Honestly, I'm going to have to disagree with you on most of the points Bluemage. First, while ME2 is a bit consoley, it isn't that bad simply because you can rebind your keys to whatever you want. For example, I've got adrenaline rush bound to one of my mouse thumb keys. Basically, if you bind the skills you use most to keys that you're comfortable with, you don't ever really even have to look at the power icons, especially since cool-downs are indicated right on top of your targeting reticule. I do agree that they really could have made the interaction pop-up more distinct though.
In terms of the skill progression, yes it's true that there's less skills and less levels per character. On the other hand, each skill point/rank bought actually feels like it actually accomplished something, especially at the last rank where you get to pick one of two specializations. In ME1, most of the time for the points spent you get some percent damage increase, or some percent damage reduction increase... whoo. In reality, especially if you're not playing straight soldier (which is the only class where you get that many different ammo skills), the skill tree is just more concentrated into significant advancements rather than a whole lot of tiny incremental ones. In addition, every single one of your squad-mates has a unique skill ability in addition to their normal abilities, one of which you can choose to learn later on. All in all, the actual number of usable skills is at _least_ on par with ME1. And this isn't considering the upgrades to tech/biotic skills that can be researched.
In terms of weapons, and battle, I don't mind the change very much, it did get more first person shootery, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. For one thing, it means that each of the weapons actually has a distinct feel to it in terms of how it fires and behaves(You do get more weapon options, just not a whole lot more). In ME1, the only real difference between weapons is accuracy and how fast it overheated. And by the end of the game, it was pretty much 'as accurate as everything else because your skill is high' and overheating was a non-issue because you could pretty much just hold down the button. Between that and how completely different each heavy weapon is from all the others, it actually feels that you've got more weapon choices rather than less. And hey, headshots matter now, which makes me happy. As for inventory management, frankly, it was a chore in ME1, good riddance as far as I'm concerned.
I do agree to a certain extent on the mapping issue, I really wished you could still have the ME1 style maps. On the other hand, the levels aren't really that much more linear than in the first ME, simply because ME1 was pretty damned linear too. And on the plus side, each of the sidequests now actually have their own maps, with their own terrain which makes sense. Rather than the carbon copy 2 base maps and 2 starship maps that showed up everywhere in ME1.
And frankly, the best part of the game is easily the NPCs, your interactions with them, and their associated plotlines. ME2 is really based more around them than anything else. And what you did, and who you helped in ME1 is reflected almost perfectly into ME2. In a word, I'm not disappointed at all, certain things have been streamline, but in my opinion, it just means there's more actual game and less busywork. (No more wandering for half a hour on an annoying hilly planet, searching for random pieces of rock and shiny things. amusing the first planet, not so much afterwards.).
In terms of the skill progression, yes it's true that there's less skills and less levels per character. On the other hand, each skill point/rank bought actually feels like it actually accomplished something, especially at the last rank where you get to pick one of two specializations. In ME1, most of the time for the points spent you get some percent damage increase, or some percent damage reduction increase... whoo. In reality, especially if you're not playing straight soldier (which is the only class where you get that many different ammo skills), the skill tree is just more concentrated into significant advancements rather than a whole lot of tiny incremental ones. In addition, every single one of your squad-mates has a unique skill ability in addition to their normal abilities, one of which you can choose to learn later on. All in all, the actual number of usable skills is at _least_ on par with ME1. And this isn't considering the upgrades to tech/biotic skills that can be researched.
In terms of weapons, and battle, I don't mind the change very much, it did get more first person shootery, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. For one thing, it means that each of the weapons actually has a distinct feel to it in terms of how it fires and behaves(You do get more weapon options, just not a whole lot more). In ME1, the only real difference between weapons is accuracy and how fast it overheated. And by the end of the game, it was pretty much 'as accurate as everything else because your skill is high' and overheating was a non-issue because you could pretty much just hold down the button. Between that and how completely different each heavy weapon is from all the others, it actually feels that you've got more weapon choices rather than less. And hey, headshots matter now, which makes me happy. As for inventory management, frankly, it was a chore in ME1, good riddance as far as I'm concerned.
I do agree to a certain extent on the mapping issue, I really wished you could still have the ME1 style maps. On the other hand, the levels aren't really that much more linear than in the first ME, simply because ME1 was pretty damned linear too. And on the plus side, each of the sidequests now actually have their own maps, with their own terrain which makes sense. Rather than the carbon copy 2 base maps and 2 starship maps that showed up everywhere in ME1.
And frankly, the best part of the game is easily the NPCs, your interactions with them, and their associated plotlines. ME2 is really based more around them than anything else. And what you did, and who you helped in ME1 is reflected almost perfectly into ME2. In a word, I'm not disappointed at all, certain things have been streamline, but in my opinion, it just means there's more actual game and less busywork. (No more wandering for half a hour on an annoying hilly planet, searching for random pieces of rock and shiny things. amusing the first planet, not so much afterwards.).