Alternately keep everything to same but reallocate incinerate points to be, 6 points in Incinerate 3 points Cryo Blast, 1 point in AI hacking

This Specialization is incredibly effective against the Collectors, and was easily able to carry me through the Suicide Mission with Zero deaths. To effectively use it, keep distance
and cast spells down your scope (thus increasing range and accuracy of your spells, also
the Viper Sniper Rifle is very effective in tearing down your foes.)

When fighting synthetics, use Garrus and Miranda, or Tali and Legion
When fighting Humanoids and especially Collectors use Thane and Mordin Solus

Miranda Skills
10 points Area Overload
10 points Area Warp
10 points Cerberus Leader (for damage or health up to your playstyle damage seems effective)

Mordin Skills
10 points Area Incinerate
10 points Heavy Neural Shock
10 points Salarian Scientist up to Salarian Genius

Thane Skills
10 points Area warp
10 points Drell Assassin up to Drell Marksman
10 points Squad Shredder Ammo

Garrus Skills
10 points Area Overload
10 points Squad Armor Piercing Ammo
10 points Turian Rebel up to Turian Renegade

Tali Skills
10 points Combat Drone (Attack Drone)
10 points Quarian Machinist
10 points Area Energy Drain

Legion Skills
3 points AI hacking
10 points combat drone (attack drone)
10 points Geth Infiltrator up to Geth Assassin
7 points Geth Shield Boost

First is the lack of the ability to crouch anywhere. Whether I was using it to teabag an enemy or “stand” behind cover, crouching was actually a key game mechanic for me in the original Mass Effect, and one element that I felt made the 3rd person action more playable than its similar competition, Gears of War.
Next, is the addition of “Manual” cover action, in otherwords press A to use cover. While this element has been implemented in other games (Gears) It makes the game feel clunkier and as a whole changes what is Mass Effect into Gears of War plus an RPG element. I don’t remember the last time I had to “use” a wall in real life, thus, walking up to a wall should be the way you take cover, not something manual like the A button. However I can rag on this all I like, the key problem with it, is that sometimes your character will just accidentally pop his head up and get shot, or the A button won’t work properly and thus will cause you not to even take cover. At least with manual crouch I wouldn’t move off of a wall ready to get shot in the face to death.
Third, I don’t know why but everyone seems to have it out for the ability to choose gear and weapons of different types. The original Mass Effect gave you many options as to what you wanted to fight with, and it is missed. There are only about 12 primary weapons in the game and about 6 heavy weapons, which it is sad to say, but heavy weapons are more of a focus in this game than primaries are. I could get a little more in depth and talk about the Carnifex pistol or the 10 shots in the starting sniper rifle – thank god for the viper sniper but it would be safer to say that the biggest problem with weapons in mass effect is that ammo is scarce, and heavy weapon ammo is not purchasable at vendors.
Last, I miss the variety in skills, with only half the skills to acquire my Commander Sheppard’s skill tree is likely to look much like most players trees. That saddens me. I like variety, I like the ability to discuss my class specialization.

These are big, or small problems depending on who you speak with. Some even feel that these changes were all for the better, as they prefer the more “pickup and go” nature of the game. However the game really cries for the same attention the first got, that is the same kind of depth.

But let us end on a good note, here is what I loved about the game.

The amount of combat encounters have been overhauled and might I add, they are fun, and plenty. No more “I got this cool weapon but where can I find enemies” like in the first Mass Effect. I love it, more shooter gameplay.
In the first Mass Effect a player would have to have a teammate in his or her party for 75% of the total game in order to get their respective “ally” achievement, which was essentially their loyalty. 75% of the game did in fact include side quests which had you roaming desolate planets for hours on end. Bioware has done away with this. Let us Rejoice and cry in silence a bit, for exploring those planets was great fun. Although I may miss some of those good times driving around, fighting thresher Maws and running through husk filled tunnels I do not miss the necessity of 4 playthroughs just to get squad loyalty, especially when it is four playthroughs of 75% completion. I will say though, in the original mass effect, every achievement you earned truly felt like an achievement after you got to 28 achievements. Thank you Bioware for adding Loyalty quests in Mass Effect 2, they are fun, help you learn about your squadmates and allow you to have a good time while actually impacting the course of the in game storyline.
Next up is the quickspeak, that is, in a conversation the ability to perform a Paragon or Renegade option by pressing LT or RT on the xbox controller, in otherwords the conversations become even more interactive if they are going violently, who knew in game conversations could get MORE fun.
Not to mention Twice the number of party members and romance options, and the return of a few of my favorite characters such as Garrus and Tali, though sadly Liara will not join your squad.

Anyway, I went two playthroughs, both in insanity, in a total of Saturday to Saturday of 1 week. The game is beautiful, I couldn’t put down the controller and quite frankly I would buy it again for the PC, just to play it through with the small differences the PC offers control wise.

Everyone who reads this should pick up a copy, and mind you, if I can complain as much as I did, I must really love the game to tell you to get a copy.

This is my old game analysis, I intend to reanalyze the game at a later date. I also am going to repost my build for the Engineer class that got lost to the world when I had server failure.