10 Exact Moments That Saved Terrible Video Game Bosses

Relatively early on in God of War III, you'll do battle with the god Helios, though compared to the game's bevy of challenging and testosterone-fuelled battles, it's pretty weak sauce.

Less a conventional boss fight than an interactive series of cinematic beats, you'll grab a hold of Helios while he takes flight, and then spend a good while taking down other enemies and solving puzzles while he attempts to flee.

Even when you catch up to him, you're forced to rinse a fleet of his minions while a wounded Helios just hangs out in the corner in a pool of his own blood.

Once you finally turn your attention to Helios alone, he attempts to blind you with his sunbeam, forcing you to block the path forward with your hand until you reach him. And that's... basically the boss fight.

The appeal of a high-octane, high-wire battle against Helios speaks for itself, and so it feels like quite the missed opportunity.

But the fight at least ends in a fashion more typical of God of War, as Kratos stomps Helios' head into the ground numerous times, before grabbing his noggin and ripping it clean off.

This being the pre-"tasteful" God of War era, we get to watch in graphic detail as Helios' head is parted from his shoulders, and it's so wonderfully, nauseatingly brutal.

But being who he is, Helios remains alive as a decapitated head, which Kratos then uses as a lantern.