Haha, no screaming here, just swearwords.

I don't think it really matters how much ammo you use up up until the lair. First off, the lair is an extremely short and easy part of the game. Secondly, you get stocked up plenty in the same level right before the final boss.

You know me. Melee mania. I said "Fuck that" and equipped my rifle when I got caught on the ledge. I panicked at first (I swap weapons with the D-pad) and got killed trying to get a weapon ready the first time, I think. It was either there or a littler earlier with the two schisms that seem to materialize out of nowhere.

You can swap weapons with the D-Pad? That'll make my next walkthrough a little easier, heheh.

It does make the game easier, but like paladin181 said, you can also get caught with your pants down while doing it.

Until I got the hang of it I was VERY frustrated at how when you're just holding a weapon without being in fight stance, or whatever it's called, you can cycle through them all or press the key that corresponds to that weapon, but once you're holding a firearm in fight stance, you can't switch straight to another weapon, you've got to get out of fight stance, change weapons, then get back into fight stance. Alex lost many fights with Bosses and Needlers and Siams just because I'd be shooting at something and run out of ammo and need to switch to a melee weapon and not be able to do it quickly enough before the monster began a relentless attack.

Always keep in mind how much ammo you have when using it. Even if you have another clip make sure you aren't in a compromising position when you run out, once Alex enters the reloading animation it's really hard to dodge monsters.

As long as you get real good at dodging you shouldn't have to use ammo on any bosses except for the final boss.

Heheh. Especially when your first instinct is to jump to the D-pad to switch. When you remember that switching through the R1 (PS3) menu pauses the game and gives you the right weapon without having to cycle through it makes you feel stupid. Sometimes, I get lucky I can tap the R1 button in time...