Puppeteer is a great game for many reasons, but the one that stands out to me the most is its grandiose boss fights. Part Legend of Zelda and part Shadow of the Colossus, a boss fight concludes each level of Puppeteer that tests both your pattern recognition and manual dexterity - and on a scale so impressive because so large and so beautiful.

One of the early bosses, for example, flies above you and pounds, one at a time, several of the seven or so bongos which, side-by-side, comprise the floor. As he hits a bongo, it falls away leaving a gap in the ground. To survive, I had to first memorize which bongos he would hit from one of the safe areas situated on either side of the stage and then scurry beneath him before his final move, leaving a bomb in the process. Hurt by my explosive, the boss would fly high into the sky. To reach him, I had to platform up his body and attack his head. Three rotations was sufficient to dispatch this boss, although each round his patterns became more complex.

Although each boss fight follows the same basic formula, they never grow stale. I relished what pattern would come next and took great joy in executing the proper moves. Watching Kutaro dash through the air and cut up his foes in some of the boss fight ending quick time events had me rocking back and forth, grinning hysterically like few QTEs - hell, like few gameplay experiences of any kind - ever have. As a game that felt highly overlooked around GOTY time last year, I recommend giving Puppetter a chance, especially if you can pick it up for $40 or less.