brrrmp

Playing through a third time now, Veteran definitely makes the game easier though I noticed that when playing the veteran you get two guards outside the med bay instead of the one you get on recruit, so they may in fact up the difficulty when playing Veteran. Not sure whether to play as a veteran or recruit for my third run, I love the starting points you get as veteran but I also love playing as the underdog rookie, can't make up my mind.

You can play as either and increase the game difficulty by choosing....game difficulty, no?

Oh I know you can change the difficulty, I just like the concept of playing the rookie agent going up against the odds in a rp sense. Plus I just prefer the recruit dialog, sad I know. ;)

I finished the game in two sittings, and the experience was pretty mediocre. I liked what they did with the conversation system, but the core gameplay just felt so bland and boring, or i guess dated would be more fitting.
If the game had come out before Mass Effect 2, it might have had a better chance and may have felt a bit more fresh.

Just got it myself for 85 bucks. little more expensive than steam but i guess i don't need to bother with download.
installing it atm
damn. I could get ME2 for only sixty dollars or DA:O for 70... Meh. Will get them later.

Try this lot on ebay: http://stores.shop.ebay.com.au/Game-Shop-Australia
The downside is that you have to wait whilst its shipped from england, the upside is that they sell legit games bloody cheap, its where I do the majority of my non-impulsive game shopping from nowdays. Alan Wake locally is $90, from them its $58

Well, my copy has finally arived after almost two weeks of waiting (But that's what i get for not properly noticing that the shop i ordered it from doesn't have it in stock, only their supplier does) And i'm installing it now.

playing as recruit
looks like tony stark
now in Taipei fighting gang. did warehouse mission and told that guy to F--- off.
I killed only two guys. One was the main body guard, second one some random mook who got shot by a rocket launcher. accident. tried to shoot the tank.
Don't use guns whatsoever, Just fists and stealth. Enjoying it greatly. Game lags a bit sometimes. that's the only bug.
I just LOVE the conversation system. fluid, fast, forces you to make quick decisions. No analyzing which dialog choice will max out my stats or make the character like me more.

Did you try the mouse/camera fix here? Improved performance hugely for me (I changed all values).

Yeah, that's a known bug, as is enemies not appearing. Reloading the save fixes it for now. Counting on a patch.

So...
Opinions on minigames
computer hacking. at first i wanted to kill the guy who designed it. seriously. Worst. Minigame. Ever.
after some hours, after training, whole saudi arabia...
I actually enjoy it. No. I really really like it.
I did get quite proficient in it (me. not my character. got some glove which supposed to help but that's it). It is still difficult but i manage to hack nine times out of ten. The problem is that it is difficult but not in a stupid piping no time difficult. You have plenty of time. I believe gamers are not used to that. In other games running out of time was the biggest obstacle. You knew exactly what to do, what to click next but you didn't have enough time as you didn't move your mouse quickly enough. Hacking here is different. I also liked fallout3 approach. lots of fun. I am worried about patch dumbing it down :(
lockpicking
Way to easy: don't even know what happens if you fail. Like a door. Alarm? Or did it break?
Security:
I am surprised how stupidly fun something so simple is. few clicks and system is down but trying to see through that maze.
They should do levels of difficulty on hacking imo. Smaller pool for example in the beginning increasing the size and shortening the code with game progress.

How did you get used to it? Did you use my weird blurring the eyes trick?
Ooooh both of these get a LOT harder, trust me, 10 seconds to trip 10 circuits or 5 very sensitive tumblers...

I did. Definitely helps sometimes, thanks. :)