Other than bypassing locks/repairing the vehicle - does Omni Gel have a purpose?

-I dont recall any.

Is it possible to max out your char?

-at first playthrough you get to L50, and on second to L60

Are there any rare items I should look out for near the start?

-No. The necessary stuff is available at shops

I'm sticking with the Base team on this play through, and my initial plan is to have myself as main assualt, Ashleigh as Shot and Sniper and the dude as my 'White mage' heh.

-Ha, you're in a for surprise Actually most of the story missions play out in locations where the shotgun is very handy. Always good to have one shotgunner about.

-And dont shy away from spending money on gear because you'll have assloads of money by the end of the game.

yeah I'm starting to notice a build up already - so indeed I will start spending cash. Gonna fire it up again now!

It's been so long since I played I can barely remember the specifics any more. I do remember the story though (more or less), so that's a testament to a good game, I suppose. Enjoy. You better play obsessively if you plan on getting the second one when it comes out.

Nah I'm not in an immediate rush to get it. The only games these days I get on a "must buy" basis are the ones where I want to get the most out of multiplayer while it is fresh.

I'm about 15 hours in now, Explored a few rocks etc. I can see that these quests [read: land on planet, drive to orange marker, kill/examine, go home] will probably start to get a bit boring, but after a few hours of doing that I started on a more story based mission (Involving the Geth and some sort of Sentient plant known as Thorian) but I've just started heading back to the colonist and as I'm going down the Paragon route (this time) I'm not allowed to kill the mind controlled little freaks.

Still, so far I'm liking what the game is becoming!

Looking at the leveling system, it's dropped from giving me 2 points per level to giving me 1, and doing the maths, I can't fully upgrade the char's on even two playthroughs. Still, this will give me incentive to try the other characters too - especially as there are achievements for such things.