With any great year in gaming, there are always those oh so memorable moments that instantly come to mind when thinking about our favorite releases. Nothing inspires moments of “Hey…remember (insert game here), that (insert moment here) was insane!” quite like a good boss battle; for applicable games of course. What makes a truly “good” boss battle you may wonder? We should consider not only how challenging they are, but how significant, original, and just plain fun they are as well. Each apex antagonist on this list is memorable in his or her own way and truly represent 2011 well as the top ass kickers of gamers everywhere.
Dragons – Skyrim
Nothing says epic quite like battling a dragon. Skyrim throws dragons at you like a horde of locusts, and each time one descends upon you ready to tear you limb from limb or burn your flesh from your body it feels like you’re in for a battle of a lifetime. Aside from the named dragons you’ll face throughout the main story, random dragons flying across the map may not seem like the traditional sense of a boss battle, but each one takes a fair amount of dedication to battle seeing as how fast travel is not possible with a dragon in the vicinity and outrunning them is a much more challenging task than facing it face to face. Even the music that plays during a dragon attack represents well the epic feel of the ancient showdown of man vs. myth. Depending on what character class you choose, these battles can range from manageable to challenging. The preparation period before fast travelling or even leaving a major city becomes centered around whether or not you’ll end up facing a dragon, whether it’s clearing out your inventory so you can carry the bones and scales you claim after a successful slaying, or ensuring you have enough protection from fire or frost with an ample amount of healing potions.
R’as Al’ghul – Batman: Arkham City
Between the ephemeral dreamlike trials you go through in order to prove you are worthy of taking the place of R’as himself and the actual showdown itself, the battle with the master of the lazarus pits is one of the more creative ones of the year. The battle is fought in stages, each with a definitive pattern on how to defeat it and move on to the next part. First you must take on a throng of Al’ghul clones with the real one somewhere in the mix. Only upon defeating the real deal, R’as will morph his visage into a giant form and protect himself with stone and sand statues encircling him with only a small opening. While dodging massive projectile attacks meant to keep the dark knight constantly on the move and dodging for his life (somewhat reminiscent of the Ice Titan boss from Castlevania: LOS), you must shoot enough quick-fire electrical charges into the opening and cause enough damage to go into the last part of the pattern which is a counter-fest in which a single missed button press will be punishable. The battle is not terribly difficult, but constantly keeps you aware and on the move.
Asylum Demon – Dark Souls
The purpose of this opening boss battle in Dark Souls is fairly simple; show the player that they aren’t in for some cakewalk of an experience and that they will get their asses kicked on the regular. Where most games will throw an easy first boss at you just to get you into the mix of things and get the story moving, The Asylum Demon is pretty much hell-bent on destroying you like you stole something. Taking a single hit from this monstrosity takes out nearly a third of your life and there isn’t a whole lot you can do to damage it anywhere near as considerably. Should you decide to take it on head to head, victory is possible with the right combination of tactics. Merely facing this challenge literally minutes into the game however will test your will to the point of deciding whether you want to even continue playing the game or not. Being indicative of what lies ahead for the greater part of the game, this battle is possibly one of the most significant ones of the year.
Catherine – Catherine
It may seem pretty odd that anything from Catherine would be on a list honoring the most noteworthy boss battles. This is part of the beauty that is Atlus’s incredibly poignant hybrid game. Each nightmare level has its own boss at the end that pursues you from the bottom forcing you to add a greater sense of haste to your already intricate climb. In the Cathedral level, that boss is a warped undead like version of the blond bombshell herself, Catherine. What makes this boss so different from the others however doesn’t necessarily have to do with the boss herself, but the manner in which the puzzle she accommodates must be played. Not only must you race against time as usual, but you must climb the block puzzle accompanied by Katherine, Vincent’s initial love interest. Now not only can you be killed by Catherine should you fall too far behind or find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, but you fail the stage if Katherine is killed as well. There is much caution to be exercised here in terms of when to command her to follow or stop in order to prevent death. The Cathedral may not be the hardest puzzle in the game, but its conditions make it the most interesting and challenging.
The Beast – InFamous 2
There are two ways to tackle the final battle of InFamous 2, and both are quite exciting and unique. To put the frosting on the cake of your choice to be benevolent or evil you can either destroy New Marais alongside The Beast in order to make the world a better place for conduits, or you can fight in order to abolish the power of the conduits in favor of humanity’s survival. The path to defeating the Beast takes you from sea to land while trying to cause enough damage before being able to fully charge the RFI device. The battle features breaks in between combat for some emotional story devices which add much more depth to the crisis at hand. Choosing to embrace your conduit powers however will allow you to run amok in the city slaughtering everything in sight alongside The Beast. Not too many games out there that would allow gamers to forgo a tough final boss battle in favor of pure unadulterated mayhem. Regardless of the choice you make, this is arguably the most fun of the battles on this list.
Knight Commander Meredith – Dragon Age II
Last but not least we come to arguably the hardest battle on this list. Say what you will about Dragon Age II as a game (because personally, I loved it!) but this is difficult with a taste of classic values well at work. There are no real gimmicks with how the battle must be fought or any kind of futuristic supernatural intrigue, it’s a good old swords, shields, and magic ass kicking. Meredith just hits like a damn boss, and has an army of magic fueled minions to fight alongside her while you have your companions do the same. This battle is all about being prepared for a lengthy in the fray slugfest, and forces you to be outfitted in the most optimal way. Who you choose to directly accompany you in the main party is also crucial as you may find yourself controlling these characters for moments in the battle should Hawke fall, or even if you have some kind of strategy worked out involving the AI. No matter how ready you think you are though, chances are good you’ll be going through this one a few times before finally besting the head Paladin.
There is much to be expected from this year’s most anticipated releases, especially surrounding the potential for really memorable boss battles. Last year delivered some impressive standards, it’s hard not to wonder what kind of battles games like Mass Effect 3, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider and The Last Guardian will offer. All I know is I’m already looking forward to writing next year’s edition!
Post contributed by Matt J. Randisi. Questions for the author? Send an email to Mjrandisi@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @SaveUsMatt.