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Spoiler Warning

No, I don't like the Normandy part, I said that. It’s right there. I took Ashley and Garrus with me on the final mission (terrible team, it was an emotional choice) and wouldn’t you know it Ashley managed to get outside the solar system. That doesn’t make sense; that’s silly.

But no, the ending was great, and here’s why:

The game is based around you making decisions to affect how the galaxy operates. But all of this is on done on the foreground of an endless cycle of death and destruction, a cycle that is as old as the galaxy. This current cycle, thanks to you, runs the risk of messing up the larger cycle. Your actions allow one of three outcomes. There is the Illusive man’s dream of controlling the cycle, there is the “let the cycle play out to its logical end” and combine all organics and synthetics option, and then there is the option to eliminate the cycle.

But this is the best part. The little kid? He’s an illusion. He’s a by-product of indoctrination. Yes, see the Illusive man, at the end, reveals that reaper technology was used to bring you back to life and you are then under his control (thanks to the Sanctuary experiments). People who are indoctrinated will have blurry memories (how many times did Shepard act like he had no idea what people were talking about when they were bringing up past missions?) and visions. That kid is a vision. He disappears on Earth in the air duct when Anderson snaps Shepard back to reality. The kid haunts Shepard’s dreams. The kid is there at the end. You are actually talking to the Citadel which, this is where I finally throw in my interpretation, is a reaper. The reaper gives you options on what to do, but clearly doesn’t want you to kill all the reapers. That is clear. Why? Because the Citadel threatens you with the death of all the synthetics (Geth, EDI, etc) and yourself! Yourself! You yourself will die, so says the reaper. The reaper would much rather you become one of their own (controlling option) or end the cycle by completing it (merger option).

The only option left, in the face of knowing you are indoctrinated and understanding that the citadel has the motivation to lie to you, is to kill all the reapers. And guess what you get as your reward? Your life. The ending of killing the reapers is the only way to continue Shepard’s life. Shepard lives through the destruction of the reapers, marking his passage from human, to synthetic, and back to human. Shepard is resurrected in one last gasp of air.

In the end, and this is beautiful, all of your choices lead to the same end. You don’t have a real choice in the face of an endless, mindless, continuing cycle of death and destruction. Only in throwing yourself away and reclaiming your humanity can you unlock this cycle and begin to rebuild organic life without the threat of an endless cycle that will destroy all life. The Shepard guides organic life into a new golden age of freedom.

That said, the Normandy ending is stupid. "

While you did write a lot, you failed to mention a single issue with Mass Effect 2.  

I think we forget how terribly boring Mass Effect 1 really was. How bad the map was, the inventory, the Mako, control over your squad, the shooting, the absurd planet scanning side missions. 

I know going over planets with a probe launcher isn't fun, but neither was driving the Mako on a world with literally nothing on it so you can play "Simon" with a pile of rocks. Oh, and the ore you found didn't get you anything except credits which were largely useless outside of grenade and medi-gel upgrades. Oh and excuse me, SPECTRE armor, which you should have by about halfway through the 7 hour campaign.

Mass Effect 2 is what you make of it. You don't have to get all the supplies to beat the final mission perfectly; you don't need the Krogan shotgun or an expanded probe bay. You can pick your team and forget the others. You can explore their personalities or you can just move on out. It's a RPG, it places you in the role of a space commando and gives you full control over his personality, his team, and his mission. By removing driving around the one barren planet in a given solar system and allowing us to jump right into the action, they made the game better. 

The only issues I have are with grenades and the fact that I can't punch people when they get close to me. Other than that, Mass Effect 2 is easily a better game. "