20 Infuriating Video Game Bosses Nobody Beat First Time

20. Senator Armstrong (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance)

Platinum Games' wholly underrated Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was lucky enough to inherit the main series' knack for creating a wide variety of memorable and interesting boss encounters. However, unlike The End in Metal Gear Solid 3, the bosses in Rising mostly became defined by their distinct visual style and the tough-as-nails challenge provided through defying many standard design conventions. Like most of the boss encounters in the game, the dear Senator boasts numerous different stages that each require a specific set of skills that must to be mastered if you want even a chance of surviving. Needing to dodge instead of parry (the opposite of what you've been doing until this boss fight, just to make things that bit harder), Rising's final challenge demands the player strike a balance between a well timed offence and an absolutely flawless defence. While nailing the timing needed to dodge the boss' volcanic blasts can be quite a difficult thing to master at first, once you get the hang of the Senator's attack patterns, things fortunately take a turn for the better. But even then it becomes a case of restarting as much as necessary to memorise every animation of the entire fight, figuring out which specific technique you're supposed to master to break out of the death cycle you're otherwise locked into.