Gameplay isn't just combat for me. It's about character development and the player horizon. For instance, the computer interaction in KotOR was a much bigger deal and enabled you to "hack" stuff, play logs, access security cameras, and find bits of information by having the appropriate skills.
In ME - you get a stupid minigame and super streamlined interaction with pretty much everything.
I find this streamlined gameplay in Mass Effect rather boring - and the party system is very clumsy. They don't really do what you expect them to - and I can't count how many times my members ended up dead in the first 5 seconds of the fight - with me having to clean up.
Then there's the whole shooter approach that doesn't quite work. It's a subpar shooter - and a subpar RPG.