Best Melee Combat

[-Drifter-]

Hitting things with other things held in your hands, or perhaps just your hands themselves; which game does it best? What raises it above the competition?

For me, it's The Witcher 2. In a lot of melee focused games (especially RPG's) I'll find myself drifting off in the middle of combat, but TW2 requires you to be on your toes at all times lest you be torn to shreds. Geralt isn't the average damage sponging RPG hero and you're always just a few sword strikes away from a GAME OVER sceen, so strategy and quick wits are vital to survival. You've got make use of your environment, separate your foes from the herd, prioritize targets and strike quickly before rolling away, etc. It feels appropriately lethal, and nothing makes you feel more badass than flawlessly picking off a large group of bandits.

My only real complaint is that the monsters are considerably less fun to fight than humans/dwarves/elves as there's a lot less variety per mob, so you don't have to mix-up your tactics as much. That, and the controls can be a bit unresponsive from time to time. Not something you want in a game this unforgiving. This said, when it works (and it usually does) it REALLY works.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well fighting games, always fighting games... because that is all they bring, that is all they work on. And for the life of me I will never understand people who put down $60 for that smidgen of content.

Outside those we got the standard hack & slashers Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, God of War (would be a contender if it wasn't smeared with QTE pigshit).

RPGs are really towards the bottom end, best examples are probably Dark Souls and Dragons Dogma, but even these aren't up there with the polish.
In Dark Souls things are very twitchy, moves will not execute consistently and what looks like a dodge or hit might actually not be, takes some time but you start to figure out and compensate for the faults.
Dragons Dogma works well for the most part, the problem is your party that is essential yet you have no proper control over them, so it is up to the gods of random to grant you good cooperation or not.

 

[Tayh]

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

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

*Shrugs* I really dug games like Bayonetta for it's combat system. Actually, Bayonetta is pretty much my favorite action/adventure game.

Otherwise, I remember being wowed by Dark Messiah's combat. It's fucking brilliant.

You mean The Adventures of Sir Kicksalot Deathboot in the Land of Conveniently-placed Spikes?

 

[Nouw]

Space Marine, Batman:AA and Condemned all have great melee combat systems. If you button-mash, you will die which is a must for a good melee-combat system. You need to carefully time your attacks and do the right combos. One false move and you're hit.

 

[lRookiel]

Those listed above really.

Only other game I can think of is the upcoming game Chivalry: Medieval warfare which looks like it will top all the others in terms of melee combat.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Batman: Arkham Asylum/City had a reallygood melee system.

One button to hit, one button to counter, one button to dodge, and one button to dodge.

It's so simple yet awesome.

 

[Shimmak]

The new 'War of Roses' game seems to have some inovative combat involving stradegy and tactis.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

Batman: Arkham Asylum/City had a reallygood melee system.

One button to hit, one button to counter, one button to dodge, and one button to dodge.

It's so simple yet awesome.

Funny, I remember there being one button to dodge, and another for a stun.

But I agree, The combat feels incredible, and can even be a bit challenging if you play without the counter icons. One weird thing though is that Arkham Asylums combat seems a bit clunky after playing a lot of Arkham City :/

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Batman: Arkham Asylum/City had a reallygood melee system.

One button to hit, one button to counter, one button to dodge, and one button to dodge.

It's so simple yet awesome.

Funny, I remember there being one button to dodge, and another for a stun.

But I agree, The combat feels incredible, and can even be a bit challenging if you play without the counter icons. One weird thing though is that Arkham Asylums combat seems a bit clunky after playing a lot of Arkham City :/

Wait shit, I have no idea why I put dodge twice haha.
Yeah I noticed that too

It feels so different

 

[Meight08]

Overgrowth or as i like to call it Watership beatdown.
There is not even a health system it´s based on skeletal structure, hit the back hard enough and you break the spine,Same for the neck And any other body part.

 

[Kiardras]

Batman did combat really well, I also liked the first assassin's creed. It was mostly a case of one to hit, one to counter one to dodge, but I felt it flowed really well - there was nothing more awesome than watching my assassin fighting 6 guards at once with a flowing mix of dodges, hits and counter kills.

I also liked the combat in Dynasty Warriors, 4 I think it was, for PS2. Mainly because it was just fun slaughtering my way through an army

 

[Andy Shandy]

Definitely Batman: Arkham Asylum/City. Epitomizes "easy to learn, difficult to master"

 

[Popadoo]

Dark Souls.
If the combat wasn't as good as it was I'd have quit it early on. It's the most fun part of the game, since the rest is losing all your progress and punching walls.

 

[Tallim]

Hmm even though it is entirely not the right thing to put I want to say Onimusha 3, primarily because I never see anyone mention Onimusha on this site.....

 

[GundamSentinel]

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

Very much this. Most realistic and satisfying combat system I've seen anywhere. Especially mounted combat. Plunging a lance into someone's face at full speed just feels amazing.