Mass Effect 1 to play 2?

Do i need to play mass effect 1 to understand whats going on in the second? I'm more interested in the second because its more of a shooter than the first

Overall, yes. If you don't play the first before the second, while you won't be completely confused by the plot, there's a lot of smaller elements that will be affected by it (EX: Choices you make, friends/enemies, etc). The premade choices really take you out of character for Shepard, and in my opinion Shepard made some pretty bad choices in the premade option.

Yes/No

If you Do not import a saved file, it runs a quick back brief on what happened. My suggestion, yes you should, because it is a sequel and there's a lot of information you don't get, that will help you in the second.

It'd be like eating plain vanilla ice cream compared to an ice cream sundae.

Yeah it'll taste good and you'll understand the main storyline okay, but it won't be as much of a complete experience without playing through the first game first. This isn't a mindless FPS, however. Mass Effect (and Bioware games in general) have always put a very very strong emphasis on story.

i think that you should play Me1 before me2.....i mean me1 goes for like $19.99 now and you might not understand the full story if you dont play it

You don't have to, but I would recommend playing ME first. It helps you understand what's going on when you go through ME2. It also adds more characters that you run intro through your travels.

What you do in the first game has an effect in what happens in the second game. If you don't play ME then the computer just assigns the story line for you.

Do i need to play mass effect 1 to understand whats going on in the second? I'm more interested in the second because its more of a shooter than the first

PatChampsXXXVI