Early on, I found that one of the themes that came up in many of my favorite games was atmosphere. I remember the first time I played Half-Life 2. At one point, I came to a beach with the sun setting over the water. The scenery was so amazing that I had to stop and just stare for a few seconds. In those few seconds, I got shot.

The amazing outdoor scenery and realistic run-down East European urban landscapes make Half-Life 2 an incredibly atmospheric and immersive game, but it’s by no means the only one. I had similar reactions to many areas in Oblivion. The snowy peaks of Bruma’s Jerall Mountains, the swamps around Bravil, and the softly glowing depths of Aleid ruins all stood out to me, made me feel that I was truly there.

The final pair of games in my immersive/atmospheric collection, which I feel I need to hit in tandem, is Dead Space and Doom 3. Both take place on dark spaceships filled with hideous demonic creatures. And while each does certain things better than the other, both make excellent use of light, darkness, and sound to create a tense and threatening atmosphere. They’re best played in the dark. Muahahahaha!

For as long as there have been video games, there have been ridiculous and stupid video game bosses. From the FBI Agent in Atari’s E.T. to Letz Shake in No More Heroes, who blew himself up before you ever got to fight him, ludicrous game bosses have a long and rich history. I’ve taken it upon myself to list my own personal bottom five video game bosses.

Number Five: Tarjan, the mad god, from Bards’ Tale 3

Back in 1990, Tarjan was the original blob of hit points. Final Fantasy later became known for this type of boss, but I’ve never played the original Final Fantasy, which was released the same year.

After a grueling dungeon, you managed to open the door at the center where the mad god had walled himself in. Three climactic battles later, you were ready to face Tarjan and his minions. Each round, he summoned ten new Black Slayers, nasty creatures that automatically kill you on any hit. Even with your adventuring party at full health, you had to have at least two characters cast the spell that resurrected the entire party every round, because you could be certain that by the time the spell was cast, a few of them would be killed. It wasn’t uncommon during this fight to have a character die once or twice per combat round. And Tarjan himself probably had upward of a million hit points. Even if you had multiple characters doing 9999 damage to him every round, the fight took quite a while. Although Tarjan is less ridiculous than the other bosses on this list, the over-the-top nature of this fight slides him into fifth place.

View video of Tarjan Boss Battle

Number Four: Gozer the Gozerian, from Ghostbusters

Although Gozer is like Tarjan in that they’re both gods, they’re on this list for opposite reasons. The Commodore 64 version of Ghostbusters wasn’t a bad game for its time – you’d drive around town blasting ghosts with unlicensed nuclear accelerators, earning money to upgrade your gear while keeping the city’s psychokinetic energy down to manageable levels. At the end, you had to dodge through the legs of the Staypuft marshmallow man to enter the building where Gozer’s gate opened. At the top, you faced Gozer the Gozerian. To beat Gozer, you had to… brace yourself… press the joystick either left or right. This caused the Ghostbusters to move towards each other and cross the streams. Then you’d win. Talk about anticlimactic. It was literally impossible to lose to Gozer. So congratulations, Gozer – you win the award for lamest boss I’ve ever seen in a game.

View video of Gozer Boss Battle

Number Three: Jen, from Prey

In a poorly-executed attempt at creating emotional conflict, the creators of Prey decided to kidnap your girlfriend and make her a boss. Halfway through the game, you’re ambushed by a four-legged alien with Gatling gun arms and your girlfriend’s head and torso. You’re only given a second to wonder whether you’re supposed to attack before your girlfriend starts unloading hot lead and lasers into you. It’s seriously freakish, but her cries for help as she’s attacking end up coming off more comical than sympathetic.

View video of Jen Boss Battle

Number Two: John Romero’s severed head on a stick, from Doom 2

This is the only game on the list that I haven’t played, but the very notion of having one of the game creator’s decapitated heads as a final boss is so out there that I couldn’t pass it up. As I understand it, the original intent was to place an object behind a wall, and have that object take damage through the area impact of a rocket launcher. When it was killed, the character would win. That object, of course, was John Romero’s head… on a stick. After Romero himself found out, he recorded himself saying “To win the game, you must kill me, John Romero” backwards, and the game was changed so that you had to turn clipping off and travel through the wall to fight him in order to beat the game. Freaking weird.

View video of John Romero’s Head Boss Battle

Number One: The Nihilanth, from Half-Life

After surviving a military attack from the guys you thought were on your side and trekking through an alien landscape in search of the alien leader, you eventually find… wha? A massive mutated infant with a flip-top head and tentacles for legs? Although the game was fantastic, the Nihilanth earns the top spot on my list for sheer absurdity.

View video of Nihilanth Boss Battle