The thing about the melee combat, so far I noticed, is that this time around you need to be more careful with how you attack. Sometimes it just comes down to hack and slash, but often times (while playing on the Adept difficulty) I found myself dying to one fuckin' boss/mini boss character who beats the shit out of me harder.
It's not necessarily the best combat system in the world, but I think that's part of the point. Plus, once you get the hang of using a short sword and shield combo, the melee combat kicks so much ass.