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Zitat

The melee fighting that began shortly thereafter felt very similar to Batman:ArkhamCity, with the basic principle being to strike with the X button and counter with the shield using the A button. I usually found myself facing at least two enemies at a time, which meant shifting directions with the left stick to block an attack and continue my attack flow. The main difference is that after landing a couple of basic strikes on an enemy a button prompt appears above his head - usually it’d be the B button icon - and when pushed something bloody happens.

Instead of incapacitating thugs with gadgets in the Batman style, you stab them through the neck with a Roman gladius sword. Or throw them on the ground and curb-stomp them. Or just bash their faces in with a shield. I did notice the execution animations repeating a little in the short time I played – more than one barbarian met his end via spontaneous tonsillectomy or by being contextually bashed against a wall when conveniently positioned - so I asked how many we’d see in the final product. “Over 100,” promised the Crytek rep – an answer which left me feeling pretty good about the odds of being continually shocked by new and creative murders. Is it a little macabre to find that entertaining? Sure... and perhaps it's apt that this is a game about a society that treated gladiatorial combat as a sporting event to appease the masses.

These executions aren’t quite quick time events, in that most of them are simply one-button prompts rather than a sequence, and failing them by pushing the wrong button usually still results in a dead barbarian, just with a smaller batch of experience points as a reward. That’s a good touch, since it does away with the frustration repetition of a mandatory sequence and lets the action continue.

Zitat

Playing through the hand-to-hand combat was surprising, as it's much more difficult than it looks.

Mashing buttons won't get you anywhere, as enemies will quickly learn what attack you're using and start to dodge. And they won't wait for you to finish fighting another enemy before attacking you - you have to move around a lot to deflect and dodge attacks from all sides, at all times.

After hacking and slashing away at an enemy for a while, a button prompt will pop up that allows you to pull off a finisher. These look like quick-time events, and they kind of are - if you hit a button in time then you'll perform an extra brutal move. But if you miss the quick-time event you'll still get your kill. It just won't be as fancy.