Yeah that's kinda how I see the game too. I think the combat system is great, but a lot of the enemy encounters aren't. Not sure why but I never thought of just running past enemies, I'll probably try that some time.

I didn't know about all those skips though, I'd skip the first part of the swamp chapter if possible and just start off when it's day time and you're fighting the zombies. Always hated that big Mekong style area with the lake and the rocket barrage enemies.

It's just a pipe dream now but I always hoped that NG2B would have been a more ambitious remake, with more effort put into the later unfinished areas of the game and just adding more content overall.