I finished ME2 last night.
Yeah. I really felt underwhelmed by it compared to ME1.
1) Inconsistent logic. I played my Shepard as a Paragon, so it made no sense to me that I would join Cerberus. I could see it if I had played renegade, but I didn't. So the entire premise felt like a contradiction to how my character would act.
Liara switches from being a somewhat timid archaeologist/scientist to a bad ass gangster/information collector.
Joker making a comment about almost breaking his thumb on a joystick or something early in the game. Then at the end of the game, you see him standing there shooting a giant rifle that would probably shatter his fucking arms with the recoil. It's a little thing, but to me it just felt like they weren't paying attention to their own world's rules. But made for a good cut scene though!
Wrex's story was the only one I felt made sense in the context of the larger story.
Which brings me to
2) Dumbing down - The rpg "mechanics", as they were, were non-existent. I won't say they felt slapped together, but they did feel like an afterthought. It really felt like an attempt to pander to the shooter crowd.
3) It's the first full sequel I've ever played that felt like a gaiden. The entire story felt like an excuse to just start you over from the beginning and gather a crew. That and simply a set up for ME3.
Overall, it felt like a huge missed opportunity. Sequels are supposed to build and improve on what came before, and this just didn't.
I put in about an hour of ME3 last night - I got to Mars and met Liara. It was nice to see more RPG like mechanics come back, but again, that story logic isn't there.
What is Anderson doing on Earth if he's the Ambassador to the Citadel? No explanation given.
Shepard stops the Collectors from taking colonists ..... and they reward him by grounding him and giving him a desk job when they know the Reapers are supposed to be coming?
I don't usually let game logic bug me, but things in ME just seem to jump out and scream "THIS IS DUMB".