General Raam - Gears of War

Can stop and pop get any more generic than General Raam? Crouch behind cover, avoid the flesh-eating monsters flying overhead. Shoot Raam in his face, rinse, and repeat until he’s dead. Gears of War has a stellar campaign but its boss fights could use some improvements.

Resident Evil 5 - Wesker

If you’ve been a long time Resident Evil fan, Albert Wesker and his bullshit have been a pain in your ass for over a decade. So having him be the final boss of Resident Evil 5, only for him to turn into a rip off version of the Knight from Soul Calibur is insulting enough. Even worse, it’s just another hit-the-right-spot-fight, until the end when you get to punch a boulder into him.

Blighttown - Dark Souls

Poison everywhere, do I need to say more? Even after the patches and a remaster, Blighttown is still a chore to suffer through. A bad frame rate, enemies coming from nowhere, and constantly being poisoned makes it a miserable playing experience. Pass.

Dead Space - Hive Mind

How many times are we going to have to shoot weak points before we get something new to do? Dead Space innovated with its limb dismemberment in combat, so using the same old boring shoot the weak spot mechanic for its final boss just feels lazy.

Lawrence Barrett - Deus Ex Human Revolution

Barret’s boss fight isn’t just bad, it breaks the game design. Deus Ex is designed to allow you to play your way, whether you want to go loud or be stealthy. You can’t fight Barrett with stealth, you have to get in his face and take him out, but if you’re not geared for that, you can’t kill him. Pass.

The Port - GTA V

Who knew driving a forklift could be so boring? To do GTA V’s heists you have to scope the locations out, find your targets and choose your plan of attack. That sounds fine until you have to go scout the Port out and spend 30-minutes of your life moving around shipping containers. Watching paint dry is more fun. Pass, but only because the forklift doesn't have a mounted turret.

Call of Duty - Ghosts

Dogs may be man’s best friend in real life, but in COD Ghosts they’re miserable companions and even worse to play as. Bad controls, limited visibility, and being killed instantly if you’re spotted makes playing as a dog horrible.

Bed of Chaos - Dark Souls

Bed of Chaos suffers from design, it's that simple. There aren’t even great mechanics, you’re just running from one side of the room to the other hacking, slashing, and praying that the finicky AI won’t instakill you.

Beyond Two Souls - The Condenser

This level is nothing but quick time events and awkward dialogue choices that are basically set in a freezer. Instead of capitalizing on the story and giving gamers something memorable, all you want to do is get the hell out of this level. What was the point and was it even worth it? Nope.

Kronika - Mortal Kombat 11

Kronika in Mortal Kombat 11 is the definition of bullshit. Instead of just fighting her, you have to fight her and three other people at the same time and take all of their health bars down while she barely takes any damage herself. Pass.

Shao Kahn - Mortal Kombat 9

Shao Kahn’s boss fight is the definition of cheap. He spams the same attacks over and over again before you can do anything to stop him from deleting your health bar. It isn’t a fair fight, it’s cheesy as hell.

Arkham Knight - Batman Arkham Knight

You don’t play a Batman game to run and hide from bosses, you play a Batman game to beat the sh*t out of his rogue’s gallery. But the Arkham Knight boss fight just has you running and hiding over and over again until you finally wear him down enough to take him out. Lame.

Mass Effect 2 - Human-Reaper

The last mission of Mass Effect 2 is amazing but the end boss is meh. All you do is hop from platform to platform before they get destroyed, pop out of cover and shoot a giant weak spot. After a 20+ hour campaign that’s extremely memorable, the end boss leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

Rodrigo Borgia - Assassins Creed II

The Borgia boss fight in Assassins Creed II stinks, plain and simple. Rodrigo Borgia and his family killed your father, killed your brother, and left your family in ruins. The entire game is about hunting down your family’s killers and getting justice, but instead, all you do is walk around on some tight ropes for a little while before finally hopping down and stabbing him in the neck. Talk about anticlimactic.

Navarro - Uncharted 2

Quicktime events can be fun as hell if you’re swinging through the city in Spider-Man Miles Morales and trying to dodge debris, but if you’re in a boss fight they’re just annoying. Having to button mash to stay alive is frustrating and that’s literally all Navarro’s boss fight is. Pass.