“Ugh, not that bucket full of screws again,” I thought the second time I turned up the Adjutant Resolution’s Sentinel ‘Mech from Installation 07 to grind up mine Halo infinite Play through to a standstill. Then he killed me. Again. And again. And again. I wasn’t obsessed unless I was, and I hated him for it, not least because it’s not even a tough, let alone fun, boss fight that gets you caught in an endless cycle of failure.
If you played Halo infinite, you probably remember Adjutant Resolution as the slow-floating Eye of Sauron, whose laser beams and plasma volleys were no match for the Master Chief and his grappling hook. If you even remember him, that means. I’m sure most people zoomed right past him, especially the second time even in legendary mode. the gloriole monitor is there to keep you from interfering with Forerunner technology, and it’s terrible at it. Until he met me.
When I first met him, everything went smoothly enough. But in the rematch I was too confident and in a rush. While I enjoy the action from moment to moment in Halo infinite and consider jumping on a banished banshee ship I was as one of the highlights of my time playing games last year disappointed with his campaign. The second half felt like the last hours of a day’s drive: I was irritable, tired and just wanted to get it over with. That gave Adjutant Resolution his chance, and he seized it with all his might.
During the first lap, I was only inches away from completely clearing his health meter, only to be shot in the back by one of his companion drones when I got greedy. Instead of being more careful, I tried to make up for the wasted time by playing more risky and aggressive games and was punished again for it. When fully titled, I hit my head against the wall, what felt like hours, but at best 20 minutes. Anyway, it was after midnight and I was furious – at myself, at Adjutant Resolution, and at the game. None of Halo infinitE’s boss fights are great, but his are on a different level.
Kotaku‘s Carolyn Petit recently summed up that sentiment perfectly on Twitter.
“You fight a boss in a video game and on one early try you get so ridiculously close that you know it’s perfectly feasible. she wrote earlier this week.
Of course everyone knows that the moment you smell it, put the controller down, go to sleep and come back fresh the next day. If it were that easy, it wouldn’t happen that often.
Although it can happen in any boss fight, something about the Adjutant Resolution felt on it. The second encounter takes place in a circular arena with a huge hexagonal column in the middle and smaller ones around it. Since you’re constantly walking backwards during combat, it’s easy to get caught in front of them and not quickly slide behind cover by rolling right or left. Its goal is often terrible, but occasionally it’s just right, which makes it particularly easy to lull yourself into a false sense of security.
And then there’s the character of Adjutant Resolution himself. He’s British? I have no idea why, but why, he sounds like the snooty butler from The nanny downloaded into millennia-old alien technology. Borderland Bosses made me shiver less. Plus, disposable dialogues burn themselves into your brain as they are repeated to the point of nausea in the heat of the moment. I don’t remember how many times I had to start the fight over, but each time Weapon, the Master Chief’s AI companion, would yell, “Oh look, he brought friends … did you hear me? He’s got friends! ”Oh yeah, I heard you gun.
When I finally defeated him the next day – of course quickly and easily on the first try – there was of course no feeling of achievement or relief. It was too late for either. I hadn’t just hit a boss Axe or a new biome completed in return. I had hit a mop that had already scrubbed the floor with me. I don’t know if I learned my lesson, but I finally finished the fight, which is more than either adjutant determination or I deserve it. He won’t be missing.
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