It does, and it is Im afraid.

Its mainly because of things like this too:

“The main story is the bread and butter of Mass Effect 2 and, thankfully, it delivers.”

Now Ive played this game, and I know for a fact that the main story isnt the bread and butter of Mass Effect 2, the shooter combat is. The “main story” and “side stories” for that matter have little impact outside of being reason to shuffle you from one shooting gallery to the next. Its a common phrase I see when this game is being discussed, “shooting gallery”, and yet biased, gushing reviewers never seem to pick up on it.

Secondly, does it deliver? Well I guess you like spoonfed action with minor sprinklings of story dotted throughout that really advance nothing, effect nothing, and serve only to try and preserve some kind of “cinematic” feel.

If like me you were hoping not only for an in depth plot that in the focus of the game, but also one that carries on where Mass Effect 1 left off, youll be disappointed. The game does nothing but come full circle to where Mass Effect 1 left off.

There is only one thing I describe ME2 as: lazy. It feels as if Bioware just said “we want to save alll the good stuff for ME3 and not make it hard on ourselves by getting things too complicated, so lets just focus on this action this time around”.

Too much of this game is spent moving from one obviously placed piece of cover to the next picking off waves of enemies. Thats fine if you want to play Mass Effect for the same reasons you want to play Gears of War, but I dont. I want to play it for the reasons I was sold on back when this “trilogy” started, and it wasnt for Gears of War combat.

Id personally rate Mass Effect 2 a 6/10, for no other reason that while they showed a lack of ambition and imagination, at least what little they did concentrate on was polished (visuals, shooter combat gameplay, framerate etc.). Shame polish is all surface and nothing underneath though, something they might like to remember if they are planning an epic finale that is about more than just brainless shooter combat.