Mass Effect 2 is one of the greatest stories told in any game I have played to date. At some points, self-awareness leaves me behind and I feel like I'm playing through an engaging science fiction movie right out of a scene in Fahrenheit 451 where Guy Montag's television allows the viewer to take part in the story. As any effective trilogy, the enemy we face in part one pales in comparison to the enemy in part two, who in turn is simply working for yet another higher being. In Mass Effect 2, however, the stakes were raised. You weren't fighting a dormant enemy waiting to spring forward at the right time, the Collectors were actively destroying entire colonies, and you had to assemble a team or face losing even more.  
 

 
After finishing Mass Effect 2, I looked back on my experience with the gameplay, and the review I gave the game. I stand by my 4.5/5, but owing to the idea that the score would have been far lower if Mass Effect 2 hadn't been able to draw me in emotionally between the characters, the soundtrack, and the story. For what the game has managed to make strides in in storytelling, Bioware has once again faltered in simple AI and pathfinding. On numerous occasions I had to reload a saved game because Shephard became stuck, either teleporting on top of a barrier I shouldn't be able to get on, or simply getting stuck. There is no way to unstick yourself should this situation arise.  
 
In addition, although Shephard's companions have become a bit smarter than the previous batch, they still make rookie mistakes like jumping over a barrier, right into enemy fire. Such a mistake breaks the story for me, because I'm supposed to believe that Zaeed is a trained killer whose skills cannot be matched, yet he apparently refuses to acknowledge basic tactics like taking cover. Not standing still while being shot.  
 
I wouldn't mind if resource mining returned in Mass Effect 3, but I'd like to see less weapon/armor upgrades dependent on me finding random spots in the game.
 
I feel that Bioware is almost let off too much with their games, considering the really basic design flaws that would have killed any other game's ratings. But still, ME2 comes in a beautiful package, and these flaws are easily overlooked when you get into the Shephard moments. My favorite Shephard moment was on the Citadel, helping a Quarian that was accused of theft by a C-sec officer and a Volus. Upon finding the credit chit, the C-sec officer threatens the Quarian and the Volus' only apology is "well she could have stolen it."  Using the Paragon interrupt, Shephard goes in a tirade against the Volus and officer, calling them out for refusing to apologize and threatening to arrest her respectively. The officer rebukes with "how about I run you in for obstruction of justice?" Shephard simply walks a few steps away, turns around and says "you think you're going to run in a spectre?" 
 
Like I said, the flaws become quickly forgotten when matched up against Shephard moments, ie: being a bad ass. Whether you lean towards Paragon (as I did) or Renegade, there are just as many moments that scream "why? Because I'm Commander Shephard, mo'fugga, I do what I want." I did try out a few Renegade moments, and one memorable event was when a guy you're supposed to kill is going on a rant, and Shephard just says "I'm sick of you talking" and shoots him in the face. Taking Paragon does make some bigger fights (I refuse to call them boss fights) more difficult, however, as the Renegade option generally causes a few of the enemies to be killed before the fight even begins. 
 
Mass Effect 3 will be one of those games I buy the day it comes out. I just hope that the opening sequence from ME3 can live up to the reconstruction sequence in ME2.