• Posted June 28th, 2010 at 10:45 EDT by Mike Harradence
• 10 Comments

Love them or loathe them, boss battles are an intrinsic part of the videogame experience. Serving as both the source of immense accomplishment and red mist, hair-pulling frustration, these crucial sequences require patience, some flexible finger action and – more than often – plain old-fashioned luck.

Sony’s PlayStation brand has played host to some unforgettable big baddies that have rendered even the most hardened gamers here at PSU Towers to bouts of cold sweats and sleepless nights, which is why we’ve decided to kick start a new series of features dedicated solely to the PS brand’s most memorable boss battles. Here, we highlight each bosses’ unique attributes and offer some handy tips on how to defeat them.

Join us now for our inaugural entry in Badass Bosses, where we dissect Uncharted 2’s resident Big Bad, Zoran Lazarevic.

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Bald, badass and as ruthless as they come, Lazarevic represents a far more appropriate end-of-game showdown than the relatively lackluster stand-off with Uncharted’s Nevarro, giving Drake a good run for his money before finally meeting his maker. Armed with a rather deadly double-barrel shotgun, the relentless warlord makes his final stand in the heart of the mythical Shambala; to make matters worse, Drake stumbles across Lazarevic just as the evil slap head has ingested a handful of sap from the Tree of Shambala, augmenting him with super-human strength and near-invulnerability.

Defeating the mad man isn’t an easy task; he’s pretty light on his feet, armed to the teeth and hell bent on ending Drake’s life in the most painful means possible. The fight itself becomes a game of cat and mouse, with Drake forced to flee from old baldy locks until a window of opportunity opens in which to attack – and by that, we mean resin. Yes, explosive resin is your best friend in this battle. Without it, you may as well throw in the towel, since your firearms are rendered pretty much useless. Fill Lazarevic full of lead and he’ll simply make use of his new regenerative abilities and continue his assault.

 

 

To cause any damage to your nemesis, you have to lure him past the many resin pods dotted throughout the area and detonate them by shooting at them. This will stagger Lazarevic and damage him slightly, and must be repeated several times in order to defeat him. Naturally, your adversary will do everything in his path to ensure you aren’t successful; he’ll take pot shots at you with his boomstick at every opportunity, grab and throttle you in close proximity, and lob grenades at you from a distance (the latter of which are not only horrifyingly accurate but also increase in numbers as the battle wages on).

In addition, it isn’t just big bad and bald you have to worry about – your situation is further exacerbated by falling debris, hazardous pits, plus the resin itself, which can eliminate Drake if the substance is detonated within close proximity to our hero. Make no mistake – this battle is a marathon, not a sprint. Prepare yourself for a long slog for a fight no matter which way you slice it.

We'll be scrutinizing more bosses in the future here at PSU, so stay tuned.