So I started this about three hours ago, and am about to dig back in.
I have to admit that I was a little negative about the game, and started with a more critical eye having read about the "refinement" of the role-playing mechanics and what not.
Three hours in, I slowly let go of my apprehension begrudgingly. Yes, they've made a lot of changes to the already light -- and somewhat nonsensical -- RPG system from the first game, but the game is quite excellent so far.
There have been a few wow moments already, but not the type you'd expect. So far the hair raising moments have been all cinematic... either delivered via custscene, or expertly placed along your path.
One of the money shots comes very early in the game. This isn't really a spoiler, because this plot piece was revealed very early on, in the first E3 trailer, but I'll spoiler tag it anyway:
It is the part when the soon to be destroyed Normandy is under attack, and you run upstairs to make an escape from an enclosed area on fire. As soon as you get upstairs, you can only gawk at the beautiful star and the space beyond, through the huge chunk of metal missing from Normandy's roof. It was an incredible moment for me.
The game's action feels as good as any shooter I've played in recent memory. This isn't Mass Effect 1, or even Bioshock... this actually feels like a proper first person shooter. Some of it is definitely more satisfying than the average shooter, because the physics are great and the graphics are
excellent. Seriously, this is the best I've seen a game look in the Unreal engine.
It also runs like a dream. On my old 8800GTX, the game is running very smoothly, even when the physics are going insane. The funny thing is that the game looks superior to ME1, yet runs infinitely better.
The sound effects also have a real bite to them, which again, makes the shooting elements so much more fun.
The physics are really amazing, and make some of the biotic effects look and feel really sweet. There was a bit of a wow moment early in the game while fighting some mechs (the Geth), when one of my companions used his telekenisis power to pull, and the one of the mechs sorta floated through the air.
The games seems to be doing a good job of pinpointing where you are shooting your enemies. Headshots, shots on the leg, abdomen etc., all seem to have their own own little animations and sound effects.
There is a tactical part to the game. Like before you can pause and issue action or placement orders, but it has been refined (for the better) to the point where they could teach Rainbow Six: Vegas a few lessons.
So far the RPG elements are a bit thin, but you still level up yourself and your party, though the skill choices seem to have been halved. You can also do a lot of customization on your armor and stuff, which is a nice distraction.
Something cool is that Shepard no longer comes off as a complete asshole. When you pick the the more considerate conversation lines, he actually comes off as genuine. That was actually one of my major complaints from the first game.
Maybe it was the near death experience.
But the game's cinematic quality is incredible. If this keeps up, I'd say this is the definition of a story driven shooter.
It has to be said, that the game probably benefits (like Dragon Age) from the many delays. Dragon Age was delayed to match the console releases, and ended up being beautifully polished on the PC.
ME2 was delayed to let Dragon Age have the limelight, and has ended up being spit shined like anything.
It surprises me because Bioware have such little experience with this style of a game, and the shooting aspects are top notch.
edit:
The hacking and stuff has been changed, even though it was pretty fun in the first game. I guess they thought the game needed some newer minigames, and they are pretty fun.
