The actual source of difficulty of this game is not the opponents, but the itsy-bitsy-tiny playing field without visible borders. How many lives have I lost trying to evade "up" and it just didn't move anymore. -.-
Indeed, 3 Rangers and 1 Cleric make a great party. All the other classes are largely redundant. Just give your Rangers the Piercing Shot and Pin skills, always prioritize enemy spellcasters (a.k.a. "Geek The Mage First") and you will have no difficulties with this game.
The randomized traps result in this game being no skill, just luck. You basically have to try time and again until you get a run that does not dump an impossible jump on you over 350 metres. So very often the traps are spaced so there is simply no way to make the jump. 1/5.
The most frustrating thing is not the rapid switching at losing positions, but the fact that some of them are totally cryptic and leave you entirely clueless what to do, and you lose or get switched away before you get a chance to figure it out. "Gaming logic" my eye.
Nice game! Tip: Unit #3 is a better deal than #4, especially as it can defend you against Missiles. Also, don't bother with Unit #5 for too long; the punch is nice but the projectiles are very slow. Once you have access to the Dreadnought (#6), just keep spamming that. :p
Alright, I said before that the game was too difficult. I take that back. It is difficult, but everything can be done. Granted, the last 2 levels are very prescriptive; there's basically only one way to win and you need quite accurate timing. I rather prefer the other levels where there are multiple ways to win. I got all medals and keep hunting best times; I wish there were more levels. =) 5/5 and favourited.
w00t! I did it! Completed the whole game, every difficulty, every level, every medal! Damn this was hard, but awesome game -- now please add badges. =D
This is a great game, except the difficulty is getting ridiculous in the last 3 levels of "normal" mode. Easy mode is actually pretty easy, but "Normal" is absurd; even the video walkthrough was apparently made in Easy, and simply doesn't work for Normal. Go ahead, check it out and verify yourself on levels 16-18.
Okay, I give up. The "normal" levels are already too frustrating for me. It requires not so much skill as rather blind luck that the guard leave you any gaps at all, and they look around eratically... if this goes on on higher difficulty levels, I don't even want to know how. Also, either the "invisibility suit" doesn't work properly, or the AI cheats, considering how hoften the guards bump into you while cloaked. Sorry, it's a nice game, but it's too hard for me.
Easiest route: upgrade your colt a little, buy 1 builder and 1 scavenger; save up for Cz.61, fully upgrade this and keep saving. Don't bother with any other guns, but buy a 2nd scavenger some time. Then around level 27-ish you should be able to buy the Minigun. Rock and roll! Don't worry about high ammo cost for Minigun; once you've got this, you don't _need_ money for anything else and you'll make more than enough.
Sure, there's a pneumatic drill lying around, and I have a very long power cable... but I don't want that, I am looking for something like a severed arm, that sounds a lot more effective and less creepy.
Oh, f***... looks like my savegame is corrupted. When loading it (it's my only one and I'm level 23) the screen keeps flashing between all kinds of locations (without any creatures), all the stats read "999" and I can't do anything. Crap, what can I do? I'm certainly not replaying it from level 1!