I even had a sniper I snuck up behind and I swear to god I was trying to get the context assassination to pop up for nearly 2 full in game minutes until I just gave up and just regular melee him in the back.
I don't remember having any difficulty like this a couple weeks ago. In fact it was almost too easy to get it to pop up. Use to be where it would pop up if you went anywhere past the side profile of a Nano while facing them and close enough.
Bty I'm on the 360.