After playing it on the hardest difficulty, I think the combat, as part of gameplay, is also very good. Every fight scenario has you playing cat and mouse with the enemies. It's impressive how flexible and how many tools you have at your disposal. And the AI is mostly very good at beating you down, and you never feel it cheats. Ok, maybe when you take out a guy that has a walkie-talkie, and then you hear his team-mates call for him, and he doesn't answer, which sends them in your direction. But, an impressive thing I noticed, was that if I took the guy out, after he confirms that the section he is in, is clear, you have a solid time window before the others asks for his confirmation again.
The only thing that is difficult is the shooting for me, on a controller. When the shit hits the fan, I usually have to reload, because I can't for the life of me, aim headshots when I have the hunters storming me. But, that sort of makes it more immersive for me, in that I think shooting should be hard. You shouldn't be able to fire off headshot after headshot, like some sharpshooter. Joel is just a civilian forced to adapt and learn to defend himself, but by no means a professional marksman.