[quote name='KingBroly']I've been playing more Single Player as of late, but man, this game is just missing "it." Mass Effect 1 didn't have it, 2 did.[/QUOTE]
I thought Mass Effect 3 was a great game overall, but I'm replaying ME2 on PS3 now, and I have to agree that 2 outclasses 3 in almost every way.
I've come to think that adding encumbrance to ME3 was a big mistake. ME3 may have a lot more weapons than 2, but they're less distinct from each other, and in practice you end up limiting yourself to a handful of low-weight weapons just to keep from destroying your cooldown. I really enjoyed playing with the Argus and Valkyrie assault rifles for instance, but with the weight factored in they just weren't worth taking over the Vindicator. Forget shotguns, they may as well not exist unless you're interested in kissing your powers goodbye.
Between the higher number of squadmates with distinct powers, and the lack of encumbrance limiting what weapons are practical to carry, I'm struck by the huge amount of freedom you have in ME2 to experiment with different character builds, weapon loadouts, and squad compositions. That freedom just doesn't exist to the same degree in ME3, where you feel more shunted toward particular ideal/best choices. Or at least I did.