Simply amazing, if you were a fan of the original pvk at all, download this mod now. Its everything you loved about pvk, with an awesome new soundtrack, completely revamped combat, new graphics, polish, flawlessly smooth gameplay, and easy installation.
Combat has been reworked, and its better than ever. I don't think I have ever seen melee combat this entertaining in a half-life mod.
Basically the attack you do with your melee weapon is based on the directional button you are pressing at that moment in time. On top of that they have added in a parry system, also based on the directional button you are pressing. If you parry a melee attack perfectly, it stuns the enemy for a second, similar to the effects of a conc-grenade allowing you an opportunity to counter attack. On top of that, they have added a special ability meter, as you succesfully hit and parry attacks, your special ability bar fills. A full special ability bar allows you to pull off a pretty devestating attack.
The pacing of the game has slowed down just a little bit (not nearly as much as in TF2) because there are not nearly as many 1 shot kill attacks as there were in the original pvk, however the amount of depth they have added to the combat system makes this completely forgivable. Overall I haven't found the game slow or boring at all, in fact if anything its better because there is less 1 shot kill cheese.
In beta2
Each faction has 2 classes (which you will recognize from the original pvk)
Knight:
heavy knight
bowman
Pirate:
Captain
Skirmisher
Viking:
Berzerker
Axe viking (now called something different).
These classes play basically the same as they used to, only they have been adapted to fit the new combat system. In the final release they are planning to release 6 playable classes for each faction (sniper pirate and pole viking will be making a return, not sure about man at arms but the new knight classes look really neat).
I am not lying when I say, this is the most fun I have had on a halflife mod in a very long time.
http://www.pvkii.com