Unreal Championship 2
First and third person perspective, all the classic UT weapons, melee weapons, reflecting projectiles, sometimes over and over creating a game of pong, three types of air dash - each had a specific use, wall jumping, finishing moves, mutators, and more. Characters that weren't
just a skin, their melee weapons were unique, as was their movement.
Melee combat was the big new addition. Light and heavy attacks, two types of air dashes that attacked with weapons out. You could reflect every projectile with your melee weapon, be it a face full of flak, a rocket (hence the pong mention) or even a sniper shot. Get opponents down to low enough health, and you could pull off a "Finishing Move" a la Mortal Kombat (Midway did publish the game, after all..). But Melee weapons were just as powerful, if not
more powerful than the gun options.
The game was a blast, and was (imo) the greatest innovation of a game over the years. I am saddened that they ditched it, and went back to the classic formula, except adding vehicles and very large scale battles.
Footage of UC2 being played on a 360