Oh my god I love this game. My initial reaction was bad, because it I hadn't played the first game and it seemed like a shooter with a shallow leveling system. I have played for about six hours and I'm completely addicted.

First off I love the characters and how they tie in with the story missions. I can put any combination of characters in together and somehow their dialogue makes it seem like the mission was made for them. It's completely seamless and the personalities come through so well without them being forced on you. I didn't touch Zaeed and I knew nothing of his character to the point of him being a non-entity, but I used him for a few missions and suddenly he is rich with personality and dialogue.

I also thought the missions would be just run in and gun, and even though to an extent they are, they have enough twists and variety to keep me on for ages. Going back to the seamless point, I was so impressed by the way that you could do any mission in any order, and there would never be plot holes or sections where a character should of had dialogue but they weren't there, or an existing character didn't speak because they were intended to be obtained later. In that way, the game seems perfect.

I'm not a great fan of the skill wheel, and I find it hard to stick to a Paragon or a Renegade because some options just seem too right to ignore it for the one you would have for your alignment. My two gauges are roughly the same, but maybe the game was designed so that could happen, and you aren't supposed to have a set alignment. It doesn't matter, this game rocks. Bioware is easily my favourite video game company, from Baldur's Gate to Neverwinter Nights to Mass Effect.