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The greatest showdowns in video games.
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00:00Gods, aliens, robots, monsters, some of the best fight scenes gaming has to offer run the full
00:05gamut in inter-species fisticuffs. The further from human they are, the more bombastic a showdown
00:11is guaranteed to be. Yet you know what, sometimes we mere humans can put up a good fight as well.
00:16And that's what we're here to talk about today. As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com,
00:19and these are the 10 best fight scenes in gaming history.
00:2310. Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII
00:25Sephiroth vs. Genesis vs. Angeel
00:28Bar none, Genesis is the worst Final Fantasy character Square Enix has ever created.
00:33The Soldier members' repeated recitals of Loveless whenever Zack encounters him are eye-rollingly dull,
00:38but by word can the man fight. His friendly, but not really, tussle with Sephiroth and Angeel,
00:44the top Shinra's sister Rey, represents one of Crisis Core's most memorable moments,
00:48despite not actually being playable. As you'll see through this video alone, Square is unmatched in
00:52the quantity of its cinematic gaming splendour, and the three-way training session between the
00:56three former heroes of Midgar is delectable to say the least. Even now, it's the only proper
01:02depiction of Sephiroth in battle as the good guy before he discovers his heinous origin and
01:06devolves into madness. Not until the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake over a decade later would
01:12Jenova's unwitting offspring be granted a follow-up on-screen brawl to rival the gratuitousness of this
01:17clash, and it still holds up even today as one of the very best that games have to offer.
01:229. Assassin's Creed Revelation – Ezio vs. the Templars
01:26A fitting bookend to Ezio's crusade against the Templars for the murder of his family,
01:31Assassin's Creed Revelation is the last in the franchise to deliver anything approaching a
01:35worthwhile story. Ubisoft's saga went off into the deep end, with each subsequent instalment without
01:40Desmond serving as a universal anchor for all the historic escapades the players are sent on,
01:45the result being a newfound adherence to gameplay first, story later.
01:48But we're here to talk about Ezio and how he's not just a sea-shining star,
01:53but one of gaming's most charismatic creations full stop. The Italian playboy-turned-staunched
01:57defender of free will travels to his inherited ancestral home in revelations following the
02:02events of Brotherhood, only to find some of those pesky Templars squatting in the fortress.
02:06And so, ever the optimist, Ezio takes it upon himself to drive out these unwelcome guests
02:11in a mesmerising, dance-like opening cinematic. Without so much as a line of spoken dialogue,
02:16the sequence tells us everything we need to know. Our hero lays waste to an entire posse
02:21of grunts with effortless grace before feigning defeat and allowing himself to be captured for
02:25easier access to their leader. TLDR, Ezio is the Middle Ages equivalent of John Wick.
02:318. Destiny 2 – Cayde-6 vs. The Scorn
02:34Bungie deliberately plucked the lowest-hanging fruit when it came to decide on a controversial
02:39sacrifice to coincide with Destiny 2's Forsaken expansion. Obvious marketing tactic aside,
02:45the studio at least gave Cayde-6 a fitting send-off, delivering, as promised, a genuinely
02:49emotional and badass end to the roguish protector of mankind. Is it believable? Well, you know,
02:55in the context of Cayde being an immortal guardian who can only truly die if his ghost is destroyed?
02:59Well, not really, actually. But the cinematic serves as a farewell to Nathan Fillion's digital
03:04insert, and it hits a home run in every other regard. Bungie has always been the king of hype,
03:09I mean, just see any trailer for a Destiny 2 season or expansion, and seeing Cayde-6 single-handedly
03:14take on a horde of his would-be killers in a last-stand scenario surpasses even that reputation
03:19thanks to sublime movie-like quality when it comes to choreography and storyboarding.
03:23Years after the fact, fans have since learned that the Hunter Vanguard, fortunately or annoyingly,
03:28depending on your opinion of fiction with no finality, isn't dead. Surprise! And Fillion will be
03:33returning to voice Cayde in Destiny 2's upcoming Final Shape expansion, but who knows if he'll be
03:37sticking around.
03:387. Star Wars The Old Republic – Darth Malgus vs. The Jedi Order
03:43Considering the direction that Disney has opted to take Star Wars in since it acquired the franchise,
03:48an all-out war between the Jedi and Sith playing out in live action is an unlikely prospect.
03:53Thankfully, Bioware has already delivered exactly that over a decade ago. Star Wars The Old Republic is
03:58still going strong in 2024, and while its in-game visuals leave a lot to be desired by today's
04:02standards, major story expansions are always accompanied by sumptuous cinematics. It's the
04:08original 30-minute long mini-movie preceding The Old Republic's initial launch in 2011 that still
04:13reigns supreme, however. Serving as an origin story for the big bad, Darth Malgus, the trailer explores
04:19how he came to be in the employ of the dark side, and ultimately how the manifestation of his hatred
04:23for
04:23the Jedi Order results in bloodshed. The key to making a lightsaber fight look good is choreography.
04:29And despite his missteps with the prequels, Lucas was keenly aware of that fact, as was Bioware,
04:34which delivered one hell of a force feast with Malgus' indiscriminate slaughter of, in his eyes,
04:39the heinous Jedi. That fans still considered that sequence to be some of the best Star Wars media
04:43available speaks volumes to Disney's slapdash handling of the IP, that's for sure.
04:486. Resident Evil 5 – Wesker vs. Chris Redfield
04:52Now look, Leon and Krause's infamous knife fight in Resident Evil 4 is great, but it's sorely lacking
04:57a special ingredient that elevates Resident Evil 5 to cult status, and that is a generous helping
05:03of cheese. Yes, Wesker is an all-powerful melting pot of god knows how many DNA-altering viruses,
05:09but Capcom's decision to portray these abilities in the most excessive way possible is what makes
05:14his growth as a villain and portrayal in-game the definition of a popcorn movie. That's not even
05:19mentioning his nemesis Chris Redfield, who had apparently decided to fight fire with fire by
05:23undergoing a transformation of his own, fuelled by TRT and steroids. The resulting nonsense,
05:28whenever these two men meet, is punctuated by endless posturing and angry punching from one
05:33aggressor, while the other is a middle-aged man behaving as if he's trying to seriously impress
05:36a band of teenagers who have just seen The Matrix for the first time. Each encounter is more bombastic
05:41than the last, culminating in a borderline slapstick confrontation aboard a stealth bomber,
05:46where both dudes resort to tactics ranging from wrestling to gun-fu and contests of who can sound
05:51like they've been gargling more gravel. If this all sounds like a negative, be assured it is exactly
05:56the opposite. This is Resident Evil at its absolute best.
06:005. Devil May Cry 4 – Dante vs. Nero
06:03Capcom's biggest achievement with Devil May Cry 4 is expertly managing to sidestep triggering riots
06:08in the streets from angry fanboys. Gamers don't traditionally take well to beloved heroes being
06:13supplanted by no-name wannabes, but Nero had the benefit of being introduced alongside his far
06:20more popular predecessor. As if to reassure all that Dante wasn't suddenly being sent to the farm,
06:25DMC4 kicks off immediately with a slick set-piece between the two engaging in battle. The only casualty
06:31of this conflict is a deserted church that, by some miracle, is left standing after the action
06:36escalates beyond snarky one-liners and fist-fighting. Considering how often the format is present on
06:41this list, the decision by developers to splice cutscenes and gameplay is a winning formula able
06:46to deliver spectacle with the former and immersion with the latter. The only change that would improve
06:50this banger of an introduction would be to give players the choice between controlling either
06:54protagonist right off the bat. However, considering how the campaign is structured, it makes sense that
06:59Capcom would want to get folks in Nero's corner as fast as possible.
07:024. Final Fantasy VII Remake Cloud vs Sephiroth
07:07Now, we still have no idea what exactly Sephiroth was babbling on about when he asked Cloud to join
07:12him in a defying fate at the climax of Final Fantasy VII Remake. Truth be told, though, it wouldn't have
07:16mattered if the former soldier hero had started monologuing about how great his mum is or spilling
07:21the secrets of the universe, because all eyes were on the pair's dance from the word go.
07:25Square knows too damn well how to build tension with intent, and even though a cinematic clash
07:30between the two was inevitable, it's easy to picture a knowing smile on the collective studio's face as
07:35it made players persevere through a gauntlet of boss battles just to get their rewards. The endorphins
07:40crescendo when it becomes evident that an in-game struggle against Sephiroth immediately precedes
07:44Cloud's movie quality last stand against Remake's big bad, and what a payoff it proves to be.
07:493. God of War Kratos vs. Baldur
07:53Remember the mild concern when it emerged that Sony Santa Monica was going down the soft reboot
07:58route for God of War? Would this new story feature the same Kratos that we'd all grown attached to?
08:03Would he still be a badass, and more importantly, would he still be able to hold the title of
08:07Angriest Man by the end of it? It took an hour with the reimagined series' first installment to learn
08:12the answer to all those burning questions was an emphatic yes. Following some brief exposition to
08:17establish the new world in which the ghost of Sparta has found himself in the circumstances of his
08:22relocation, Baldur comes a-knockin' and he's not here for a chinwag. Balls to the wall fisticuffs soon
08:27follow, and to put it bluntly, the sense of raw power you're made to feel while beating the living
08:32daylights out of Odin's unruly son is intoxicating. The utterly brutal battle of attrition is felt in
08:38every breath that Kratos takes, each intake of air more difficult than the last when Baldur refuses to
08:44concede victory even after being pummeled into submission. That the entire sequence is
08:48rendered in-engine, that's just outrageous. 2. Final Fantasy XVI – Clive vs. Every Icon
08:55It's unfair to label Final Fantasy XVI as a one-trick pony, because Clive's decade-spanning
09:01story is one of the best Square has ever delivered in a mainline series entry, but no matter how
09:05favourably the narrative is compared to the works of George R.R. Martin, it's the icon encounters
09:10littering its runtime that are going to be remembered way longer after its release. The
09:15sense of spectacle when facing off against Garuda, Bahamut, Odin, and the rest of Final
09:19Fantasy's iconic summons is unparalleled. That's not hyperbole either. The sheer amount of Cheddar
09:25Square invested in bringing each of Clive and, by proxy, Ifrit's major skirmishes to life must have
09:30been astronomical, but you know what? It was money well spent. The highlight has to be during the midway
09:36point where Clive finally gets to enact revenge on Titan's dominant Hugo Kupka. From beginning to
09:41end, the grudge match endures for well over an hour, deploying one outlandish set-piece after
09:46another. It's impossible not to involuntarily grin and laugh in disbelief as the literal
09:51earth-shattering entanglement refuses to end again and again, providing pure visceral and
09:56ordeal ecstasy, the latter coming courtesy of Masayashi Soken's thumping soundtrack.
10:021. Tekken 8 – Jin vs. Kazuya
10:05It's no surprise that one half of fighting game royalty would ultimately take the top
10:10spot this time around. The eighth instalment in Bandai Namco and Akira's long-running Tekken
10:15series is utterly unhinged in the best way possible, primarily due to how the climax of
10:20its central conflict is depicted. Jin and Kazuya's father and son feud FINALLY comes to a head
10:25following a decades-long power struggle, in a no-holds-barred battle of attrition between
10:30the two angry, sweaty, devil-powered men. How did a franchise primarily about unremarkable
10:36global martial arts tournaments evolve into the ultimate face-off between good and evil,
10:41you might ask? Well, the seven predecessors to this crowning cinematic achievement can fill you
10:45in there, but suffice to say that escalation is real. Jin and Kazuya are more or less gods at this
10:51point thanks to the devil gene. The final battle, which sees the pair attempt to resolve their
10:55family squabbles in literal outer space atop a meteorite slowly descending to Earth,
11:00eventually comes full circle back to the series' roots by stripping them of their paranormal abilities
11:04and reaching a resolution with humble fists. The entire mini-saga is a splicing of cinematic
11:10sorcery and actual gameplay deserving of whatever the gaming equivalent of a Michelin star is.
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