Auguts

I always choose Liara as my first side-kick and then either Wrex or Tali.  Liara doesn't do so much ass kicking herself as she does suspend everyone in the air so I can shoot them.  I believe Singularity is the skill where she makes everyone float and pulls them to a central point.  This one skill makes her ridiculously powerful and then she still has Lift (which is the same thing but the enemies don't get pulled to a central point),  Warp (this skill makes tough enemies drop as fast as having the game on easy), and Throw.  I know I didn't mention Stasis but I never use this skill since I always feel putting the points towards other skills is more worth while.  Tali is cool because she allows me to open everything electronic and she has some really powerful skills as well.  Especially later in the game when you're fighting nothing but Geth.  Her skill Hacking always makes fighting the Geth so much easier since they attack each other instead of your party.  Damping is especially useful when fighting those Asari commandos.  Neural Shock is always helpful too, especially in combination with Lift or Singularity, against a very large number of enemies trying to rush you.  Finally, Wrex I choose a lot too simply because he is definitely the best at ass kicking.  I always leave him equipped with a shotgun since he rushes right in and hits one or two enemies with Throw and then begins to literally beat the crap out of everyone else around him. 
 
Do you find yourself leaning towards any particular type of ammo?  I find that if I'm not using Inferno rounds that Tungsten rounds are the other type I go to a lot.  Which is why I find it annoying that the games stops giving them to you.  The only reason I still have some is that I always keep some Tungsten VII rounds on me from my first play through.  Although, explosive rounds on a sniper rifle can be very handy too.  But I tend to load the Tungsten rounds into my sniper rifles since it doesn't instantly over heat my weapon and it provides one shot kills for every enemy type.  My weapon of choice is usually the Assault Rifle with Inferno Rounds X, Combat Optics X, and Frictionless Material X.  I find that the Frictionless Material makes it so I basically have unlimited ammo since my weapon never over-heats.  I usually load two Kinetic Exoskeleton Xs into my armor since each one gives a 26% boost to mobile accuracy.  So the combination of the Combat Optics boost along with Kinetic Exoskeletons makes the Assault Rifle very accurate even when shooting while running around like an idiot.  I also find it useful to keep some Shredder Round VIIs for when it's time to fight Rachni.  Also, I usually equip at least one Medical Exoskeleton X on everyone when I fight the Rachni since their poison attacks go right through your shields and will drop your party pretty fast if you're not healing quickly. 
 
Anyways, I'll stop rambling about Mass Effect now :-P

I think having a level for my profile and being able to earn XP is pure genius and actually kind of educational.  It makes people, at least this dude, spend way more time on this site than they normally would.  I wonder if Giant Bomb charges more for advertisement for that reason or if it really makes a difference on how many people log in everyday and stick around for a while.  Anyways, at least I now know the launch titles of the Atari 2600, the fact that the Atari 2600 is a second generation video game system, and that there is a documentary called The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.  Oh, and don't forget that South Park made a parody episode of that documentary called More Crap.  I always wondered what that episode was making fun of.