I got the game when it came out and I was most impressed with it. Here's my review:
PROS*Outstanding story. Far more emotional this time around. Not just the main quest this time. The party character side missions are much more thought out this time and they do a great job at fleshing out their back-stories and personalities.
*Much larger improvement on combat. It feels a lot more like a third person shooter this time, but they still manage to keep the role playing game elements to it. Great improvements to biotic powers. The biotic charge move is my absolute favorite of the bunch.
*You really get a sense of emotional attachment to the other characters. Especially in the romance sub-plot. It's not lustful this time, you actually feel like you can connect with whoever you decide to hook up with. (I started to get annoyed with Ashley). My next play-through I'll play as the female Shepard; just to see how different that experience is. I hooked up with Tali...
*It's so much more fun to play the sequel with your character from the first game. I was truly surprised to see the familiar faces and results of my actions. And I'm not just talking about my first game team, but characters from the side missions as well! I kept Wrex alive so it was just awesome to see him as a big clan chief on the Krogan home-world.
CONS*The planet mining is very tedious and boring. I know I need those resources to upgrade my stuff but come on... they could have tried to make it slightly more entertaining.
*The end boss just weirded me out.
*Occasional bugs or glitches here and there.
But I can easily overlook all of that.
MY FINAL MISSION OUTCOMEFirst play-through, I got my team's loyalty so I managed to keep my whole team alive but I lost half of the Normandy crew because I didn't go through the Omega 4 Relay immediately. And I kept my Shepard alive as well. But I screwed something up on my second play-through on the same file so I'm doing it over and making the same decisions I made; then I'll work on another file for a different experience.
This is how I did it:
Vents: Legion
1st Squad Leader: Garrus
Biotic: Samara
Crew Escort: Thane
2nd Squad Leader: Jacob
Final Party Group: Garrus and Tali
EDIT:
Collector Ship: Blew it up
FINAL THOUGHTSI think it's safe to say that we both already have a contender for Game of the Year and it's solid competition for the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII. I CAN'T FREAKING WAIT FOR THE THIRD IN THE TRILOGY!!!!
SCORE10 OUT OF 10[/B]