Put your feet up and grab a nice cup of Earl Grey as it’s once again time to take another butcher’s at some of gaming’s most memorable boss battles. Last time around we revisited the lumbering El Gigante from Resident Evil 4, which had recently arrived with a splash of HD make-up on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.
In our latest entry, we cast our minds back to the late 90s, focusing on the classic adventure sequel Tomb Raider II. Indeed, Lara’s action-packed sequel upped the ante in just about conceivable area, from the scale of the environments, puzzles and of course enemies – especially the bosses. And Croft’s catacomb-creeping romp signs off with quite the whopper, pitting our heroine against a slithery, fire-breathing Dragon. Where’s Bugs Bunny with a comical hose pipe when you need him, eh?
Unlike other creatures Lara comes across, this lumbering lizard is actually the former Italian mobster and cult leader Marco Bartoli. Hell bent on utilizing the untold powers of the mysterious Dagger of Xian, Bartoli commits suicide by plunging the blade deep into his heart, thus transforming him into the mythical creature. Unfortunately for Lara, she’s the only person to keep the scaly beast company, and has to go about the task of felling the creature. Sure enough, she’s loaded to the teeth with Uzis and grenade launchers, but in reality the Dragon is a giant ammo sponge; the only way to kill it is to remove the blade from its heart. Easier said than done, you might say.
The Dragon itself is a big chap that eats up space, so getting a shot in shouldn’t be a problem. Once you damage the beast enough, it’ll hit the dirt for roughly 15 seconds, giving Lara a short window in which she can approach the Dragon and remove the dagger. Needless to say, Uzis, the Grenade Launcher and M16 are your best friends here. However, your scaly opponent won’t make it easy for you, attempting to make Croft kebabs out of our voluptuous heroine at every opportunity. His breath has a meaty range, and if Lara gets hit she’ll light up like a matchstick forcing her to cool off in the various pools of water dotted throughout the room. Going up close isn’t a good idea either, as it’ll cut you to ribbons with its claws. As such, you’ll want to avoid weapons like the Shotgun here and stick to your rapid-fire arsenal.
The most efficient strategy is to keep your distance and plug away with an automatic weapon, using the pillars as cover and legging it whenever the Dragon gets too close for comfort. On the flip side, if you’re too far away when it falls, you may not have enough time to reach your fallen foe and remove the dagger. As such, try and close the gap when you can, but don’t go in too close. Keep out of range of its fire attack but don’t venture too far and you should be fine and dandy. The boss can be surprisingly quick when it wants to though, so watch out. When the beast does go down, run your arse off and give the dagger a good pull – the Dragon will dissolve into gooey mess, defeated.
Now you just need to figure out how to get out of the collapsing cave without getting your pretty head squashed by debris…
Stay tuned to PSU.com for more Badass Bosses in the near future.