OK......how about this:
Anybody wanna play me to see what I mean?
PLEASE READ AND UNDERSTAND!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't give a flying f*ck what abitities any character has.Nor do I care about the addition of the Jump attack or pounce.They are pretty damn cool if you ask me.WHAT I DISLIKE: The fact the with the lock-ons enabled, the melle requires little to no skill.It is very easy for the casual gamer to pick this up and become a force to be reckoned with after playing the game for like 2 hrs.
Now if you just simply turn off the lock-ons it TOTALLY changes everything.All of a sudden it's basically the same game, only it requires more skills to be successful.You can still use the jump attack for CTF(translocator repalacer), You can still pounce and reject.The only thing that changes is you have to have the skills to keep your opponent on screen, kinda like UT, you know.
I see the melee as a combonation of the Shield gun and translocator, with some added offensive abitities.With this in mind, could you lock on to an opponent in UT04 with your shied gun, or any other weapon for that matter? NO!!! It is almost as hard to keep players on screen in UT04 as it is in UC2, if not harder.So I must contest that this is put in the game for noobs who cannot play in general.
The surefire test: I frequently host online games, and nobody stays for very long.I host dedicateds, and host some that I'll play in.Very few join, and when they do, they'll realize the lock-ons are off and then they leave.The ones who don't, minus about two players, just jump around aimlessly trying to pounce people w/o their lockon.It's pathetic how much most people suck W/o the lock-ons.
There is also a whole style of play that comes with lockons.It's what I call the "Flying stlye".I have learned to play this way as well, but I feel like a cheap ass noob when doing it.All they do is jump, hold R, and look for a target by tapping the lock on stick.Then they just unleash.You'll see alot of heavy characters using this style.While its true you can shoot a noob out of the air easily, once anybody figues out that you can jump off of walls and do JA's infinatly, they become really hard to hit.
The successfulness of this style of play is out the window when lock ons are off.So it forces player to have SKILLZ to use melee.My buddy and I play like this offline all the time.We have some of the most amazing games I've ever seen in a Unreal game.We used to play with lock ons, and had good games like that too, but it's totally different.I's like whos more lucky on some jump attack gayness.
For the easily confused:Lock ons being turned off does not do away with melee.You can still reap all of the benefits, minus the coup de grace, but only if you have skill.
