Best of the Bogus Bosses

Celebrating some of the lamest and most underwhelming bosses in the gaming space.

A bossfight is the culmination of a game’s mechanics, your own personal skills and environmental challenges designed to test you. They come in all shapes and sizes, some better than others. Sometimes, the final bout of your favourite game closing out the experience falls short of expectations the game has carefully set up. Whilst this is not the compiled list of the worst bosses in the entirety of gaming, just a select few that I personally wasn’t happy with. 

The Electrocutioner (Batman Arkham Origins): 

The Electroctioner is one of the many elite assassins vying for the chance to defeat ‘The Batman’ before Christmas morning. However, the Electrocutioner is the first to fall, tucked up in bed early courtesy of Bats. He is almost humorously put down so early on. His cutscene sets up his character as a cocky, arrogant guy who thinks he can defeat Batman with minimal effort. As soon as the player has control, it is just one punch that defeats the Electrocutioner. He is basically when all said and done, a glorified item, as you loot his electric gauntlets to use as a big asset in all the other fights in the game. When you consider this in a vacuum, sure it’s a funny gag that helps establish Batman as a badass to not be overlooked. But when you consider other one-on-one hand to hand boss fights, it’s hard not to consider what might have been. Look at the underrated Origins fight against Deathstroke, a long and engaging fight that demands your constant attention dodging, parrying and lashing out your own attacks. The Electrocutioner being one of the first boss fights in the game effectively sets the precedent for the rest of the game, which at least to its credit does make each and every one of the other fights much more exciting by comparison. Much like other entries on this list, the real tragedy here is that the Electrocutioner being dispatched can be seen as either a comical reference, a cruel joke, or ultimately a wasted opportunity. 

Deathstroke (Batman Arkham Knight): 

Batman Arkham Knight heralds some of the best facets of the Arkham series as a whole, such as the revitalised combat and stealth mechanics, and the controversial Batmobile gameplay. However, despite its praises, sometimes it falls short of content that had even been handled better in previous games. This segues from the previous conversation about the impressive Deathstroke fight from Arkham Origins, the perfect homage to the character in how skilled they are in combat they give Batman a challenge. Arkham Knight regrettably phones it in by having Deathstroke be at the end of a long stretch of side missions that end in a boring Batmobile section. Now personally, the Batmobile tank gameplay didn’t really resonate with me, I felt it detracted from the overall Arkham gameplay that it is known for. More often than not I would be grappling through the open world exploring a riddler challenge or side mission. After scratching my head for a few minutes, my progress was stunted by my need for the Batmobile. But I’m getting off topic. Deathstroke is barely in this game, reduced to popping out of his defeated Sabre Tank once you have blasted the weak spot a number of times. Deathstroke then pops out and is dispatched quickly by Batman before even anything resembling a fight can take place. Again, much like the last fight you can’t help but think of what could have been, with the new combat and gadgets would’ve been more than enough to keep things fresh. But instead we’re stuck with this poor display. We can only hope that the character gets more justice in the future. 

The Destroyer (Borderlands): 

When the first Borderlands released in 2009, it jump started the established genre of the ‘looter-shooter. The game series has been improved since then with its four sequels, and looking back on it from 2024 (wow how did we get here?!) is very telling. Don’t get me wrong, the cell-shaded graphics that feel as if they are leaping off the page of a comic book have not aged a day. What has aged incidentally is the mission structure, consisting of completing mundane tasks that don’t have any overall bearing on the story as a whole. That story that the final boss rests on the shoulders of, is a fearsome monster that protects a vault with unimaginable loot from nefarious vault hunters seeking treasure. Unfortunately, the final boss of this game is wholly underwhelming. It is a visually uninteresting amorphous blob of flesh with protruding tentacles and blast based attacks. The gameplay for the bossfight isn’t much more interesting, only serving as a bullet sponge to pepper your ammo into. When viewed against the previous bosses in the game, none of them are anything to write home about, but each has far more interesting locales and personality traits that make them stand out somehow. Yet another disappointment that falls short of expectations lobbied as you play the game, thankful the sequel clears this up in spades and is better in every facet. 

Talbot (Uncharted 3): 

So, Talbot is on the higher end of the imaginary boss annoyance scale, he matches the game series he’s in and therefore is let off more easily. That being said, I do feel he is the weaker of the four, which makes sense coming from what I feel is the weakest game. What must be said, is that the uncharted games were not put on the map for their impressive boss fights, more known by Miley Cyrus’ hit ‘The Climb’... or in other terms the sense of adventure and journey. I think the first problem I have with Talbot as a villain, is that he’s not even the main antagonist, he’s just simply a lackey that is employed by the main villain. Whilst this might have been the standard for the previous titles, he has no character development whatsoever as this is reserved for the main antagonist. Simply put, Katherine Marlowe is from Drake’s past, trying to steal his Francis Drake ring and ride the coattails of his archeological adventures for the treasures. As a 63 year old woman, she is not going to be able to go toe to toe with Drake, so to answer that problem we have Talbot. Your final fight takes place on the fast collapsing ruins of Shangri-La in a bout of fisticuffs. This I would argue is a little lame, as hand to hand combat is a mode of combat that you haven’t realistically engaged in since the beginning of the game. What could’ve been a tense, fast paced action packed shoot-out is just a few dodging and button mashing fists. What I would in fact suggest as a solution would be to extend the stellar set piece into something of the length of the train section in Uncharted 2. Again, more squandered potential, but fixed in Uncharted 4 so we end happily. 

Kazuto - Arase (Yakuza Kiwami):

Kazuto - Arase is as hard to fight as it was to pronounce the first time I tried. I would argue he is the antithesis of all that makes an enemy enriching and enticing to fight in the Yakuza universe. Any enemy with a gun immediately puts me at unease, needing to be taken out quickly before they can whittle your health down with well placed shots. Now, combine this with an enemy with a massive health pool and quick dodging abilities with a pistol that acts more like a sniper. Between you and him is a confined small rooftop, and a small number of enemies to keep you from throwing all your attacks at Arase. The funny thing is, when I reviewed this bossfight online again to refresh my memory, it didn’t even actually look that hard. But that’s what this list and my content is all about, my own personal challenges and what holds significance for me, not anybody else. With that said, when I finally get around to trying to beat this game on Legend (the hardest difficulty with no autosaves) this boss will no doubt still pose a threat to me, if nothing else in just annoyance and my inability to take any other strategy than just running at him. 

Queen Leech (Resident Evil 0):

Ah, Resident Evil 0, a disappointing boss from a disappointing game. Resident Evil 0 is by far my least favourite Resident Evil title to date, exemplified perfectly by both the character of the ‘Queen Leech’, their ramifications for the larger narrative of the franchise as well as the final bossfight itself. The Queen Leech poses as the main antagonist of the game, an experimental leech subject absorbing the memories of its now dead creator and deciding to enact revenge in the first strain of the zombie virus. Many were disgruntled by this retroactive decision, as the original titles and themes of the first game are reckless scientists letting their experiments run riot. With the context of the boss, the bossfight itself is another let down. The initial fight takes place in a contained machine room that has both your characters whittling down the beast’s health. The problematic element of this bossfight is the fixed camera angles that constantly place the creature offscreen. Whilst this leaves you very little time to attack the Leech, the Leech’s long attacks can harm the characters severely from a safe distance. What I struggled with most was inventory management, especially the ammo that I was almost always scraping by for. Playing on the hardest difficulty, there were many times I had to revert back to an older save hours before to beat a boss I had already beaten in a more ammo conscious way. If you do manage to beat his first phase however with any resources left, the final fight awaits as you distract him whilst your AI controlled partner runs around the arena turning valves. Now it becomes a battle of attrition once more, but this time for you and your partner’s health. I remember when I finally accomplished this, I was only a few shots away from death, with no health items to my name as he closed in for the kill. Once I had finally done it, I did not feel relieved and overjoyed as one might think, the stress only faded and I didn’t feel good. 

Sullivan (Dead Rising 2):

In a game series where the side bosses, or psychos, steal the show for the entire game, the main story bosses are always going to be playing catch up. I would argue nothing exemplifies this better than Dead Rising 2’s original villain, Raymond Sullivan. For starters, Sullivan is often overlooked in the story, acting as a security guard who mostly objects to anything that Chuck and crew come up with to try and uncover the truth of the Fortune City Outbreak. In a surprise twist however, Sullivan in fact represents the company Phenotrans who are behind the drug that temporarily halts the zombification progress, starting another zombie outbreak to line their pockets. Onto the actual fight itself, it is a long and arduous one if you do not prepare beforehand… which I did not and am not known for. The strategies to make his bossfight significantly easier requires a long range weapon, and basically sniping him slowly in a small corner until your victory. What I was unfortunately stuck with was rushing up to try and attack him, only to be knocked down as he counters me, losing my weapon and falling off his arena into a sea of zombies. As you make your way back, he too fires off shots at you, whittling down your health if you’re not careful. The only saving grace of this fight is that finally once it’s over he meets his end in a very gruesome way.

Albert Wesker (Resident Evil 5): 

Albert Wesker is one of the most iconic villains in Resident Evil history, and one of the most recurring characters in the franchise as a whole. The fight that I am talking about specifically is him in his final ouroboros form, infected with his own virus and transformed as so often happens at the end of these games.  The only way to describe him would be the grotesque version of Disney’s Ursuala, if you can imagine that. The main disappointment of this fight is that in this form, he is actually remarkably easier to fight than previously. In his…let’s call it a human form, you had to ambush him from the darkness to land even a small number of blows on him, as if he saw you coming he could dodge incoming bullets and strike at remarkable speed. Whilst this requires some critical thinking, it is switched out for a boss that has a small weak point on his back and is easily dodgeable. The final fight resorts to pummeling his back with shots, waiting for him to become vulnerable again before running behind him to repeat the process. The final epic battle is framed beautifully in a volcano on a small rock floating in lava, and ends in epic fashion like most resident evil games, with a magical rocket launcher that can vanquish any foe. Again, not an awful bossfight by any means, but when looking at the history of the character and his legacy, he deserved far more. Now you could make the argument that him becoming weaker from using his virus is actually thematically appropriate as he is letting his arrogance overcome him to win, to his detriment. Whilst this is a good point, the gameplay shouldn’t have to suffer in order to serve the story. Let’s just hope that Capcom can continue their hot streak and give Wesker the love he deserves. 

KillaBilly (Lollipop Chainsaw): 

Lollipop Chainsaw is a criminally underrated game, pitting a young cheerleader zombie hunter against a horde of zombies and fun bosses to stop the incoming armageddon of Earth. Each separate stage of the game is personified by the boss you are pursuing, and their ensuing bossfight encounter, each unique and oozing with character. The final boss of the entire game however is by far the weakest, with an overall lacklustre villain and plain simple bossfight mechanics that render it forgettable. The irony here is that the lead up to the boss is actually far more enjoyable than the fight itself. KillaBilly will constantly be firing lasers at you as you dash up through busy streets to fight him, dodging exploding cars and laser beams to defeat enemies and progress. Moving onto the actual bossfight itself, the boss is larger than life, like we’re talking Marshmallow man at the end of Ghostbusters giant, which is pretty cool. However, unlike all of the other bosses he has no quirks or personality, he is just a hulking big brute who wants nothing more than to kill you. Furthermore, the bossfight itself just consists of shooting off KillaBilly’s fingers with your blaster, and waiting for your ammo to reload naturally or by shooting ammo packets. What it devolved into for me personally was shooting his fingers, and then having to painstakingly wait for my ammo to recharge.