I haven't had much problem with the combat so far... I mostly just run in and shoot, while sometimes using biotic powers. Even the Tresher Maw wasn't a problem...
I've only died once, and that was during a raid of a certain pirate base in the Artemis Nebula... Don't know which system.
Also, I haven't found much to do in the Sparta system, apart from a hidden Prothean disk (and I still have no idea what it does, and it doesn't seem to change much for something important)... an lots of gas pockets and the like. What do the gas pockets/mineral deposits change? Do we get to tell someone about them so they can go extract ressources and we get a share of the credits? Some sort of sidequest?
I'm incredibly poor. Most of the stuff I could buy is really costy, and I have about 2000 credits.
And Kaidan reminds me of Trask, mostly because you use him a few times, but then you lose interest in him... or maybe I overuse the aliens in my group. I seriously need more biotic characters.
Also, the little conversations during elevator rides are nice.