One-hit melees bother me in shooters

[Brawndo]

In most modern FPS games, a knife attack or striking the enemy with your weapon is much more powerful than bullets. I am fine with stealth one-hit knife kills or from-behind gun butt knockouts, but against an aware enemy it is just dumb. I know "it's just a video game", but that bothers me to no end that you can sprint past someone firing at you in MW2 and deftly slit their throat without even breaking stride.

It is very hard to kill a vigilant, defending person with a knife. As part of my law schooling, I work at the prosecutor's office and have an opportunity to read dozens of police reports along with other court documents. Most knife attacks are non-fatal, and even then the victim receives as many as 20-40 cuts and puncture wounds. And these are on civilians - imagine against a trained soldier.

I'm probably the only one who cares... but I would propose "grapple-style" combat when someone tries to melee an aware target, similar to what Call of Duty 3 had, but not as scripted like in that game.

 

[Centarius38]

you do bring up a good point but in games like call of duty most characters are soldiers and know where a knife should go to kill a person in one stroke.

 

[Something Amyss]

you do bring up a good point but in games like call of duty most characters are soldiers and know where a knife should go to kill a person in one stroke.

They probably also know where bullets should go, too.

 

[Soviet Steve]

you do bring up a good point but in games like call of duty most characters are soldiers and know where a knife should go to kill a person in one stroke.

Man, if only soldiers were trained in melee defence as well as they were in meelee offence.

 

[MrHero17]

The insta knife in BC2 doesn't bother me but I definitely like how it works in CS:Source, knife does 55% damage but is a 1HKO to a persons back. Also it's an equipped weapon so you can't use your gun but you move faster.

 

[emeraldrafael]

you do bring up a good point but in games like call of duty most characters are soldiers and know where a knife should go to kill a person in one stroke.

Man, if only soldiers were trained in melee defence as well as they were in meelee offence.

http://www.motifake.com/demotivational-poster/0904/i-see-what-you-did-there-lost-john-locke-demotivational-poster-1238833730.jpg

IN all honesty, It doesnt bother me. Mianly cause if the enemy is that close, you're doing it wrong. So knives shouldnt be a factor unless you're really close.

Besides, have you ever had a knife wound? It drops you pretty fast when you're blood pressure drops.
EDIT: because that sounded like me being a douche, here's my solution. Give every soldier a last chance after being knifed. that way, its still one hit to drop them, but the enemy will have time to do something.

 

[ShakesZX]

This bugged me for a while too, until I realized the rationale behind it.

I'm guessing you're talking about games such as Call of Duty. In these games, the focus is on the gunplay. In reality, the amount of ammunition required to bring down a person in game is much more than would be needed in real life. However, the mechanics of the game require the use of the guns in that particular way. These are games about distance. It's not supposed to be about close quarters combat. As such, when you introduce the idea of people coming into close contact with each other, it would be silly for them to continue to use guns to shoot someone they could literally reach out and touch. The game developers then have to introduce some way to get around the problem of two character avatars meeting, hence the introduction of melee weapons.

They could have let the players take 20-40+ swings at each other, but that would get boring and monotonous. That is why these kills are one hit, because it would drag the experience out otherwise. It's for the sake and necessity of enjoyment and mechanical issues that these issues exist at all.

 

[MR T3D]

you do bring up a good point but in games like call of duty most characters are soldiers and know where a knife should go to kill a person in one stroke.

and they know where to shoot a person in one shot, which would be much easier. I think your argument is flawed.

In CoD, the knife has ridiculous autoaim and lunge, if those two things were removed, then the 1HK nature of it would be forgivable, as to actually knife a dude would take some semblance of skill.
counter-strike has one of the better knives I've played, as that 1hits if you get them from behind, were a soldier can easily get a good stab in, and from the front, you could either swipe, giving a minor damage cut, or a stab which does a significant amount of damage to the front (2hit kill) but doesn't allow a player to kill someone whom is shooting you.
OP: I agree with your logic.
Don't bring a knife to a gunfight

 

[Rikdyou]

you do bring up a good point but in games like call of duty most characters are soldiers and know where a knife should go to kill a person in one stroke.

They probably also know where bullets should go, too.

OHh ohhh i know i know!!!!! The Face Yeahhh im awesome

 

[Meestor Pickle]

Unless of course this is TF2 and you get a face stab, WHICH is stabbing someone in the front but killing them because you stabbed them in the back!!!

Confused, you should be.

 

[coheedswicked]

The same argument could be made for a bullet. In most cases with bullets, even pistols, there's and entry and exit wound, so they should do twice the damage of a knife.
I understand that its just a game, but too often people will say games like COD are realistic when theyre really not, and its because thats the way the game tries to portray itself. I think games like that should go with the Halo mentality, "we know its not realistic, but its damn fun"

 

[Space Spoons]

As I see it, if you're playing a shooter, which is a genre based primarily around ranged combat, and you let your enemy get close enough to melee-kill you, you sort of deserve it. If they're running right at you, not even shooting or anything, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to drop them before they get close. I mean, unless you're just not very good at FPS combat, in which case I question your judgment in choosing to play a game that consists of nothing but.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

It makes sense, if your enemy got that close to you in the first place, you should die.

 

[Chamale]

I liked the Battlefield: 1942 system, where a knife did about as much damage as a pistol bullet. As such, you'd only see knives used in rare situations - ammo completely depleted in both weapons, for example. Instead of being a useful weapon, a knife kill would just be a footnote to a gunfight that emptied your magazines: "Yeah, after killing 4 enemies with pistol headshots, I spun around and stabbed the guy coming up behind me with a rifle."

My absolute favourite, though, was a modded server I played in Battlefield: Vietnam. Knife-fighting had a series of Press X To Not Die events, and Press Y To Kick Ass events. You could have a nice little scythe vs. knife fight in the middle of a battlefield, and the animations were surprisingly varied. There were specific animations for various weapon matchups, and various combinations of standing and crouching (but you could easily stab a prone opponent).

 

[Brawndo]

As I see it, if you're playing a shooter, which is a genre based primarily around ranged combat, and you let your enemy get close enough to melee-kill you, you sort of deserve it. If they're running right at you, not even shooting or anything, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to drop them before they get close. I mean, unless you're just not very good at FPS combat, in which case I question your judgment in choosing to play a game that consists of nothing but.

There are these things called corners, I believe they are found in indoor environments and obscure the vision for both converging parties

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Unless of course this is TF2 and you get a face stab, WHICH is stabbing someone in the front but killing them because you stabbed them in the back!!!

Confused, you should be.

Despite it being easier to insta-kill someone from a knife wound from the front than from the back IRL. Damn ribcage/spine protects most of the vitals from behind.

Slash jugular, Bludgeon septum, Hari-Kiri, Eviscerate, Carve sternum, Genital surgery, Kidney puncture are all far easier to perform on a front facing target - approach from the rear is usually only for stealth and immobilization to perform said strike.