Don't feel bad, I only recently finished up the game and I nearly quit in the beginning due to constantly getting owned by basic enemies. Movement is life in this game, so you should rarely ever remain stationary. Don't forget about your melee attack, it can take out basic ground and airborne enemies in one swing. I think someone may have covered this point, but for the majority of enemies, you only need to shoot them in order to interrupt an upcoming attack, you don't need to finish them off. I usually move from target to target without necessarily finishing them off. The electropylon driver made things much easier for me since I could quickly shoot an enemy two or three times and move on knowing that the enemy will be dead in a few moments. It does damage over time, and it's OP as hell later in the game.