20 Best Video Game Boss Battles Of The Decade (So Far)

3. Senator Armstrong - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

One element that crops up time and time again with great boss battles is the necessity to have mastered some element of gameplay in order to beat them. Indeed, putting storytelling to one side, the whole reason to have boss battles in the first place is to make sure that the player has learned the skills required to complete the journey.

There's no better example of this in recent years than Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, and your final showdown with Senator Armstrong requires every ounce of competency with the game's fighting techniques to survive it. From the simple ability to block and dodge, to finally needing incredible timing with Free-Blade mode.

It's a Metal Gear game, so naturally this final battle is heavy on the cinematics, but such is the ferocity of the fight that you genuinely find yourself praying for a cut scene if only to get the feeling back into your hands. It's fun, challenging, and gives an explosive ending to a typically overblown game.