Mass Effect 2 Impressions

I'm 4 hours in and loving this game. I can happily say that my excitement hasn't been let down with lackluster anything in this game. It's almost exactly what I was hoping it would be!

Good:
Gameplay has been tightened up significantly. Fighting feels MUCH more like Gears of War than anything else. Don't take that as a bad thing, but just an inevitable improvement from the first game that played more like GoW with an Army of Two cover system thrown in.

Graphics are improved as well, but most noticeably from the framerate side of things which allows the combat to be as fast as it is. Actually having a large background in the distance really helps with immersion. The first game did this, but not nearly as well.

Conversation wheel is still there and just as awesome!

Loading during elevator rides is gone as well, but I kinda preferred waiting on an elevator to going to a loading screen personally.

Menus have been completely revamped which is a good and bad thing. Good because it makes item management a thing of the past, but bad because you lose customization options.

It's a "mature" game that isn't mature because of swearing or nudity! It deals with adult themes and real emotions!

I love the characters in all Bioware games (HK-47 from KOTOR and Kang the Mad from Jade Empire are just 2 examples), but especially Mass Effect. I have yet to find a character in any medium that I love more than Wrex and Garrus. Is it weird that I talk to them during combat and rely on their powers and skills to back me up?

Bad:
It's evident that they wanted to make Mass Effect 2 more accessible to non RPG players, but they did hurt the overall RPG side of the game. For example, in the 1st you find new guns and armor/armor types everywhere. You're constantly looking for the next best thing by looting. This doesn't have that at all. You have standard armor and guns that you can upgrade, but that's it.

Going back to the armor in the 1st you could take your helmet on or off all you wanted. Just go to the menu and it was there. Here you either set it to on or off in you officers cabin and that's what it is. The LARGER annoyance is with the DLC armor (which is totally badass btw...esp the CE armor) and that you CAN'T EVER take off the helmet. I mainly prefer to play w/o it in the 1st game so that I can see my guys face during conversation, but all I have here is a bug helmet looking back at me.

Ammo....oh ammo. The 1st game had no reloading period. You could overheat your guns and that's it. The developers would say this game doesn't have ammo, but it really does. They call them "heat" cells or whatever, but basically you have to eject them every so many shots and put in a new one. At least the cells are universal and work for all guns except the heavy guns.

Lastly, I can't find a way to turn of my squad mates auto powers. I have them diminished, but not gone. I like to have complete control over my team.

Honestly, the 1st game is my all time fav which trades place every once in a while with Oblivion/Morrowind/Fallout 3, but Mass Effect 2 is already shaping up to be "THE GAME OF NATE." It's so important I even used my own real name.