The game is designed so that you get more and more awesome as the game goes on. First you're dealing with standard CP troops, then headdys, then Military, then Choppers, then Shock Troops, until finally you're shooting down a half dozen striders before you can say "Zero-Point energy manipulator." What's more, you're given more and more weapons through the game and put in situations, that though your survivability may not go up, your asskickery does.
It's a logical progression, and I think it's awesome. At the end of the game it is easy to stay alive, and you move around and just kind of flow, concentrate on blowing things away. It becomes a natural, practiced, conditioned procedure, grabbing a soldier and throwing him into his squadmates, using energy balls to kill scores or soldiers at once.