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What do the following 3 games, plucked at random from the Hat of All Games (well, Hat of All Games Played by Yours Truly, anyway), have in common? Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy… Metal Gear Solid 2… Broken Sword: the Sleeping Dragon…? Answer: they all feature that inevitable stalwart of videogames past and present… the Final Boss. “What of it?” I hear you ask. Well… the reason I feel the need to bring up this Statement of Gaming Obviosity is that I am of the opinion that in most cases the Final Boss is the least innovative, least creative, most difficult and most out-of-character-with-the-feel-of-the-rest-of-the-game part of any game you might care to set your Dual Shock to the completion of.
I must first mention that I believe all 3 of the above to be pretty good games. Overall. In general. And in 2 out of 3 cases I have vanquished the Final Boss, albeit with no small amount of headscratchery and some small degree of recourse to a walkthrough. My problem, though, is thus… Why, in a game where much of the time is spent on puzzles or stealth or puzzles’n’stealth, is it such a given that in the end, when all is said and done, what it all comes down to is bashing a big monster with a sword, blowing away far too many robots with a rocket launcher, or numerous other variations on the theme of “Kill Big Evil Baddie With Big Powerful Weapon”? I mean, it’s all a bit predictable, is it not?
"But how else do you finish a game?” I hear you ponder.
Well come on, Game Designing Folks, get creative! OK, a big finish is important; there’s nothing worse than a weak ending to what is otherwise a satisfying game. A big ending, though, need not be a big, difficult, stupid ending. I feel it necessary to mention here a lesser known game you may or may not have heard of, called Pac-Man World 2. A jolly little platformer, providing a few hours of jumpy, collecty, bashy fun, until… a stupidly hard ending! It’s Pac-Man! Give us a break! On the other hand, there is the decidedly more “adult” Enter The Matrix, which maintains a fair, consistent, but reasonably challenging difficulty curve, and culminates in a not too difficult but definitely exciting chase, involving Sentinals and narrow pipes, and no small degree of satisfaction at the conclusion of it all.
(I won’t go into detail as to the exact nature of the endings of Pac-Man World 2 and Enter The Matrix - play the games and you’ll see what I mean…)
As I was saying… get creative! Finish things off with a puzzle, a particularly stealthy section, or why not simply reward our hours of hard work with a particularly stunning ending sequence? (i.e. no gameplay at all, just something beautiful to look at) I’m not saying abolish the Final Boss. It’s the right and proper ending for many a fighty, shooty, Kill The Evil Villain-type game. I would, however, like to see it become more innovative, more original… and less inevitable.
I must first mention that I believe all 3 of the above to be pretty good games. Overall. In general. And in 2 out of 3 cases I have vanquished the Final Boss, albeit with no small amount of headscratchery and some small degree of recourse to a walkthrough. My problem, though, is thus… Why, in a game where much of the time is spent on puzzles or stealth or puzzles’n’stealth, is it such a given that in the end, when all is said and done, what it all comes down to is bashing a big monster with a sword, blowing away far too many robots with a rocket launcher, or numerous other variations on the theme of “Kill Big Evil Baddie With Big Powerful Weapon”? I mean, it’s all a bit predictable, is it not?
"But how else do you finish a game?” I hear you ponder.
Well come on, Game Designing Folks, get creative! OK, a big finish is important; there’s nothing worse than a weak ending to what is otherwise a satisfying game. A big ending, though, need not be a big, difficult, stupid ending. I feel it necessary to mention here a lesser known game you may or may not have heard of, called Pac-Man World 2. A jolly little platformer, providing a few hours of jumpy, collecty, bashy fun, until… a stupidly hard ending! It’s Pac-Man! Give us a break! On the other hand, there is the decidedly more “adult” Enter The Matrix, which maintains a fair, consistent, but reasonably challenging difficulty curve, and culminates in a not too difficult but definitely exciting chase, involving Sentinals and narrow pipes, and no small degree of satisfaction at the conclusion of it all.
(I won’t go into detail as to the exact nature of the endings of Pac-Man World 2 and Enter The Matrix - play the games and you’ll see what I mean…)
As I was saying… get creative! Finish things off with a puzzle, a particularly stealthy section, or why not simply reward our hours of hard work with a particularly stunning ending sequence? (i.e. no gameplay at all, just something beautiful to look at) I’m not saying abolish the Final Boss. It’s the right and proper ending for many a fighty, shooty, Kill The Evil Villain-type game. I would, however, like to see it become more innovative, more original… and less inevitable.
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I agree, I hates bosses. But it wouldn't be a Mario game without having to fight Bowser at the end.
Games like Ninja Gaiden really do my head in though, it seems you can't turn a corner without having to fight some stupid screen filling boss.
Games like Ninja Gaiden really do my head in though, it seems you can't turn a corner without having to fight some stupid screen filling boss.
USE PARAGRAPHS!
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Well I agree in a way, certainly the bosses in Ninja Gaiden have me scratching my nails down the wall. But you have to have some sort of a finish, that tests all your skills to the limit.
In Ninja Gaiden (to use the example again), the game consists of slashing, hacking and hitting people to death repeatedly, so a boss is probably the best idea, as it tests all your fighting skills.
On other games like Splinter Cell, stealth is the key issue, so a final level will undoubtedly revolve around using all your stealth skills and resourcefulness. Obviously you don't have bosses per se in driving games, but you do in a way - you'll often have the most advanced opponents to beat towards the end.
If you drop the word 'boss' and used the term 'advanced opponents' then it makes perfect sense. Why have a game that is the same all the way through, don't you want it to get progressively more challenging as it gets towards the end?
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Well I agree in a way, certainly the bosses in Ninja Gaiden have me scratching my nails down the wall. But you have to have some sort of a finish, that tests all your skills to the limit.
In Ninja Gaiden (to use the example again), the game consists of slashing, hacking and hitting people to death repeatedly, so a boss is probably the best idea, as it tests all your fighting skills.
On other games like Splinter Cell, stealth is the key issue, so a final level will undoubtedly revolve around using all your stealth skills and resourcefulness. Obviously you don't have bosses per se in driving games, but you do in a way - you'll often have the most advanced opponents to beat towards the end.
If you drop the word 'boss' and used the term 'advanced opponents' then it makes perfect sense. Why have a game that is the same all the way through, don't you want it to get progressively more challenging as it gets towards the end?
Couldn't you write it in paragraphs?
Good post, you could do with splitting it into paragraphs though.
What do the following 3 games, plucked at random from the Hat of All Games (well, Hat of All Games Played by Yours Truly, anyway), have in common? Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy… Metal Gear Solid 2… Broken Sword: the Sleeping Dragon…? Answer: they all feature that inevitable stalwart of videogames past and present… the Final Boss. “What of it?” I hear you ask. Well… the reason I feel the need to bring up this Statement of Gaming Obviosity is that I am of the opinion that in most cases the Final Boss is the least innovative, least creative, most difficult and most out-of-character-with-the-feel-of-the-rest-of-the-game part of any game you might care to set your Dual Shock to the completion of.
I must first mention that I believe all 3 of the above to be pretty good games. Overall. In general. And in 2 out of 3 cases I have vanquished the Final Boss, albeit with no small amount of headscratchery and some small degree of recourse to a walkthrough. My problem, though, is thus… Why, in a game where much of the time is spent on puzzles or stealth or puzzles’n’stealth, is it such a given that in the end, when all is said and done, what it all comes down to is bashing a big monster with a sword, blowing away far too many robots with a rocket launcher, or numerous other variations on the theme of “Kill Big Evil Baddie With Big Powerful Weapon”? I mean, it’s all a bit predictable, is it not?
"But how else do you finish a game?” I hear you ponder.
Well come on, Game Designing Folks, get creative! OK, a big finish is important; there’s nothing worse than a weak ending to what is otherwise a satisfying game. A big ending, though, need not be a big, difficult, stupid ending. I feel it necessary to mention here a lesser known game you may or may not have heard of, called Pac-Man World 2. A jolly little platformer, providing a few hours of jumpy, collecty, bashy fun, until… a stupidly hard ending! It’s Pac-Man! Give us a break! On the other hand, there is the decidedly more “adult” Enter The Matrix, which maintains a fair, consistent, but reasonably challenging difficulty curve, and culminates in a not too difficult but definitely exciting chase, involving Sentinals and narrow pipes, and no small degree of satisfaction at the conclusion of it all.
(I won’t go into detail as to the exact nature of the endings of Pac-Man World 2 and Enter The Matrix - play the games and you’ll see what I mean…)
As I was saying… get creative! Finish things off with a puzzle, a particularly stealthy section, or why not simply reward our hours of hard work with a particularly stunning ending sequence? (i.e. no gameplay at all, just something beautiful to look at) I’m not saying abolish the Final Boss. It’s the right and proper ending for many a fighty, shooty, Kill The Evil Villain-type game. I would, however, like to see it become more innovative, more original… and less inevitable.
I must first mention that I believe all 3 of the above to be pretty good games. Overall. In general. And in 2 out of 3 cases I have vanquished the Final Boss, albeit with no small amount of headscratchery and some small degree of recourse to a walkthrough. My problem, though, is thus… Why, in a game where much of the time is spent on puzzles or stealth or puzzles’n’stealth, is it such a given that in the end, when all is said and done, what it all comes down to is bashing a big monster with a sword, blowing away far too many robots with a rocket launcher, or numerous other variations on the theme of “Kill Big Evil Baddie With Big Powerful Weapon”? I mean, it’s all a bit predictable, is it not?
"But how else do you finish a game?” I hear you ponder.
Well come on, Game Designing Folks, get creative! OK, a big finish is important; there’s nothing worse than a weak ending to what is otherwise a satisfying game. A big ending, though, need not be a big, difficult, stupid ending. I feel it necessary to mention here a lesser known game you may or may not have heard of, called Pac-Man World 2. A jolly little platformer, providing a few hours of jumpy, collecty, bashy fun, until… a stupidly hard ending! It’s Pac-Man! Give us a break! On the other hand, there is the decidedly more “adult” Enter The Matrix, which maintains a fair, consistent, but reasonably challenging difficulty curve, and culminates in a not too difficult but definitely exciting chase, involving Sentinals and narrow pipes, and no small degree of satisfaction at the conclusion of it all.
(I won’t go into detail as to the exact nature of the endings of Pac-Man World 2 and Enter The Matrix - play the games and you’ll see what I mean…)
As I was saying… get creative! Finish things off with a puzzle, a particularly stealthy section, or why not simply reward our hours of hard work with a particularly stunning ending sequence? (i.e. no gameplay at all, just something beautiful to look at) I’m not saying abolish the Final Boss. It’s the right and proper ending for many a fighty, shooty, Kill The Evil Villain-type game. I would, however, like to see it become more innovative, more original… and less inevitable.
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