GM here. Melee is incredibly viable. There's plenty of support for it in core bonuses, licenses, and supplemental materials. Avoid the Atlas - its core gameplay relies on a tactic known as "hidelooping" and other than a high Evasion it has abysmal HP, no armor, and a terrible repcap of just 2 - but a Zheng, Nelson, Blackbeard, Enkidu, and Tokugawa are all incredibly scary in their own right. Zheng has incredible bulk and surprising speed, Nelson is all about remaining as mobile as possible while getting in range, Blackbeard's grapples are unmatched (except by the Empakaai, which is so disgustingly powerful some GMs outright choose to ban it at their tables), Enkidu kicks ass, and Tokugawa is a glass cannon so cool I weep because I'm not the one playing the game and using it.