While it fits in well with Bethesda's other games, melee combat never really made much sense in Fallout 3. Sure, in the older games, it was necessary to stock up on ammo, and one of the best ways to do that was to use a melee weapon.
In Fallout 3, however, ammo was never all that hard to find ... so, why bother running through enemy gunfire with a baseball bat if you can disintegrate them from long-range with a plasma rifle?
With Fallout 4, it looks like Bethesda is trying to make the melee combat a more worthwhile investment. Not only will players be able to craft and customize their weaponry (here's hoping for more flaming swords), but the newly-redesigned perk tree will offer fans of close-range combat a variety of buffs that make their melee strikes stronger.
Oh, and sometimes, an enemy's head might explode.
True, it was possible to literally knock someone's block off in Fallout 3, but the "Big Leagues" perk in Fallout 4 is taking the term "swinging for the fences" to a whole other level. Be warned: if you're not a fan of blood and guts, watching the following trailer might not be for you ...
If there's any one thing that could convince gamers to drop a gun and pick up a stick, it's exploding heads. It's impossible to tell just how often someone's head will pop with the maxed-out version of the perk, but the resulting shower of viscera should be more than worth the risk.
With any luck, the Big Leagues video won't be the only one of its kind — judging from the skill tree shown in the trailer, there are quite a few Perks left to cover ...
One way or another, fans won't have to wait much longer: Fallout 4 is due out on Nov. 10.
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