It’s been a staple feature of a huge number of games over the past couple of decades regardless of the genre: Boss battles. Whether it be from First Person Shooters to RPG’s, Action Adventure or through to Third Person Shooters and more, boss battles have been there since day 1.
Whether it’s the frustration of reaching the boss back in the arcade days of Street Fighter with only one life left, or reaching the boss with you on minimal health, they have etched themselves in the memories of the true gamer who thrives on ‘the challenge’.
But are they really needed? Lately it seems that boss battles have been in decline. I don’t know whether it’s because of the lack of imagination on the part of the developers, or simply the fact that many newer gamers feel that a game is unoriginal or unrealistic with them and so developers either get rid of them or just tack on a ‘typical’ or half-arsed boss battle to make the game longer. Witness the ‘more realistic’ helicopter boss fights in shooters these days, for example.
