10 Video Game Bosses Defeated By A Cutscene

WhatCulture

Video game bosses who defeated themselves.

Transcript

00:00 The video game boss has changed across generations.

00:02 Skill, strategy, health management and recognising attacks all play a role.

00:06 But from Bowser to Arkham Asylum's Joker, the idea is to test every lesson the game

00:11 hopes you've learned to that point.

00:13 However, what's more rarely talked about is death by cutscene.

00:16 Some go down in history, others not so much.

00:19 I'm Scott from RockCulture.com and these are 9 Video Game Bosses Defeated by a Cutscene.

00:28 Sonic Commando's 3D debut was met with very mediocre reviews, despite having one of the

00:32 coolest physics-based grappling hooks in gaming over a decade before they'd be everywhere

00:37 like right now.

00:38 The final boss sees Nathan "Rad" Spencer take the fight to his former comrade, Super

00:42 Joe Gibson.

00:43 After swinging around and dismantling several mechanical archangels, Spencer's revenge

00:47 on Joe is handled away from your controller.

00:50 At first, Gibson has Nathan crushed in an iron grip.

00:53 Then, to get on top, our hero violently headbutts his way into Joe's cockpit, finishing the

00:58 job by ripping out his power core.

01:00 While it may look visually impressive at first glance, the way Bionic Commando's climax

01:04 pans out is just as 6/10 as the rest of the game.

01:07 How did we not have a final boss mechanic themed around that titular Bionic arm?

01:13 The Prophet of Truth and the Gravemind - Halo 3

01:16 For the final entry in the Halo trilogy, two primary antagonists remain.

01:20 The first was the Prophet of Truth, who after backstabbing his fellow prophets, became the

01:24 Supreme Master of the Covenant Forces.

01:26 The second was the Gravemind, leader of the Flood and a big ol' fleshy mess intent on

01:30 consuming all organic life.

01:32 Rather than bringing back the wobbly boss fights from Halo 2, Bungie instead had the

01:36 Prophet killed in a cutscene.

01:37 It's a fitting story combination, as the Arbiter plunges his sword through the individual

01:41 who deceived and manipulated both himself and his whole race.

01:45 As for the Gravemind, though, it was killed offscreen, along with the eradication of the

01:49 Flood at the game's conclusion.

01:51 While players did briefly fight 343 Guilty Spark in the final moments, there was no similar

01:55 fight with these other long-form foes.

01:57 Halo 3 was a life-defining release, regardless of how everything wrapped up, and it's down

02:02 to you in the comments.

02:03 Would you rather have fought these two enemies, or were you happy with the way it went down?

02:08 The Elders - XCOM 2 XCOM Enemy Unknown had a final boss in the form

02:13 of the Uber Ethereal, the leader of the initial invasion.

02:16 With a higher health pool and psychic psionic attacks that rarely miss, it's a suitably

02:19 climactic battle to one of the best turn-based strategy games ever made.

02:24 Enter XCOM 2, a sequel that by many accounts just couldn't keep that momentum up.

02:28 Putting you up against three stand-in avatars for the big finish, one for each Elder alien,

02:33 once they were down, that was it.

02:34 A final cutscene shows you resisting and finally overcoming the Elder's own mind control

02:38 as you escape the base for good.

02:40 Considering how hard-fought a victory can be in any XCOM, let alone this much-hyped

02:44 sequel, the backlash was so substantial that Firaxis released the immaculate War of the

02:49 Chosen expansion, introducing three unique new opponents who could show up on missions.

02:53 The Assassin, the Hunter and the Warlock.

02:55 It's up for debate whether any of this would have even been created if the original game

02:59 had nailed its ending.

03:02 The Locust Queen - Gears of War 3 The Locust Queen is a consistent presence

03:06 throughout the Gears trilogy, often narrating why the Locust are your main enemies in the

03:10 first place.

03:11 After first seeing the Queen at the close of Gears 1, come Gears 3 it was time to kill

03:15 her and the Locust off for good.

03:17 For the final encounter, however, you'll be fighting the Queen's monstrous mount,

03:20 the Tempest.

03:21 Not exactly cut out for combat, downing the Tempest takes gameplay away as the Queen gets

03:26 stabbed by Marcus Fenix, using best friend Dom's knife.

03:29 It's a supremely sweet moment to watch as the Queen dies along with the Locust and the

03:34 Lambent, purging the planet Serra of all deadly threats, at least for that particular trilogy.

03:40 Atok Navarro - Uncharted Drake's Fortune Typically, Uncharted games rely on two main

03:45 antagonists, with the first game featuring Roman - a rival treasure hunter tipped off

03:49 by Nate's mentor Sully - and Atok Navarro, leader of a band of mercenaries and Roman's

03:54 right-hand man.

03:55 For most of the game, Atok hovers over Roman's shoulder, guiding him towards the El Dorado

03:59 treasure.

04:00 However, in the final moments, he tricks this explorer and takes the statue for himself.

04:05 Reaching Navarro's tanker, it's time for a showdown.

04:07 You fight your way through the most difficult enemies in the game, and reach the other end

04:10 for the climax.

04:11 However, after a weird cover system-based advance and a quick-time event, Navarro is

04:16 dragged into the ocean along with the El Dorado statue, as Nate's shoulder barges a helicopter

04:20 into the sea, killing him off in a cinematic.

04:24 Harley Quinn - Batman Arkham Asylum Thanks to Margot Robbie's portrayal across

04:28 the DCEU, it's easy to forget Tara Strong's iconic take across Batman animation, and specifically

04:34 the Arkham series.

04:35 Beginning with Arkham Asylum, she proves a major thorn in Batman's side, triggering

04:39 the Joker's takeover of the prison and kidnapping the warden, Quincy Sharp.

04:43 After being tracked to the main penitentiary, Harley is finally cornered in the control

04:47 room.

04:48 Quinn has never been a match for Batman in physical combat, so the cutscene that follows

04:52 is very fitting.

04:53 After taking out her goons, Harley flips towards the Caped Crusader for one final attack, only

04:57 to be immediately countered and subdued.

04:59 This would become a running gag across the Arkham trilogy, with Arkham Knight even having

05:03 Batman sling Harley over his shoulder, simply because she presents zero real threat.

05:09 Elliot Salem - Army of Two - The Devil's Cartel Of all the co-operative shooters that

05:13 try to get you and a friend on board, Army of Two was one of the first, putting players

05:18 in the shoes of Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem.

05:20 While it delivered a pretty unique feeling co-op experience, with dual emotes and lots

05:24 of team tactics, the end result never fully shook that lukewarm critical reception.

05:29 Army of Two ended up getting three main entries, which all settled into the AA space quite

05:33 nicely.

05:34 As former PMC operatives turned mercenaries tackled threats for the highest bidder, the

05:38 most well-received was Army of Two - The Fortieth Day, which saw Salem turn on his former partner.

05:43 Elliot ended up going insane after Tyson abandoned him in combat to save a hostage.

05:47 Thus, he becomes a main antagonist later on in Army of Two - The Devil's Cartel.

05:51 In one of the game's many disappointing elements, though, you don't even get to

05:54 battle Salem, as instead you fight through scores of foot soldiers instead.

05:59 With Salem wounded among some flaming wreckage, he ends up being hauled off by Mexico's

06:03 special forces, providing an anticlimactic end to both The Devil's Cartel and the series

06:08 as a whole.

06:12 In the original Ratchet & Clank, the duo went head-to-head with Chairman Drek, the corrupt

06:17 leader of the Blog who sought to construct a new settlement from the pieces of other

06:20 planets.

06:21 The final battle unfolded fittingly on Ratchet's home planet of Veldin.

06:25 Some 14 years later, though, the original game in the series got an updated facelift

06:29 for the PlayStation 4.

06:30 For this awesome 2016 remake, many changes were made to levels and story, with a narrative

06:35 voiceover approach that let Insomniac address the past while preparing for the future.

06:40 While he appears to be the main primary antagonist, Drek is now unceremoniously written out the

06:44 story when Dr. Nefarious turns him into a sheep and shoots him out an airlock.

06:49 While this twist may have landed well enough with younger audiences, long-term fans had

06:53 mixed reactions.

06:54 Abruptly swapping to supposed fan favourite Dr. Nefarious was fine enough, but the final

06:59 encounter felt rushed as hell.

07:05 While Aliens is an undisputed classic of sci-fi cinema, Gearbox's outsourcing development

07:10 of the much-anticipated Colonial Marines marked one of the most notoriously bad releases of

07:15 all time.

07:16 Misrepresented and misleading to the fanbase, it was a colossal disappointment.

07:20 The few ambitious moments this had were swamped by poor programming, atrocious AI and a supreme

07:25 lack of polish.

07:26 In addition, Colonial Marines focused far too much on battling generic Weyland-Yutani

07:30 mercenaries rather than the Xenomorphs.

07:32 Slogging your way through this disappointing game isn't even worth the effort, as the

07:36 climactic boss fight is pitiful too.

07:38 After battling your way through the ruined surface of LV-426, it's time to make an

07:43 escape.

07:44 Much like the 1986 movie, the Xenomorph Queen is right there to block your path.

07:48 Now you'd think a final encounter with the Queen would be a worthy showdown.

07:52 Maybe use a power rig to smash its gooey face in, but no.

07:55 Much like the rest of the game, it's hopelessly disappointing, letting you engage by just

07:59 hitting some switches.

08:01 Afterwards, the nastiest Xenomorph of them all is just taken care of by the commanding

08:05 officer instead.

08:07 And those were just nine video game bosses defeated by a cutscene.

08:10 Let me know your favourites or the ones you hate the most down in the comments below.

08:14 Also please subscribe to the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast as we have three shows a week with

08:17 myself, Josh Brown, James Douse and of course Jules Gill.

08:20 For now, I've been Scott from WhatCulture.com and I'll catch you soon.

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