I agree with most of everything stated here. ME is cool, although the only thing that really erks me is that you are stuck with making some pretty pathetic paragon choices that I would really want to make, but they are a must to keep future options open. I think these storyline choices makes Shepard a wuss. Also, a poor aspect is that you lose alot of stuff when you replay your character, too bad you can't keep the skill stuff. But I beat it on Insanity last month, it takes patient and a cool head.
i like the new Hammerhead, although, it isn't mind blowing and the associated missions aren't that great.
Mining is a complete waste of time, sucks major balls!
I think Bioware is listening to the fan feedback and hopefully will make ME3 much better in the future. It seems they listened for ME2 and tried to make some fixes to the gameplay and incorporate a better first person shooter experience while trying to retain the RPG aspect.
You dont have to be complete paragorn or renegade. A middle ground is easily possible. It just means that it alters stuff in the ME2 and 3.