Poll: Boss fights. Worth it or just a headache?

[Lord Hawkeye]

Me and a few friends were discussing boss fights as they are now. We ended up being divided into three camps on what we thought about current boss fights in games. I think if its done correctly then they are ok but boss fights lately have ended up as either a quick time event or a powered up grunt with five times the health of the basic guys and a one shot kill move. One thing is for sure a thrown in boss fight at the end of the game, I'm looking at you Prototype & Bioshock, really just ticks me off more then anything.

But that is just my thoughts, I'd like to hear yours.

 

[tologna]

bossfights are just like everything(exept for quicktime events, they suck) else. if done right, they are a good(or maybe even great) thing.

 

[Super_Nintendo_Chalmers]

I like boss battles where you really have to think about how to take down the enemy, and not just button mash.
Take SotC as an example, that game was made up of boss fights, and it was superb.

 

[TimeLord]

Devil May Cry 4's boss battles were great IMHO

Boss battles in FPS's are not though

 

[Prized Cup]

The great he-golem in Darksiders (with his big fat hammer) - the game winded me up so much that by this point i would settle for nothing less than genius. Should've known a whole temple absolutely unmanouverable to anyone without zelda gadgets would supply a boss that's weakness is A PORTAL ON HIS HAMMER

 

[mrhappyface]

In Brawlers like God of War and Ninja Gaiden, they're awesome. In FPS, not so much.

 

[Batfred]

It is good to end a level or chapter with something memorable and something a little tougher than what has gone before. However, it is often an arse-ache when the difficulty curve spikes stupidly as it has done in some games unless you remembered one thing that happened 5 levels ago and flicked up on your screen for planck time or whatever.

They are very conspicuous by their absence though in games such as CoD and the like.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

Boss fights are a funny thing if they are too easy then you kinda feel bad for the poor sod, but if they are too hard cheap then they will incite rage levels OVER 9000!!!!
THen sometimes boss fights have a huge difficulty curve which just pisses you off
For me the perfect boss fight would be if you were fighting someone who matched your character or was stronger and they would have more than 3 FUCKING MOVES!!
Right now the worst boss fight i can think of is the ATAC in Killzone 2, if you've played the game you know what i mean.
If done correctly boss fights can be awesome, but right now they just seem tacked on, like Wesker in Resident Evil 5, the first part where you're fighing him on the helipad is goddamn annoying and the second when he infects himself with Uroburos is pathetic, i managed to beat him with the stun baton

 

[oppp7]

I like them, but just about all of the ideas for them have been used.

 

[Outright Villainy]

I like boss battles where you really have to think about how to take down the enemy, and not just button mash.
Take SotC as an example, that game was made up of boss fights, and it was superb.

It's like a textbook of how to do a boss fight well too, a boss fight should be like a puzzle rather than a chore, figuring out how to beat it and then applying the skill to do so. There was no grinding away at the boss' health, you find the weak spot, find how to get there and win. Awesome sauce.

Then again, most zelda bosses are way too easy. Shadow of the colossus has got way better bosses than any zelda game.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Some boss battles are epic. (God of War)

Others are not.

Except on God mode. Then Ares had an unblockable, almost impossible to dodge, instakill bullshit attack that he spammed a lot. Got kind of annoying, but I felt like such an uber-man when I beat it.

 

[GraveyardTricks]

I hate turn-based boss battles. But all others seem to be good.

 

[suhlEap]

they can be really annoying when the boss is crap (ninja blade)
but epic boss battles are some of the best things in certain games. the ones in bayonetta were some of my favourite bits in the game!

 

[Voodoo_Person]

I like boss battles providing they're done right, which, in my opinion means a)no unblockable moves damnit! and b)no moves that are instakill, it ruins the fun of a boss battle if they take you down straight away

 

[Robert632]

an action game never feels complete to me without a boss fight.

 

[Premonition]

I liked the boss in Uncharted 2. You needed to memorize patterns, learn pathways and weapon locations. 'T was fun. The more bosses like that the merrier. Plus, ACII's boss was awesome.

Spoiler

Cuz, you know, you're killing the Pope and all ^^

 

[fix-the-spade]

Boss battles in FPS's are not though

I contest that assertion with Meta Ridley, The Alien Queen and Gargantua.

Having said taht, recently shooters have lost the plot as far as bosses go. the worst in the last few years is easily Tatarus and the Prophet of regret, they were both completely arbitrary and crap.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

FPS games have never really done boss battles well, but then again how much strategy can you put into a fight where people are just going to hold down the R trigger and wait?
Other genres can really feel the support of a good boss battle. Ever play Devil May Cry 1? Now that had an amazing boss fight at the end, reminded me of the last fight in Sonic Heroes actually against Metal Overlord... coincidence? Maybe. Not likely.
Devil May Cry 3 also had a spectacular final boss in the mould I like to call "fair". Whereas many bosses will be towering goliaths of power this one was just two guys and their swords, and that can make for some intense brawling.

Then there are games I love like Oblivion which just fall flat on bosses in general. None in the main story and only

Spoiler

Jiggle-something, Sheogoraths true shape

in the Shivering Isles expansion. I would have loved to see a real boss fight in there somewhere, Mankar Cameron was just not enough. I suppose the last guy in Knights of the Nine counted though, but still, much too easy.

I'm rather so-so about bosses in platformers, but I suppose they make sense. If the new Marios are anything to go on though they probably aren't worth it, as I never lost to any of them once...then again I did beat that game in one night so, yeah.