I think it's a much better game personally. ME2 just feels so effin small in comparison. The ME1 illusion of having the ability to explore the galaxy is most definitely gone. The planets may have been bland, but they did serve a purpose regardless. And what's up with that pathetic excuse for a story in ME2.
I don't actually agree with that. With most star systems having at least one place you can visit, ME2 doesn't have that many fewer locations than ME1 had, but the content quality for the places you can visit is much higher.
My feeling is that both games have their strengths and weaknesses. There's a lot I like more about ME2, and a few things I like less. I think the combat system feels more natural, for instance, and actually prefer the simplified leveling system (because I spend less time fiddling with it). But I think the scanning minigame is stupid and annoying, and the overall story is rather subpar compared to what it was in ME1. ME2 spreads itself too thin with too many party NPC's with their own personal stories taking up the majority of the game. I mean, the NPC quests are great and all, but it gives the game an unfocused feeling.
Anyway, personally, I'm currently playing through Half-Life 2. I missed this when it came out because I hated the whole Steam integration thing. I still do, but I finally gave in because a) I bought it online, where the integration is a little less onerous, b) this sort of integration is in nearly every game released nowadays, so my resistance seemed a little dated, even though it still pisses me off, and c) Portal really caught my attention not too long ago, and I wanted to check it out. HL2 is quite a good game. It's been a while since I played an FPS, with the previous ones being FEAR and Far Cry. By contrast, HL2 really felt old-school, borrowing more from older FPS games like the original Half-Life, the Quake series, and Unreal: unrealistic weapon damage, the ability to carry massive quantities of weapons/ammo, health packs. But the addition of the gravity gun especially makes HL2 fun, though the vehicles add a bit to that too.
Makes me wonder if Valve is working on another product in the Half-Life franchise currently (there was a major cliffhanger at the end of HL2: Episode 2, but that was released 3 years ago...).
