You can hide in the trenches and crouch. Just look for the green force fields to open up.

Yeah, but nobody who's doing it for the first time is going to know to do that. When you walk in, you're going to be totally focused on the boss, which means it's basically just guaranteed insta-death. Plus, homing missles weren't much of a thing until this point, and they do so much damage and move so fast that it's hard to notice that they can't move up or down. It seems like it would make more sense to encounter them in a more controlled environment earlier in the game, so that when this part happens, you're not completely disadvantaged.

Yeah I had the same problem, but after dying 2 times to the missiles I figured out its pattern and can defeat him now without taking any damage.

And that's the goal. That's what should happen. Learn, then dominate! :>

I don't know, I'm not a big fan of trial and error style gameplay that forces you to die on your initial run. You should at least get a chance to see the attack coming and have some knowledge on how to dodge it, otherwise it's just kind of cheap. Until that point, you've been conditioned to react to a homing attack by running in circles hoping the projectile hits a wall, which doesn't work very well here.

You saw them at Mechron though and they behaved similarly there. Anyway, there has to be some "I got my ass kicked, what just happened here, okay, let's analyze the situation, adapt... AHA! Got it! Die, ♥♥♥♥♥!", otherwise you can breeze through the game too easily.

I'd also like to add that you have lives in this. The penalty for death isn't very high in this. If this was a roguelike where death was permanent... yeah, that would be a ♥♥♥♥ move.

I'm also on the "too cheap" part of the barricade. Those missiles are too fast for a proper learning react and the dodge mechanic isn't highlighted in an appropriate manner. Besides, instakill attacks from bosses have always been just unfair. Yes, there are lives, but this is also a huge 20 minutes-long level, and if you haven't quicksaved you could easily be screwed.
You could lower speed and damage of the missiles, and maybe add some alarms before the rockets are fired? Audio feedback tends to do miracles in these situations, yepyep

Well, Mechron's missles were noticably slower and gave you more of a chance to anticipate and avoid them. You could tell he was about to attack, and you were given enough time and cover to prepare for it. With the Oculus, the game pulls a "made you look" and makes super fast missles come out of nowhere without warning.

It's weird because up until that point, everything was really quite fair. The purple homing shot guys first appear at a distance, which gives you time to notice that their shots are tracking you, and even if you don't get out of the way, it doesn't do all that much damage. The raingunners are the first thing you see in the level where they appear, and you can probably tell that when an enemy is looking at you and you hear a charging up sound, it's time to get out of the way. The kamikaze spiders walk at you slowly and make a loud ticking sound, and I'm sure everybody knows what ticking means. When you get to the Oculus, you see the green forcefields come down, and without warning you're suddenly hit with something that gives you next to no time to react and instakills you.

It would be like entering a new level and having a piece of the floor that looks just like all the others collapse underneath you, dropping you into an endless pit. Sure, you'll know not to step on it again in the future, but it's impossible to see it coming the first time because nothing about the game has warned you that random floor tiles will kill you. You're being punished for not knowing something you couldn't have possibly known, rather than for being bad at the game.

Carnevil, you should definitly add an extra life in the chamber before the boss. Just so you can die if you've been messing up really bad on the level.

Honestly, I think the only change necessary is a sound for the forcefield powering down that is audible enough that the player notices.

Thank God I stumbled upon this... ♥♥♥♥ that boss to Hell and back.

Originally posted by Carnevil:

And that's the goal. That's what should happen. Learn, then dominate! :>

eeeerrrrr... when oculus disappears but still keeps firing, is that supposed to be part of the learning experience or can we just collectively shout BUG? ;)

I died a thousand deaths before I succeeded, much like when I started dating. Never had that invisible occulus thing happen, though. He should eat a bowl of d##ks, though. :)

Originally posted by Retro:

I died a thousand deaths before I succeeded, much like when I started dating.

Wrack bosses are a metphor for life! :P