I got Brawler on Insanity. It's not so bad as a Vanguard, since the firing lag on the Eviscerator is perfectly-sized for two solid whacks with your fist.

Makes sense. I was playing an Adept, however; not the best character-type for getting in close. Indeed, I've never played a Vanguard on Insanity as I figured it may be a bit hectic considering just how easily your shields drop when up close. How have you (or did you) find it? Any difficulty spikes? I certainly had a few with my Adept playthrough.

Difficulty spikes for a Vanguard are about the same the whole way through; I find that Insanity is actually a little bit better in that the enemies you charge don't go flying when you hit them, which lets you edge forward into melee range and shoot them with your Inferno ammo; this invariably sets everyone within a couple of meters on fire, which lets you go to town.

Vanguard on Insanity is pretty much my favorite way to play. Rough until you get Heavy Charge and Champion - after that it's just a blast.

Your shields do disappear quickly, but there are ways to... mitigate that.

Thanks for the info.  I swear trying to get brawler on insane almost made me quit the game.

When I played ME2 on the PC I never had Katsumi.  She definitely makes some things easier.

I may give it a go as my second Insanity run on PS3 then. Given the play-style is so vastly different to an Adept, it should keep things interesting (and hopefully be a little shorter -- my Adept Insanity run took about 57 hours to 100%). I'll probably hold off, though. Maybe do it a month before ME3 is released, just to refresh myself.

Kasumi is awesome. Her Death Strike power, in particular, is astoundingly good.

The thing I found on Insanity was that close-quarters enemies were far worse to deal with than ranged ones. This results in some odd situations, such as Varren being more of a pain than Krogan, which seems back to front (and, yes, I'm aware that no one else may think this -- but it is certainly the case on my playthroughs). Take Grunt's loyalty mission, for example. The Varren frequently caused issues, meaning I had to be careful when I fought them. By comparison, the Krogan were a walk in the park -- almost insultingly easy for a supposedly hard difficulty. That's why, in general, I avoided close combat completely on my PS3 Insanity run, because it was often short and bloody, with me on the bloody end.

Good.....lord.

I really wasn't doing it all that fast. I think a proper speed run would take about half that time. Two-and-a-half hours, perhaps? Minimum missions, zipping through the levels, Charging everywhere, speedy dialogue choices. But I was having far too much fun for that.

I doubt you did all of that so fast man.  No way possible.  Vids or it didn't happen?

I just finished the 'Shadow Broker' mission and all I have to say is......amazing. My mouth is on the floor by the turn of events.