Summary
Over the years of gaming, we’ve gotten used to certain tropes. Why do protagonists talk to themselves so much, how does the enemy not see your companion, things like that. One of the funniest though has got to be enemy weak points. It seems like a bad idea to walk around with a glowing death mark on your body.
Yet all the same, it is one of the most common tropes in gaming. Lots of the time, it’s done poorly, discouraging you from doing anything but the most optimal thing. Other times, it might promote changing up your playstyle. Whether good or bad, sometimes you’ll find enemies that make it painfully obvious exactly where you should be aiming.
Back during the advent of 3D gaming, many extra little design tweaks had to be added to games to let players orientate themselves in the world. From navigational assistance to lock-on systems, the shift to 3D was a major jump. Ocarina of Time is home to so many of these changes, including our oh-so-beloved weakpoints.
People rightly adore Ocarina of Time, but can you think back on a boss in that game that doesn’t have an exceedingly obvious weak point. Even better, they all have a massive eyeball. This serves the dual purpose of both telling you where to attack, and also knowing which side of the enemy is front and back. Even if it’s hilariously obvious.
The Mass Effect series has undeniably gone through some major hurdles. We often talk about the ending of Mass Effect 3, but it’s also fair to mention that every Mass Effect game has a bit ofa plot twist ending, and the Human Reaper of Mass Effect 2 is no different.
While the whole encounter feels like a fever dream, it’s at least pretty difficult to fail seeing as this giant mechanoid human reaper has glowing eyeballs and a heart. It’s far from an interesting battle, and maybe even a little funny, but at least it has the same weak points as an actual human. Just glowing this time.
There is a standard default point when it comes to assuming the weak point of an enemy - aim for the head. It’s a smaller target, houses some pretty vital functions, massive damage. Not every game does this, obviously, and that’s why highlighted weak points exist. And then there’s Dead Space.
It flips just about every assumption when it comes to killing enemies. The head is just so they can see you, the torso doesn’t feel a damn thing. You want to stop them cutting you to pieces, you cut them to pieces first. It’s humourous that it feels so obvious in retrospect when it was a difficult task to make players understand at the time.
The Lost Planet series, long left dormant, has a simple premise. Humans have colonised a new world after destroying their own, the native aliens are hostile, and the provisional government actually wants to destroy another planet. Typical stuff.
Here’s where it gets even more typical - the Akrid. These are the alien that inhabit the planet, and it’s amazing natural selection hadn’t already finished them off. Every single one of them, from the most miniature to gargantuan has a glowing orange lump on them. Considering they’re all also pitch black on a snowy planet, that orange is impossible to miss.
Shadow of the Colossus is one of those games that isn’t for everyone, but that everyone should give a try nonetheless. Gameplay-wise, it is very simple without much new being introduced, instead twisting existing gameplay around its enemies and areas. That awareness, however, is what makes it such a poignant experience.
You see, each and every Colossi has a weak point, and it is painfully obvious. You can even lift your sword to guide you straight towards it. However, it is meant to be obvious because the challenge is in getting there. And if you feel bad after cleaving down these Colossi, then all the better that you had such an easy time doing it.
It’s hard to overstate the sheer influence of the Resident Evil series on video games to this day. It pioneered survival horror, elements of which are still immensely popular to this day. And being a series that centred around zombies, you could rest assured that (usually) the head was the weak point. Even as the games went on, this remained an overall truth.
Then comes Resident Evil 7, a much-needed overhaul for the series. And by all means, it was a resounding success, until you reached the final few hours. After plentiful unique bosses and areas, you are funnelled into a small room and forced to fight a mutated version of Jack. Just look at that thing! You don’t need to know anything about the game to know how to defeat him.
We often see new contenders for the crown of ‘Best Soulslike’, yet so few have even come close to taking that crown from Nioh. Taking the base concepts of Dark Souls, Nioh twisted those into a system of its own, with fast-paced combat, mythological enemies, and enticing weapon variety.
Owing to the very defined movesets of its weapons, it made targeting elements of an enemy firmly based on your familiarity with your weapon. So while just about every enemy has some glowing Amrita horn that will drain their Ki when destroyed, the very act of targeting it is based on your skill. A good reward for knowledge of the game and its systems.
You can’t say there’s another game quite like Dragon’s Dogma. Not only because it fused aspects of many other games together in amazing ways, but because it rarely got the attention it needed to inspire others. The act of combat in Dragon’s Dogma is the core of the game, blending character-action with enemies with much more depth than you’d expect.
Some of these enemies can be more subtle. Climb a Cyclops to stab it directly in the eyeball. Logical stuff. Then there are wyverns. You’d be hard-pressed to miss their weak spot since it is the massive glowing spot on its back where its hard can be found. Doesn’t make reaching it easy, though.
So, this list might be focusing on enemies, but we can stretch the definition of ‘enemy’ a little bit for this entry. In the Just Cause games, there are enemies in the traditional sense, humans that you shoot and such. But the weapons in Just Cause have never really felt like they’re for the enemies, have they?
Nah, they’re for blowing stuff up. And Just Cause makes it easier than just about any game to know what’s dangerous. You might have seen red barrels in other games, but Just Cause is painting whole buildings red so you know what’s explosive. So paint the world in semtex and ash, it’s what your arsenal is for.
1Genji: Days Of The Blade - Giant Crabs
Depending on how long you’ve been on the internet, you may or may not recall a game called Genji 2, infamously shown off at Sony’s 2006 E3 presentation. In it, we are told of the historical battles of Japan, brought to life in a way only the PS3 can achieve. An impressive claim, and standard affair for a new game.
Though advertised as Genji 2, it was finally released as Genji: Days Of The Blade
Then, a giant crab appears. This is delivered casually, as though giant crabs are a common annoyance in Japan. Ah, but crabs have a weakness you may not be aware of! If you flip them over, their stomach houses a glowing spot that you may attack for massive damage. Consider Japan saved from the Crustacean Crisis.
