I love ALL the Mass Effect. 2 is the best off course but the ME3 is great too ! (especially with the extended end) Give ANDROMEDA a try. It's pretty nice after a couple hours. On the Infinity the game topic : any good candidate for modding ? What game could be used for modding to represent Infinity ?
ME1 was great: the universe, the characters, the technology, that moment when you realize who the real bad-guy is... As a game it was a bit rough, but the customization of weapons and characters was very good. And you really had the feeling that you were exploring a completly new world. ME2 managed to be better and worse at the same time: oversimplified gameplay, nearly no customization and a weird ending (what the hell were the Collectors trying to build?), but the script was awesome and the game had lots of great characters. ME3 started very well, combining everything good from ME1 and 2, but some things felt little bit forced, and some cutsecenes made no sense (like that silly ninja that always managed to escape). The stupid and nonsensical RGB ending didn't help. So many promises, so little fulfillment.
I honestly think that putting XCOM2-style terrain into the Phantom Doctrine game (Cold War spy game, but very XCOM-like tactically) would be about perfect for "Infinity on the Computer".
I think you misunderstood my point (from lack of familiarity), I'll elaborate. In the most recent iteration of Battletech you have essentially two different game elements. Element one is the core game mechanic, turn based combat with battle mech. For infinity that would be your basic game space for battles, done in a turn based gameplay as close to the tabletop rules as is determined by the developers (I'm Battletechs case it is reasonably close to TT, but with changes determined by the devs as to be more fun. A point under constant debate, or was when I was on those forums) Element 2 was managing your mercenary squad on your dropship. Hiring crews, selecting missions, performing text based RPG elements, choosing which starsystem to fly to etc. I think this could work for infinity as well. Manage your soldiers, hiring, firing, equipment, etc. Manage casualties maybe, do RPG elements like finding work or fallout from missions, travel to planets/the edge, whatever. Then when the mission starts you move into the more rigid turn based tactical game space (which I would want for it to be Infinity, to me). Clear as mud?
When you realise that XCom was a base management sim with tactical combat mini-games it changes your entire outlook on what the game was actually doing while you played. Infinity would be similar, but instead of one enemy faction (two in enemy within) you'd be looking at 5-6, with several wildcard forces; operations against one faction could open you or them up to counter operations from another. The permutations of play and the back end would be terrifying to see (though that wouldn't stop someone from realising you just need to spam sensor and grenade production, hit Ariadna every chance you get and cheese out an early campaign victory against the CA in month 4...)
@Cartographer That would be why you limit the scope. It's a very important step in designing a game in general. You would settle on a single faction for the campaign, versus another faction, with a third faction intervening as a twist for a few missions if you wanted (but NOT to be included in any multiplayer component). For example, the Hexahedron might have a specific taskforce setup for a specific incident/coverup/whatever against, say, Nomad operations. You play as the head of the Taskforce, deploying teams and such to deal with things as they come up and organize infiltrations of your own. I don't think infinity would suit a 40k style campaign unless you were leaving aside the X-com level stuff and went for an RTS thing. If you are really hellbent on having a whole bunch of factions with small teams interacting on a map, I would recommend looking at Frozen Synapse 2's campaign.
That's why I was suggesting Phantom Doctrine as a base for the Infinity computer game. It's already a hybrid stealth&combat espionage game with the base management including things like developing leads from captured intelligence documents. Plus, in addition to the troopers you have on the ground, you have an observer off-table and a sniper off-map that you get to place before the mission (usually, if you're approaching from the South, you place the sniper&observer to the east and west of your map). And you can call in airstrikes, even. There's quite a bit of story, and that base game actually has CIA and KGB campaigns in it. Dunno that it's actually competing against the other big power, or if it's Bond-style supervillains.
I'd be all over something in the vein of Dawn of War 2 or Companies of Heroes 2. A RTS but with a bit more of a conservative/slow/deliberate feel, one that encourage you to preserve your units than something like Dawn of War 1 & 3 (ohgod the fail of 3) or traditional ones in the vein of Starcraft and such. Of course the comparison with Jagged Alliance and Xcom (especially 2 is unavoidable too) is unavoidable. Same for Valkyria Chronicles heh.