From what I've been through so far, the hand-to-hand fights in Uncharted 3 seem to be pretty random and a lot of button mashing. It seems to be a lot of ☐ to punch, and the occasional Δ to counter, and sometimes randomly mashing ○ to struggle and throw.
Is there a consistent technique to taking down enemies faster? I know that if you can sneak up on someone, you can take them down quickly. And occasionally, some of the fights seem scripted if you're close to an object that you will smash someone into. But for the normal fights, are there moves, or combinations of moves that you can do to take the enemy down quicker?