In Max Payne 3 for the PS3 and Xbox 360, you can melee in both single player and multiplayer and it’s essentially an instant kill in both.
In single player, melee is tied to your fire button, so R2 on PS3 or RT on Xbox 360. You have to be within range in order to melee, and it will typically use one ammo and perform an animated killshot.
In multiplayer, melee is on a separate button entirely, and is only available as an action. Once you are within melee range, you will see a button prompt come up on the screen, which will be Triangle on PS3 or Y on Xbox 360. If you can press it before your enemy kills you, then you win and they die.
I have seen a lot of complaints about the multiplayer melee, saying that it’s cheap and unrealistic, but most online games out there have this feature so I’m not sure what the issue is.
Sure it’s unrealistic to closeline someone and kill them, but are you telling me that a single knife in CoD should kill someone every time? If you think it’s cheap, then why not use it yourself and quit complaining.. either that or go play Pokemon.