I really like the Shepard Project: Persephone Rising. Though I can imagine things may get tense between one Kaidan and three Shepards
I seriously hated ME1 combat when I first tried it. I bought it for like 7 bucks (this was right before ME2 release) and it took me like weeks to make it through the intro because I kept dying and raging. It was the story that made me progress through it; the plot is really compelling!
I prefer ME2 combat but I've gotten more used to ME1 after logging some serious time. Now, I play on Insanity, but I still find ME1 much more difficult, especially in the beginning. I can pretty much autopilot through most of ME2 combat, but not ME1.