10 Best Fight Scenes In Gaming History

Gods, aliens, robots, monsters, some of the best fight scenes gaming has to offer run the full gamut in inter-species fisticuffs

The further from human they are, the more bombastic a showdown is guaranteed to be

You know what, sometimes we mere humans can put up a good fight as well

And that's what we're here to talk about today. As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are the 10 best fight scenes in gaming history

Number 10, Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII. Sephiroth vs. Genesis vs. Angeel

Now, bar none, Genesis is the, well, worst Final Fantasy character Square Enix has ever created

The Soldier members' repeated recitals of Loveless whenever Zack encounters him are eye-rollingly dull

but by word can the man fight. His friendly, but not really, tussle with Sephiroth and Angeel atop Shinra's sister Rey

represents one of Crisis Core's most memorable moments, despite not actually being playable

As you'll see through this video alone, Square is unmatched in the quantity of its cinematic gaming splendor

and the three-way training session between the three former heroes of Midgar is delectable to say the least

Even now, it's the only proper depiction of Sephiroth in battle as the good guy

before he discovers his heinous origin and devolves into madness. Not until the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake over a decade later

would Jenova's unwitting offspring be granted a follow-up on-screen brawl to rival the gratuitousness of this clash

and it still holds up even today as one of the very best that games have to offer

9. Assassin's Creed Revelation – Ezio vs. The Templars A fitting bookend to Ezio's crusade against the Templars for the murder of his family

Assassin's Creed Revelation is the last in the franchise to deliver anything approaching a worthwhile story

Ubisoft's saga went off into the deep end with each subsequent installment without Desmond serving as a universal anchor for all the historic escapades the players are sent on

the result being a newfound adherence to gameplay first, story later. But we're here to talk about Ezio and how he's not just AC's shining star

but one of gaming's most charismatic creations full stop. The Italian playboy-turned-staunch defender of free will

travels to his inherited ancestral home in revelations following the events of brotherhood

only to find some of those pesky Templars squatting in the fortress. And so, ever the optimist, Ezio takes it upon himself to drive out these unwelcome guests

in a mesmerizing dance-like opening cinematic. Without so much as a line of spoken dialogue

the sequence tells us everything we need to know. Our hero lays waste to an entire posse of grunts with effortless grace

before feigning defeat and allowing himself to be captured for easier access to their leader

TLDR, Ezio is the Middle Ages equivalent of John Wick. Number 8, Destiny 2, Cayde 6 vs. The Scorn

Bungie deliberately plucked the lowest hanging fruit when it came to decide

on a controversial sacrifice to coincide with Destiny 2's Forsaken expansion. obvious marketing tactic aside the studio at least gave Cayde 6 a fitting send off delivering as promised a genuinely emotional and badass end to the roguish protector of mankind Is it believable

Well, you know, in the context of Cade being an immortal guardian who can only truly die if his ghost is destroyed

Well, not really, actually. But the cinematic serves as a farewell to Nathan Fillion's digital insert

and it hits a home run in every other regard. Bungie has always been the king of hype

I mean, just see any trailer for a Destiny 2 season or expansion. and seeing Cade-6 single-handedly take on a horde of his would-be killers in a last-hand scenario

surpasses even that reputation thanks to sublime movie-like quality when it comes to choreography and storyboarding

Years after the fact, fans have since learned that the Hunter Vanguard, fortunately or annoyingly depending on your opinion of fiction with no finality, isn't dead

Surprise! And Fillion will be returning to voice Cade in Destiny 2's upcoming Final Shape expansion

but who knows if he'll be sticking around. 7. Star Wars The Old Republic – Darth Malgus vs. The Jedi Order

Considering the direction that Disney has opted to take Star Wars in since it acquired the franchise

an all-out war between the Jedi and Sith playing out in live action is an unlikely prospect

Thankfully, Bioware has already delivered exactly that over a decade ago. Star Wars The Old Republic is still going strong in 2024

and while its in-game visuals leave a lot to be desired by today's standards, major story expansions are always accompanied by sumptuous cinematics

It's the original 30 minute long mini movie preceding the Old Republic's initial launch in 2011 that still reigns supreme however

Serving as an origin story for the big bad Darth Malgus The trailer explores how he came to be in the employ of the dark side

And ultimately how the manifestation of his hatred for the Jedi Order results in bloodshed

The key to making a lightsaber fight look good is choreography And despite his missteps with the prequels Lucas was keenly aware of that fact

as was Bioware, which delivered one hell of a forced feast with Maugus' indiscriminate slaughter

of, in his eyes, the heinous Jedi. That fans still consider that sequence to be some of the

best Star Wars media available speaks volumes to Disney's slapdash handling of the IP, that's for

sure. 6. Resident Evil 5 – Wesker vs. Chris Redfield Now look, Leon and Krause's infamous knife fight in Resident Evil 4 is great, but it's sorely

lacking a special ingredient that elevates Resident Evil 5 to cult status, and that is a

generous helping of cheese. Yes, Wesker is an all-powerful melting pot of god knows how many

DNA-altering viruses, but Capcom's decision to portray these abilities in the most excessive

way possible is what makes his growth as a villain and portrayal in-game the definition

of a popcorn movie. That's not even mentioning his nemesis Chris Redfield, who had apparently

decided to fight fire with fire by undergoing a transformation of his own, fueled by TRT and

steroids. The resulting nonsense whenever these two men meet is punctuated by endless posturing

an angry punching from one aggressor while the other is a middle man behaving as if he trying to seriously impress a band of teenagers who have just seen The Matrix for the first time Each encounter is more bombastic than the last culminating in a borderline slapstick confrontation aboard a stealth bomber

where both dudes resort to tactics ranging from wrestling to gun-fu and contests of who can sound like they've been gargling more gravel

If this all sounds like a negative, be assured it is exactly the opposite

This is Resident Evil at its absolute best. 5. Devil May Cry 4 Dante vs Nero

Capcom's biggest achievement with Devil May Cry 4 is expertly managing to sidestep triggering riots in the streets from angry fanboys

Gamers don't traditionally take well to beloved heroes being supplanted by no-name wannabes

I mean, just look at Metal Gear Solid 2. But Nero had the benefit of being introduced alongside his far more popular predecessor

As if to reassure all that Dante wasn't suddenly being sent to the farm, DMC4 kicks off immediately with a slick set-piece between the two engaging in battle

The only casualty of this conflict is a deserted church, that by some miracle is left standing after the action escalates beyond snarky one-liners and fistfighting

Considering how often the format is present on this list, the decision by developers to splice cutscenes and gameplay is a winning formula

able to deliver spectacle with the former and immersion with the latter. The only change that would improve this banger of an introduction

would be to give players the choice between controlling either protagonist right off the bat

However, considering how the campaign is structured, it makes sense that Capcom would want to get folks in Nero's corner as fast as possible

4. Final Fantasy VII Remake, Cloud vs. Sephiroth We still have no idea what exactly Sephiroth was babbling on about when he asked Cloud to join him in a defying fate at the climax of Final Fantasy VII Remake

Truth be told, though, it wouldn't have mattered if the former soldier hero had started monologuing about how great his mum is or spilling the secrets of the universe

because all eyes were on the pair's dance from the word go. Square knows too damn well how to build tension with intent, and even though a cinematic clash between the two was inevitable

it's easy to picture a knowing smile on the collective studio's face as it made players persevere through a gauntlet of boss battles just to get their rewards

The endorphins crescendo when it becomes evident that an in-game struggle against Sephiroth

immediately precedes Cloud's movie-quality last stand against remakes Big Bad, and what a payoff it proves to be

3. God of War – Kratos vs. Baldur Remember the mild concern when it emerged that Sony Santa Monica was going down the soft reboot route for God of War

Would this new story feature the same Kratos that we'd all grown attached to? Would he still be a badass

And more importantly, would he still be able to hold the title of Angriest Man by the end of it

It took an hour with the reimagined series' first installment to learn the answer to all those burning questions was an emphatic yes

Following some brief exposition to establish the new world in which the ghost of Sparta has found himself in the circumstances of his relocation Boulder comes a and he not here for a chinwag Balls to the wall fisticuffs soon follow and to put it bluntly the sense of raw power you made to feel while beating the living daylights out of Odin unruly son is intoxicating

The utterly brutal battle of attrition is felt in every breath that Kratos takes

each intake of air more difficult than the last when Boulder refuses to concede victory even after being pummeled into submission

That the entire sequence is rendered in-engine, that's just outrageous. 2. Final Fantasy XVI – Clive vs. Every Icon

It's unfair to label Final Fantasy XVI as a one-trick pony, because Clive's decade-spanning story is one of the best Square has ever delivered in a mainline series entry

but no matter how favourably the narrative is compared to the works of George R.R. Martin

it's the icon encounters littering its runtime that are going to be remembered way longer after its release

The sense of spectacle when facing off against Garuda, Bahamut, Odin, and the rest of Final Fantasy's iconic summons is unparalleled

That's not hyperbole either. The sheer amount of cheddar Square invested in bringing each of Clive

and, by proxy Ifrit's, major skirmishes to life must have been astronomical

But you know what? It was money well spent. The highlight has to be during the midway point

where Clive finally gets to enact revenge on Titan's dominant Hugo Kupka

From beginning to end, the grudge match endures for well over an hour

deploying one outlandish set piece after another. It's impossible not to involuntarily grin and laugh in disbelief as the literal earth-shattering entanglement refuses to end again and again

providing pure visceral and audio ecstasy, the latter coming courtesy of Masayashi Soken's thumping soundtrack

1. Tekken 8 – Jin vs. Kazuyo Now, it's no surprise that one half of fighting game royalty would ultimately take the top spot this time around

The eighth installment in Bandai Namco and Akira's long-running Tekken series is utterly unhinged in the best way possible

primarily due to how the climax of its central conflict is depicted. Jin and Kazuya's father and son feud finally comes to a head following a decades-long power struggle

in a no-holds-barred battle of attrition between the two angry, sweaty, devil-powered men

How did a franchise primarily about unremarkable global martial arts tournaments evolve into the ultimate face-off between good and evil, you might ask

Well, the seven predecessors to this crowning cinematic achievement can fill you in there

but suffice to say that escalation is real. Jin and Kazuya are more or less gods at this point, thanks to the Devil Gene

The final battle, which sees the pair attempt to resolve their family squabbles in literal outer space

atop a meteorite slowly descending to Earth, eventually comes full circle back to the series' roots

by stripping them of their paranormal abilities and reaching a resolution with humble fists

The entire mini-saga is a splicing of cinematic sorcery and actual gameplay

deserving of whatever the gaming equivalent of a Michelin star is