This Action Packed Game Is Really Good
See, when last I teamed up with Commander Yukiko Shepard of the SSV Normandy, she'd just saved all sentient life in the Milky Way from a vast, intergalactic threat. Thanks to her unflagging sense of ethics, she made the difficult choice to sacrifice human lives and resources and protect the Galactic Council, outer space's xenophobic ruling body. The Council's response? They ignored Shepard's warnings of a greater threat, sent her off to deal with trivial non-issues in far space, and even revoked her credentials once things hit the fan. That's gratitude for you.
Where the story of ME2 shines, though, the actual game portions are slightly tarnished. The original ME threw a lot of players for a loop, because it looked like a third-person shooter but still placed a heavy reliance on invisible RPG mechanics. It boasted a significant experience system, myriad stats to customize, and tons of inventory to juggle. BioWare based the design of the sequel on player feedback (especially their complaints about that dire inventory system), but they may have gone too far in cleaning up the action; where ME was an RPG that looked like a shooter, ME2 is more of a shooter that has vestigial RPG components. The crunchy role-playing underpinnings of the original are almost entirely gone, replaced by a squad-based shooter that happens to have character classes and a lot of player-driven dialogue.