Montana Fragfest

I’ve played a few multiplayer games in my day, and for some reason I’ve always had an affinity for the melee weapons in games. From the chainsaw in the Doom series to the light sabers in the Dark Knight series (but really, was there ANY other way to play that game?) to the knives in Counter-Strike, I’ve always loved the skill involved in killing someone though hand-to-hand combat. The popularity of melee weapons in games has lead to many important moments in games being decided man-to-man with only melee weapons being used. I have many fond memories of watching a Counter-Strike round come down to two men, and one of them always asking “Knife?” (indicating to the other that the final kill should be done in vicious hand-to-hand combat).

I’ve always respected the melee battle, and with my current interest in Team Fortress 2 why shouldn’t I continue the proud tradition of willingly killing someone with what the developers intended to be a last-ditch weapon? I personally love pipe bombing to the enemy battlements in 2fort and bottlin’ the snipers all night, but what I need to speak out about is the other use of melee weapons: impromptu duels. When running around in Team Fortress, it is generally accepted that if you pull out your melee weapon you have the chance to also pull out your melee weapon and engage in a duel with the opponent. Here are some important rules to follow when a melee duel occurs:

Rule 1: When you engage in a melee duel you MUST use your melee weapon to the death.

This is probably the most broken rule of melee battles. Once you engage in a melee duel, you need to keep your other weapons put away. The most common scenario is that some n00b starts a melee duel, gets near death, and then pulls out his gun to try and stay alive. Put your gun away little n00b! Take your impending doom like a man.

Rule 2: Do not interfere with someone else’s melee duel.

Nothing is more frustrating than almost winning a duel and having your teammate run in and waste your opponent.

Rule 3: If denied a melee duel, give it up.

Often in the heat of battle, I put the well being of my team above my own wants. This means if you try to melee duel someone and they weren’t having it, don’t keep trying to duel them and getting angry when they don’t oblige.

Rule 4: If someone tried to melee duel you and you whip out your melee weapon, the duel is engaged.

When an opponant is trying to engage in a melee duel, the second you pull out your melee weapon the battle has begun and rule #1 is in effect.

Rule 5: Don’t gloat if you win a duel against someone with low health.

He had lower health, you aren’t the Hercules of gaming.

Rule 6: If you have significantly lower health and win a melee duel, gloat like a madman.

Hey man, you had lower health and you still won. You are a stud and should let everyone else know how studly you are.

Tags: bottle, duel, melee

This entry was posted on Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under PC, Team Fortress 2, Tips and Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.