's head. Also, the fact is that the characters are far livelier. They move around, and act more genuine in their emotions and movements. Shepards VA isn't the tops, but everyone else is AAA.
• Combat. Combat is lightyears ahead of Mass Effect 1. Screw the haters that may dislike it, its much better than ME1. Combat actually matters, and I find myself using tactical commands far more in ME2 than I ever did in ME1. Setting up ambushes, and utilizing shooting angles are very important. Especially in the battle at Helstrom.
• Side Quests. Much improved from ME1. I liked the traveling in ME1 in the Mako. I guess I was one of the few that did. However, it did get repetitive when you did it the same way 20 times in a row. In ME2, every side quest is unique, feels incredibly varied, and leads to very good story arcs.
• Weapons. Some are arguing the new way they pan out. I really like the way they handle it. Weapons are actually different. I just got a new SMG and it handles hugely different than the one prior. Yes, it'd be nice to have a few more, but the differences between two guns of the same type is a great depiction of what firearms should be like. Plus the Cain launcher is insane! I used it on the Thresher Maw, and had him beat in under 2 minutes with it!
• Frame Rate. ME1 had problems. I didn't mind them, but I will admit that the frame rate, jaggies and texture pop-in were issues in ME1. ME2 has virtually none of that prior to installing the game. In 25 hours, I have seen 0 pop-in issues, and maybe only one or two times there was a drop in frame rate.

Cons:

• Credit acquisition. I really like the new system, but so far, the only way to earn money is via missions and quests. As much as that's great, you need a lot more credits than what this brings. ME1 gave you too many credits, ME2 gives you too little. I'd like to see them add as DLC, some sort of resource market that allows you to sell excess resources (or buy them) for creds.
• Ship Upgrades. So far, 75% of the upgrades have been mission-specific ship upgrades and do not do anything really helpful for mineral acquisition, probe quanity increases, or fuel usage. It'd be nice if they did. I'd like to see a 3rd upgrade for the scanner to allow for easier resource acquisition.
• Loot. Lack of loot from baddies is sad. I'd of liked to see some loot, even if its just bounties from killing enemies. You get creds from scavenging some enemies, why not some of those that you blast?
• Loading times. I think this is a trade-off with the lack of frame rate issues in the game. I don't mind the loading times in return for the better frame rate. However, its still something noticable. Every time you transition from one major area to another, there is about 10-15 seconds of loading. Fortunately, loading outside of those loading areas, its almost non-existent.

Overall: I'd give this game a 9.5 if ME1 was a 9.1-9.2. ME2 is 80% of what made ME1 awesome, 15% improved upon ME1 in various ways, and 5% worse. If ME3 improves upon ME2 in the same way that ME2 improved on ME1, then we may not have just the RPG of the generation, we may have the RPG of forever.

Personally, this is the best game on the Xbox 360 if not one of the best of the past 2 generations. I can only think of maybe 2 or 3 RPGs I've played that were better at their time of release. Its just that good.

There is some emotional benifit to doing so...like seeing a character, who you could have killed in the last game, "return" as the leader of clan, and help you in this game.

I'd do a run through of ME1. If you don't do a ton of side quests, you can usually beat it in 20-30 hours. A full playthrough is right at 40hrs.

The benefits would be that you really understand the storyline, and you'll see a lot more characters from ME1 based on your choices. I'm on Illium and have met 3 characters from ME1 on this world alone. Crazy stuff.

My highlight of the game was seeing Wrex, as he was my main hommie from the first game...

My impressions of the game are overall pretty good... I suppose i should add some detail to that.

To start off with regarding the graphical fidelity of ME2 made my jaw hit the floor. It compares favourably to the cutscene trailer that runs from the first ME if you leave it on the the press start screen. I'm not joking take a look i'll wait.

One of my gripes with the game to begin with was the extreme shift in gameplay from RPG that uses shooter elements to shooter that uses RPG elements. When i started out the game felt more like gears than the first ME and being someone that finds games like that rather awful it was offputting. Though after a few hours adjusting to this in both mindset and expectations I found it rather quite good. Congratulations to Bioware for making a shooter that i enjoy playing.

Another rather petty gripe. Being a poor student i have a SDTV and this makes the text barely legible when i'm sitting close to the tv and anything further than 2 or 3 meters makes it nothing more than a white blur. This is one of the things that really does detract from the conversations for me as sometimes i have no idea whatsoever what each option says and if i take the time to figure it out it breaks the flow rather of conversation rather jarringly.

In conclusion i have to say that Mass Effect 2 is an amazing shooter with a brilliant story and amazing characters and while it was not what i was expecting going in it has pleasantly surprised me.

Well, I have said this before, but you have your own official thread! And I would not have expected anything different from Selnor...

But anyway, the game is a rubbish RPG, the lack of EXP from killing enemies is rubbish, and I preferred the health system of the last game. The cover system isn't that great and the loading times are long. I am also not sure if weapons and armour have any affect, and I would like to be able to buy some!

BUT, the game is awesome, though I wouldn't put the graphics above Uncharted 2, they are still fantastic, and the voice acting is 2nd to 1. The game is probably too streamlined, but I think the powers work slightly better so far, even if I would like to be able to upgrade things properly with greater choices in my personal upgrades. The characters are more interesting and with less defined roles for each character (and more importantly, no character achievements!), you have incentive to play with different characters each time, though Thane might be a permanent member because he just looks awesome.

I am having a lot of fun with it, even if I would like some more exploration. The combat is much better, though sometimes lacking in a little variety, the larger set pieces already deliver. I am not that far through the game though, I just had a power cut, but otherwise I would be racing through the game, it is certainly the best game of 2010.... so far

Sadly my game keeps freezing every single time I start the mission to recruit the archangel, I am not amused. >.

game of the year in January???