Reinstalled CHASER, more difficult 2nd time around?

[BarryB]

Just reinstalled CHASER a few days ago, WinXP PRO + SP2, patched to v1.50 and started all over again and it seems way more difficult than I remember, or maybe I just suck at FPS games as I get older

It seems all enemies are uber crackshots and seem to rape my armour and health like no tomorrow, and this is on normal difficulty. I tried a NoCD and the same thing happens so it doesn't appear to be a twitchy protection issue, it uses Securom:

-=[ ProtectionID v5.2b ]=- (c) CdKiller & [x/xxx]
Build 16-11-2006....
> Ready
Scanning -> D:\Chaser\Chaser.exe
File Type : Exe, Size : 5660672 (0566000h) Bytes
-> Suspicious MZ Header.. 
[!] SecuROM Detected - Version 5.00.03
[!] Possible CD/DVD-Key or Serial Check -> CDKey
- Scan Took : 0.234 Seconds

As this is old Securom I don't think it has 'triggers' to degrade the game if it was a 'bad crack', game runs the same whether using original EXE or a crack.

The game runs really fast and smooth on my X850XT and 2.2Ghz Athlon, just wondering if the enemy AI is running too fast for the game and predicting where I'll be before I get there

So, anyone else installed Chaser lately and noticing that:

a) They suck at this game
b) The AI is just too damn accurate
c) Consequence of running older game on new(ish) hardware and it's actually running how it was intended, my system at the time being probably pants for the game and hence it was running slower and giving me an easier game?