If I was to rank the Trilogy in different categories it would look something like this.
In terms of Story it's ME1, ME2 and finally ME3 but with gameplay it's the reverse with ME3 being the overall best while ME1 is dead last. This made ME2 a solid balance between the two games as story wise I think ME2 is a little bit weaker then ME1 but, IMO, leagues better then ME3 (and that's not just in regards to the ending) but gameplay wise it's leaps and bounds better then ME1.
ME1 was a SLOG to get through on replay with some rather $#!t gun mechanics, a TERRIBLE inventory system, Painful loading times, lackluster use of squad mates in combat and boss fights that were so unfair and unbalanced that it was like pulling teeth. Not to mention the annoying hacking mini-games, the game giving us all the guns but only making a handful of them actually "Useful" and, of course, the drunk rhino covered in fairly dust disguised as a APC the Mako. Dear God I forgot how frustrating driving the Mako was.
It was so bad that my friends and family would role play as the Squad mates to comment on Shepard's terrible driving (everyone wanted to play as Tali during this because we kept making up these nonsense prayers where she was praying to her ancestors to come out of the tank alive). It made exploring worlds something I actively dreaded instead of looked forward too because and it got really bad if I had to fight a thresher maw.
So, I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to ME1's improvements. Pretty much everything I said is being worked on and just the previews are making me all giddy. While I'm not overly found of the new character models I can live with that if it means having a better game.
Video games, for me, come down to two points to be truly engaging which is a good story and fun gameplay. If a game has fun gameplay but crap story *cough* Mass Effect: Andromeda *cough* or a great story but garbage gameplay, hey again ME1, then I can't enjoy the game as a whole. Games like Tomb Raider: A Survivor is Born, Uncharted 2, God of War (2018) and Shadow of the Colossus rank among my favorite games because they all found a solid balance between gameplay and story. That's why I find ME2 to be the best in the series as it had fun gameplay and a solid story that both still hold all these later while ME1 and ME3, for me, just didn't hold up as well.
So, I look forward to playing this Trilogy all over again with the added improvements. Now if I just be allowed to Romance Tali I will give this Trilogy an 1000 out of 10.
