Most awesome melee combat systems

[Barbas]

My vote's gotta go to Vermintide right now. There's nothing as satisfying to me as slicing through a cluster of slave rats with a zweihander or lining up a killer swing with a greathammer that pulps a storm vermin's skull or sends a clan rat flying across the room. There isn't a combo system, but being quick on the keys lets you chain attacks with satisfying results and keep up a pretty good pace through the levels. Anyway, legit. How about you?

 

[Legomaniac91_v1legacy]

The one that comes to mind right off the top of my head is Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Leave it to Platinum Studios to jab a needle full of pure adrenaline into a relatively slow and plodding series. The blade mode system allows you to mix precise cutting and mad flailing to equal effect and the parry system requires a bit of skill to actually work and some later bosses (Monsoon in particular) will hand you your shiny metal ass on a platter if you're not at least somewhat decent with it. All in all, one of the better sword-fighting games out there.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Platinum games and Team Ninja do it the best.

 

[Zhukov]

The Last of Us.

Yes, I know, it was mechanically about as simple as they come. Mash the melee button. Occasionally tap the other button. Use a weapon for better results. Stun with a thrown brick/bottle for best results.

But it was the most satisfying melee combat I've ever had the dubious pleasure of playing purely due to the animation.

For fucking once in a game enemies actually look like they're being struck. None of that Dark Souls/Witcher/Devil May Cry/God of War style crap where you impotently waggle your weapon through the enemy hitbox and their health bar shrinks and maybe if you're lucky they do a nonspecific flinch animation. None of that first person crap where you swing your weapon that doesn't actually collide with the enemy at all until they take pity on you and spontaneously ragdoll. Ohhh, nonono, none of that. No, in The Last of Us each punch/swing that lands triggers a flinch or stagger animation that fits the motion. A punch to the head sends them reeling backwards, a punch to the throat topples them to the ground stunned and gasping, a brick used as a bludgeon knocks them to their knees and subsequent strikes drive them to the floor. An attack against a downed opponent results in a swift kick that sends their head flopping backwards. Combine that with finishing animations that make use of the immediate environment by having Joel slam an enemy's head into doorframes or the edge of a nearby table and have Ellie monkey up onto the backs of her larger opponents while frantically shanking them.

Immensely satisfying and, at least until I became desensitized through repeated playthroughs, brutal enough to make me wince.

Mirror's Edge Catalyst.

Technically does the "first person crap" mentioned above. However, it elevates itself with the use of physics, restrained ragdolls and the occasional pre-baked finisher. Rather than just flopping bonelessly to the ground or bouncing and sliding weightlessly into the air, enemies can be sent staggering into each other, bouncing off walls or objects or tumbling over railings, giving an agreeable sense of heft to proceedings.

The game encourages you to makes use of your environment to execute one-shot knockouts so the coolest way to take out an enemy is also the most efficient.

Batman Arkham Thing

(Also Shadow of Mordor I suppose since they use practically identical systems.)

While it got a bit cluttered with gadgets and enemy types as the series went on it has a very nice sense of flow that I don't think I've seen matched. And even Arkham Knight added some cool touches like the team-up moves. Superbly animated too.

 

[Danbo Jambo]

Dragons Dogma's Assasin class. Real fun!

The Batman series of games, a bit "on rails" but again still fun.

Also think that Streets of Rage 2 and Street Fighter 2 Hyper Fighting both perfected the blend of simplicity & complexity in fighting games.

 

[chrissx2]

Dark Messiah!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWuTnouTqXQ

 

[Casual Shinji]

Most of the good ones (The Last of Us, Batman Arkham) have already been taken, so I'll throw in my two cents for Onimusha 2. It wasn't until I replayed it again a year or so back that it hit me how good it feels to hack and slash enemies in that game. Just as the Resi games had that meaty gunplay, so Onimusha has this nice heft to the swordplay. The reason I mentioned Onimusha 2 over the first game is that 2 has the spear, and that thing is a frikking beast.

 

[Barbas]

I remember being impressed by TLoU. It completely flipped the script on Uncharted's lame excuse of melee. Every hit felt like it had the appropriate weight and inertia behind it. When Joel would break a 2x4 over someone's head, it was like I felt it through the TV and speakers myself.

The Evil Within had a similar feel, but not nearly as effective or diverse.

 

[Weaver]

To me nothing has yet beat Bayonetta. I just love how that game plays and feels!

 

[Barbas]

How far along is KC anyways? I played a beta on Steam a couple years ago and boy was it rough. It looks as though it could be something exceptional if they were able to deliver on half of what they're planning to sell, but that's a big if.

 

[Glongpre]

Dark Messiah!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWuTnouTqXQ

Dark Messiah is weird. The kicking and environmental traps are really satisfying, but I found trying to actually slice and dice people was awful. Your weapon is so weak. It basically became a game of finding the closest insta kill piece, then maneuvering yourself so you can kick people into it.
I'll never forget this one moment where I cut a rope that was holding a chandelier or something, and just dodged back and forth waiting for the knights to run into this pendulum of destruction. It was hilarious.

I think Ninja Gaiden 2 has one of the best combat systems. Most enemies don't have a ton of hp, their limbs are cut off, and you can instakill with satisfying animations. Cool weapons, and really fluid animations for the main character.
Shame about those bullshit enemies though.
So much hype for this game, so much disappointment

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Space Marine deserves some props, because it was so badass. You get health back by killing enemies in exceedingly gory ways, and you could counter, stomp, shoot, slash, hack, roll, stomp, charge, and boom! That Big Nob is gone.

Shadow of Mordor I remember had a pretty fun, if stupidly easy, melee system.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

To me nothing has yet beat Bayonetta. I just love how that game plays and feels!

Bayonetta gets my vote too. The dodge offset totally changed the game/genre.

 

[09philj]

Chivalry. It's not flashy, but it is satisfying to outmanoeuvre your opponent and be the one to land a solid hit. Same goes for Thief II, to an extent.

 

[chrissx2]

Dark Messiah!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWuTnouTqXQ

Dark Messiah is weird. The kicking and environmental traps are really satisfying, but I found trying to actually slice and dice people was awful. Your weapon is so weak. It basically became a game of finding the closest insta kill piece, then maneuvering yourself so you can kick people into it.
I'll never forget this one moment where I cut a rope that was holding a chandelier or something, and just dodged back and forth waiting for the knights to run into this pendulum of destruction. It was hilarious.

I think Ninja Gaiden 2 has one of the best combat systems. Most enemies don't have a ton of hp, their limbs are cut off, and you can instakill with satisfying animations. Cool weapons, and really fluid animations for the main character.
Shame about those bullshit enemies though.
So much hype for this game, so much disappointment

Really? I found it to be very powerful and satisfying. Hitting enemies usually sent them flying. It's still one of my fav melee combat system in FPS game (right next to Shadow Warrior). It's a shame they completely fucked it up in Dishonored.

 

[Saelune]

Considering Shadow Warrior made a Katana the best weapon in a FPS, Im going with that.

 

[Barbas]

Chivalry. It's not flashy, but it is satisfying to outmanoeuvre your opponent and be the one to land a solid hit. Same goes for Thief II, to an extent.

Oh yeah. The devs were clever in embracing Pythonesque silliness; it really complements the combat system's imprecision rather than making it a significant pain in the posterior.

Space Marine deserves some props, because it was so badass. You get health back by killing enemies in exceedingly gory ways, and you could counter, stomp, shoot, slash, hack, roll, stomp, charge, and boom! That Big Nob is gone.

Shadow of Mordor I remember had a pretty fun, if stupidly easy, melee system.

Damn, forgot about this one. Figures it'd be another Warhammer game that nailed visceral combat, though. The sound of the bolters and chainswords is just brutal.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I really like Mount and Blade's system. You choose the direction of your swing with a quick mouse movement. Same with blocking (unless it's with a shield which blocks all directions simultaneously). Weapons always have collision too, so you can actually time an attack to block an enemy attack while starting the up-swing, and then get a hit in before they have time to ready a block. It's tough, has a lot of depth when it comes to movement, and is one of the few combat systems to actually make me feel like I'm having a sword fight.