I started out on a 1.82 (I think) difficulty setting. I kept the 66% enemy VP's, AP's and damage. but I upped their levels to +3 and lowered player damage to 100. and I get my ass kicked over and over again. the main problem is that you're always thrown in the middle of a group of enemies right away and barely have a chance of even finding cover. hell, in the first fight you face 5 enemies standing like 2 steps from you. if you don't take 3 or 4 of them out in one single turn you're screwed. this is repeated several times and it only gets harder. and another mission for example.... I just got my first partner in the group and we're to capture a cargo truck. I start out at one corner of the map and my buddy at the other. he faces 4 enemies right away and I face like 6 or 7. they all run straight at me and all I have to take cover behind are trees. trees they can shoot right through. took a whole lot of reloads to get the few grenades to make perfect hits and to make those headshots count.

I don't really know what my point is... I just feel like complaining a bit. there is not much tactics involved at all, you just gotta be lucky and reload until you do the exact right thing that will keep you alive.

to add a bit... I've been playing some more and now I think I'm stuck for the second time because I haven't done EXATLY what I'm supposed to do or have done something in the wrong order. I'm not sure. but it seems like I have to start all over yet again. so this game isn't just hard when it comes to fighting. it's damn hard to tell what to do and what not to do to keep the plot line straight. I was under the impression that you could do things pretty much whatever way you wanted, but that's not true at all.

nope, it's definately a flawed gem.

i recommend these two walk throughs, as there is only two major paths through the game.

you can do things sort of in your own order, but if you miss one thing in one part it can completely ruin your chances of being able to do another thing.

Main Path Walkthrough

Alternative Path Walkthrough

Don't give up on it yet, though. it is a good game, maybe in time with patches or mods it will be great. (that shouldn't need to be the case though, dodgy team)

I must say that the world, the engine and the combat system after all is pretty solid. It looks and works quite good, but the game is simply 'narrated' (I believe that's the word) in a horribel way.

Too often you'll find yourself thinking "now what?". Even when you have directions of where to go and what to do it's still not clear enough.
I've played halfway through now with the walkthrough next to me and it's almost depressing because I can see the lost potential this game really had.

This game could have been something, and I really wished and wanted it to be, but it failed miserably. Sadly I don't think a patch can fix it either.