12 Most Painfully Disappointing Video Game Boss Battles
Seriously, that's the best you've got??
As has recently been stated on this very website (by this very author) boss fights are not easy to get right. All too often what should be a highlight of the game ends up being a mess of lazy mechanics, dull gameplay and tedious repetition as designers confuse "length" with "challenge".
With so many contenders vying for attention, it takes something special to stand out as a truly disappointing boss battle. Much to the misfortune of gamers everywhere, the following twelve bosses manage to do just that.
Whether it be ugly character design, cheap mechanics or spectacularly failing to live up to expectations, all the entrants on this list are a blight on the games they appear in and a warning letter to video game designers everywhere on how not to create a boss fight.
We hope you enjoy reading this list a lot more than we enjoyed fighting this dirty dozen, and if you wish to warn your fellow readers away from any bosses not mentioned here please let them (and us!) know in the comments below.
Let's start off with the most recent entry in our list...
12. Icon Of Sin - DOOM Eternal
The satanic kaiju that is the Icon of Sin makes for a great visual, but actually fighting it? There's a reason the header image shows a bunch of goons instead of the boss, as that's what you'll be looking at for the majority of the fight.
Like most skyscraper-tall bosses, the Icon has overly telegraphed attack animations which are far too easy to avoid. Unfortuantely, id Software attempt to get around this by throwing hordes of monsters at the player during the fight as a distraction, one of the cheapest tactics in the gaming boss repetoire.
Being mobbed by henchmen while fighting a boss is every bit as annoying as being swarmed by flies when trying to enjoy a delicious sandwich, except you don't even get the satisfaction of eating the sandwich - just a lingering feeling of resentment at the developers for wasting your time.
A great monster design wasted on a weak fight, the Icon of Sin is a classic example of style over substance.