The remake of Resident Evil 4 is pretty amazing, and while it didn't quite land for me (open in new tab), the core of the game is a combat system that can only be described as exquisite. The remake retains the basic elements, but cleverly adds and reworks Ganados around Leon's newly acquired ability to move while aiming, updating the brutality and intensity of the crowd control, with a "Resident Evil 4"-like feel every moment. The best sequences in the game are the massive battles against hordes of enemies.

The R4 remake is also not shy about enemy hordes: dozens of enemies appear, but the first one is a one-hit kill designed to give players a serious workout. That's when Leon, adventuring from the suburbs, first enters the village square. One or two enemies can be taken down by stealth, but as soon as they find him, the chainsaw comes into play. The battle is hellishly hard and glorious, with the players hurling wave after wave at you mercilessly until you survive long enough. Then the church bells ring, and Ganado and the others suddenly become passive, and they all crouch down and leave while Leon wonders what happened.

Capcom added an Easter egg in the R4 remake that allows you to skip this encounter. It turns out that the church bells are visible from various locations in the village and ring if you hit them with a well-placed bullet. In other words, one could start the battle, run straight into the house that triggered the appearance of the chainsaw, quickly climb to the roof, sink the bell, and end the matter a few seconds later. This video shows how to do it (opens in new tab).

In short, it's neat, obviously a big deal for speedrunners, and the fact that the development team felt it was interesting enough to include speaks to the attention to detail in this remake. Those people suck because this mob has killed me about 6 times.

The Resident Evil 4 remake has been generally well received and will probably make many people's best of the year lists, with the Mercenaries mode due out April 4. There's a very good reason I'm taking a break before starting my professional run-through.

I'm going to sit back, relax, and wait for the mod to play as Joe Biden.