BOSS RUSH - You're Not The Boss of Me Now

• Wheatley - Portal 2
  

Idiots with superiority complexes. You probably know a couple at least. Lording it over you like you couldn't find your arse with both hands. Wheatley is one such individual. He comes across as a bumbling yet endearing sidekick for the start of your adventure. He's just trying to help you escape the technological dungeon you've been trapped in for 999999? years. (And disturb as many birds nests as possible it seems)
After a brush with GLaDOS and subsequent fight, you install him as the new OS for the facility. There he is, waving you off as he sends your elevator up to the surface... Wait... he's just realised something. You'd make the perfect test subject for some of the new experiments his new found "intelligence" has conjured up. (Don't call him a moron, he doesn't like that) So you run like the little lab rat you are through a gauntlet of increasingly moronic, (ahem) sorry, challenging portal puzzles.
Once you finally meet up with him again, face to lightbulb, he welcomes you to HIS LAIR! A little over dramatic by most people's standards. He says he's watched the footage of you beating GLaDOS repeatedly and learned from her mistakes. Turning on the deadly neurotoxin and equipping himself with a bomb shield, Wheatley thinks himself unstoppable. Thankfully you have a plan. With the aid of GLaDOS you portal around the room, stunning him with bombs and attaching corrupted cores to his body. This is to ultimately get the whole system to reject him and get GLaDOS back in command. Up to a point, the plan is a success. The system releases the override button. You portal to it. You get blown up! Oh yeah, Wheatley booby trapped it. It doesn't look good. (Did I mention that the place is falling down around you? No? Probably because my skills at a linear narrative are as top notch as Wheatley's ability to Science) The roof falls in to reveal the Moon. As a last ditch attempt, you fire a portal onto the Moon, creating a vacuum that begins to suck everything into space. (Including you) After a brief struggle, with Wheatley being flung screaming into the void, you are pulled back by GLaDOS.
I haven't laughed so hard during a final boss battle. The humour of the Portal series is brilliant. When the Moon comes into view I had to pause the game because I saw what was coming and there were tears in my eyes. It was a perfect "look behind you/I'm not falling for that" moment that I can honestly not remember being used so well (if at all) in another game. 

• Poseidon - God of War 3
  

God of War games likes to open with a bang. Kratos has fought off krackens, the Colossus of Rhodes, the occasional Titan or two. God of War 3 starts with you climbing up the body of the Titan, Gaia, while she climbs Mt. Olympus. Zeus, being the grumpy curmudgeon that he is, doesn't appreciate you trampling over his nice mountain and sends his brother, Poseidon, to deal with you.

So you're 20 minutes into the game and you already have the God of the Sea on your case. Luckily at this stage, Kratos is an old hand at dispatching deities. Poseidon doesn't just phone it in because he's the first boss either. The Lord of all things Soggy rocks up with a body made of water, stone and seafood parts. He's got tentacles and a trident to boot and he's going to try to send you back down the mountain. (It's a bit like that show Gladiator, except slightly higher stakes. And tentacles)

Rolling around, taking desperate slashes at the King of Splashes, you have an awesome view of other Titans climbing alongside you. The fight itself takes place right on top of Gaia's head. Starting off with a bit of smack talk, Poseidon embeds his crab claw-tipped tentacles into her face while using his trident to throw lightning at you. After slashing the claws free Gaia takes the opportunity to smash Poseidon against the side of Olympus, pinning him in place. Kratos then goes one-on-one with the "head" of the beast, beating on him until the core where the real Poseidon is enclosed is revealed. A repeat assault on Gaia's face ensues. After fending him off the second time, Gaia throws a punch. (Considering she's the size of a mountain you can guess it's no love tap she's dishing out either) After a brief struggle, she lands her hit, knocking you through the "body" and sending Kratos and the real Poseidon onto a nearby cliff edge. As Kratos stands up you see the watery creature Poseidon had created melt away down the mountain side.
Now it's just the two of them. A little more smack talk occurs. ("You're going to die/No, you're going to die" It's all very highbrow stuff) Once the prompt appears Kratos starts to wail on Poseidon, each hit being witnessed from Poseidon's point of view. It's a fantastic display of the brutal force that Kratos has become during his adventure plus an excellent way to start off the closing chapter of his assault on the Greek Gods. After a POV double eye gouge, Poseidon's broken body is cast over the cliff, landing in the ocean and creating a flood that seemingly engulfs the world. (Curious how they explain that In the new God of War)

• Erich Soders - HITMAN
  

You don't really get boss fights in Hitman. In fact, targets are more like puzzles. But in the interest of the topic, I'm  considering 2016s HITMAN a boss rush/puzzle murder spree in which Erich Soders is a shiny example of excellence. He's lying on a super high-tech operation table waiting for some advanced (and slightly shady) medical procedures. He can't run away if alerted (medically induced comas have that side effect) but he does have a freaking legion of suited goons that will mow you down at the slightest sign of barcoded assassin.

Soders is set up as the guy who has betrayed you and the Agency you work for. (Which is dumb. You and the Agency you work for are highly trained assassins) There he lies on his hospital bed, doctors moving in and out, security patrolling the corridors and guarding the doorways. You start off disguised as a patient, awaiting treatment. There are various options you can pursue. For instance, the whole hospital is run by a Hal 9000-esque A.I. called K.A.I. It does everything from page staff to operate the medical equipment. (Did Terminator teach us nothing?)
My favourite way to take Soders out is by manipulating K.A.I. to do the job for me. Breaking into his core and turning off his safety parameters should do the trick. Cool, now rather handily across from his core are the controls for the robotic arms above the operating table. After some liberal use of your fat assassin hands on a Star Trek touchscreen console, the arms will viciously "operate" on Soders until he is the appropriate level of dead. For me, the best contracts in the game are the ones you don't actually have to go near. You can flaunt your assassin skills without even entering the room.
It's no trip to the Moon or god getting their head panned in. No. You're right. I just really like robots.