I will just say this straight. I enjoyed Mass Effect MORE than Mass Effect 2. 
 
Mass effect 2 surpassed my expectations in pretty much every way, (and there's a but) but I was far more interested in Mass Effect than No. 2. I'm not being nostalgic about this either because the day I finished the first one, I  literally went down to the shop to buy the sequel. I see articles on ign and the like that show that ME2 is basically a guarantee for Game of the year though I personally wouldn't even think it comes close to Red Dead or Heavy Rain. 
 
I can't really pin down what it was about ME that made me want to keep playing, maybe the great story or the interesting characters or the fact that I had never watched an episode of Star Trek before but whatever it was, I didn't see the spark re-appear in ME2. 
 
Mass Effect had plenty of problems and boring side missions, are these the only things people remember from the game or what? 
I would love to know if ANYBODY feels the same way, because personally I don't see what all the fuss is about.