Uh...no, not anywhere to the same extent. With 1 and 2, the melee brawls are a one two hit, over very fast. 3 has an entirely new quasi-arkham system that lengthens them considerably. Throwing them isn't all that practical the O command isn't just throw, but to GRAB and throw, which even in ideal sitautions is a lengthy animation. Far better would be to roll away...except that's not as much of an option because O is Grab, Throw, Roll, AND Take Cover, which means there is going to be a lot of the game misinterpretting what you want to do. And if it was just the combat system, that still wouldn't be good, but it might be managable. However, ND also found it in their neverending wisdom to have the enemies rush you far more frequently than they ever did in 1 or 2. As for the 'advantage' you're arguing it gives, that was the case in the previous games as that's the basic function of melee in almost any game. "hit without using ammo" We didn't gain anything.
So between the arbitarily lengthened system, the enemies rushing you, the boxed in design of certain areas, yeah, I'd very much say UC3 is very poorly designed in regards to the style of gameplay you're arguing the series excels in.