Best Melee Combat

[Kyrian007]

First person... none. It just doesn't work from a first person perspective.

3rd person... AC 2-Rev. It works as well and as smoothly as the Arkham games, and flows even more naturally with freerunning and even stealth.

 

[Scars Unseen]

I wish a game would evolve the targeting system from Mark of Kri. It was pretty awesome being able to target lock multiple opponents at once and fight a group of opponents with perfect target selection.

 

[irmasterlol]

First person... none. It just doesn't work from a first person perspective.

3rd person... AC 2-Rev. It works as well and as smoothly as the Arkham games, and flows even more naturally with freerunning and even stealth.

AC2 still had most of the problems as AC as far as combat only being so much standing around and countering. They didn't speed things up until Brotherhood added that combo kill system that made even the biggest enemy clusterfucks trivial.

 

[Nightmonger]

I feel Morrowind had a really intuitive combat system it was really responsive and really translated the feeling of combat to the player.

Also honourable mention to Batman: Arkham city, witcher 2 an mount and blade

 

[-Drifter-]

Manditory Dark Souls post.
Very good, realistic melee combat.

I had to raise a quizzical eyebrow at this statement. Dark Souls is definitely not realistic.

 

[BENZOOKA]

TORIBASHI!

My vote would go to The Witcher 2 also. It has a good balance with difficulty, realism and everything.

 

[Snafu]

Ninja Gaiden had great combat, a wide variety of styles and combos between weapons and even between their upgrades, a particular favourite of mine was the fully upgraded wooden sword. You could really feel that thing hit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSn327yqEls&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL2224A7C6B9596C29

 

[shintakie10]

What no love for Condemned? Sure it wasn't the flashiest or the prettiest of combat systems, but it felt real. When you bashed someones face in with a plank you could practically feel the impact because it was so close and so realistic. Other games? Meh. Sure Ninja Gaiden is pretty to look at and its fun to have a system that rewards you actually bein strategic like the Witcher, but at the end of the day its still all so...normal.

 

[Westaway]

Manditory Dark Souls post.
Very good, realistic melee combat.

I had to raise a quizzical eyebrow at this statement. Dark Souls is definitely not realistic.

Yeah, well, fair enough. Let me rephrase that. Every swing has weight, and you can't just continually swing swing swing because of the stamina bar.

 

[natster43]

Probably like Bayonetta or Dynasty Warriors 7.

 

[Lunatic High]

I enjoyed the combat in Dead Island, while not being the greatest, or the least repetative every melee encounter with a group of zombies was always intense, and you get your shit kicked in if you weren't on your toes.

 

[vivalahelvig]

Pirates Vikings and Knights II, of course! It's better than War of the Roses because it supports XP!
Also you can attack a knight in heavy armor with a parrot and then shoot a cannonball out of a blunderbuss.
The melee combat is good too, thought.

 

[tofulove]

best melee combat, look no farther than mount and blade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De_3fDkmD-k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Y89GFt5Io&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZZnl09qBKM

 

[Nami nom noms]

My choices won't be popular, but here's what I believe to be the best from all the games I've experienced:


Jedi Knight 3: Jedi Academy = Not so much the singleplayer, but the multiplayer had great physics, allows for pretty much any kind of attack you can concieve of, and rewards player judgement and skill above all else. Brilliant if you like to feel like you are the one making the difference.


Kingdom Hearts (series) = Melee fights straight out of an OTT anime; as epic and sheer fun as you'll ever get, and most importantly, allow a hell of a lot of different choices and approaches in every encounter. At first it can seem fairly average but once the combat 'clicks' you'll be hooked for life.


Dead or Alive (series) = What I would say is the most realistic of all traditional fighting games (to an extent). Where games like Tekken make stringing together some punches more difficult then real life, everything in DoA is context based and extremely fast. Again it rewards judgement and reaction times above others.


Someone mentioned the Onimusha series; While I do not think the combat is the best, it is extremely good at capturing the 'feel' of various styles to good effect. To excel at fighting with the samurai you need to fight like one; to excel at fighting with a western soldier, you need to fight like one. Worth a try if you like a more realistic take on samurai fights: otherwise try Genji for a more cinematic samurai experience.

That is all.

 

[Vrach]

TES games - I know, odd choice for some, but I like how it works there, it's simple, functional and makes me feel in control of the character.

Only better example I can think of (for me) would be the Jedi Knight series (Outcast/Academy). Same as above, gives you a feeling of full control, only it works really well from third person and has a ton more options. Can't figure out for the life of me why its model wasn't pursued and perfected further in more games.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

I have to say the melee combat found in the Batman Arkham series and the Assassin's Creed series are the best. Both combat systems allow you to lengthy combos on multiple enemies, utilize your arsenal of gadgets and weapons, and take down enemies in one-hit. Both combat systems allow you to approach every situation with stealth, tact, or straight up beat'em up, and each approach is both satisfying and fun to do.

I guess the next installment could be The Amazing Spider-Man game, as it utilizes a similar, albeit more acrobatic, combat system.

 

[King of Asgaard]

I have three contenders for this thread.
First is Dark Souls. The combat is easily the best part of the game. Every swing has a certain wallop behind it. Case in point, the Zweihander is able to crush even the largest of enemies with a single swing, or send them flying. Combined with tight controls, and the requirement of genuine skill to succeed gives one of the best experiences I've had in a long while.

The next is Monster Hunter, as a series. With 11 different weapon types to choose from, each with their strengths and weaknesses, players are encouraged to experiment and diversify their play styles. That is a sign of great combat. Yes, I'm aware that 8 of the weapons are melee, but my point still stands.

Finally, Dragon's Dogma. It was a surprise to see Capcom release a game that, on the surface, looks like Monster Hunter and, while the influence is undeniable, it is its own beast. The melee combat is, unfortunately, not as varied as the previous two, yet what it does is polished to a near-mirror sheen.

These three are in the order of my preference.
That being said, all three could show series like The Elder Scrolls a thing or two.

 

[Jaeke]

Arkham games, Dark Messiah, Dead Island (which I loved the crap out of), the high-hope of mine called War of the Roses if it turns out to not be a buggy mess,
and I will get strung up for this but Skyrim, because nothing is ever wrong with Skyrim... ever!

 

[Gabanuka]

Have you checked out Mount&Blade and its expansion; Mount&Blade: Warband?

Better yet just go for Warband. Its a standalone and everything about it is better.

 

[PatrickXD]

Mount and Blade, Dark Souls and Dead Island all have pretty solid melee systems. The latter is hampered by a total lack of strike accuracy when using analog controls, and you really need to accurately hit targets in the game.