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This subject appears in Serious Sam: The First Encounter.  This subject appears in Serious Sam: The Second Encounter.  This subject appears in Serious Sam: Next Encounter.  This subject appears in Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter.  This subject appears in Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter.  This subject appears in Serious Sam: Double D.  This subject appears in Serious Sam 4.  This subject appears in Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem.  This subject is from the Mental War era. 

The Beheaded Bomber is a reccuring enemy in the Serious Sam series, and one of several varieties of beheaded soldiers. He is equipped with bombs, which he uses primarily to throw at the target from a distance. This makes him more dangerous than the more commonly seen Beheaded Firecrackers and Beheaded Rocketeers.

Overview[]

The Beheaded Bomber appears as a headless man wearing a green shirt, combat pants and boots. He is an executed Sirian soldier that has been raised from the dead by Mental's cyber-zombification technology.[1] He is equipped with a life control unit and vocal synthesizer, as used by other undead Sirian infantry. As with many other Sirian soldiers resurrected and controlled by Mental, the Bomber symbolically carries his own head, which functions as an additional source of audio and visual input. In Serious Sam HD, Serious Sam: Double D and I Hate Running Backwards, his head is attached to his neck on a spike.

The Beheaded Bomber carries a large supply of miniaturized bombs in a pouch, which suddenly expand upon contact with Earth's atmosphere. The mechanism for this is not fully understood, but it is thought that an unidentified alien element reacts with nitrogen to form a highly unstable explosive compound.[2]

In Serious Sam: Double D: XXL, there exists an armored version of the Bomber. Their armor deflects most attacks from the front, like bullets and laser beams, making them tougher than the normal variants. They are still vulnerable to attacks from the rear and specific weapon upgrades like the Cybernetic Bees.

Appearances[]

Bombers are generally rare enemies whenever they appear, albeit being slightly more common than Beheaded Firecrackers. Bombers are either found at ground level with Beheaded Rocketeers or on places on elevated positions such as low pillars and rooftops. They are normally found in smaller groups of other beheaded enemies.

Serious Sam 1[]

Beheaded Bombers are fairly common enemies in both The First Encounter and The Second Encounter. In The First Encounter, Bombers are first seen in Temple of Hatshepsut, and then appear in small groups in the next few levels along with other beheaded enemies. As the player progresses through the game, they occur less frequently and are soon replaced by stronger enemies.

In The Second Encounter, Bombers are less frequently encountered than before. They begin to appear in Sierra de Chiapas and are most commonly found in the Persian era. They are otherwise commonly replaced by stronger enemies, like Zorg Mercenaries and Commanders.

Serious Sam: Next Encounter[]

Bombers first appear in Senator Cicero's Villa and most of the levels afterwards. They are more common compared to Serious Sam 1.

Serious Sam: Double D[]

As with the other Beheaded types, Bombers are much more common compared to the other games, first appearing in Egyptian Assault and almost of the levels afterwards in groups. The armored Bomber first appears in Flying Reptiles.

I Hate Running Backwards[]

Bombers appear in Jack of the Jungle and Specific Rim in small groups.

Serious Sam 4[]

Bombers are first encountered in Death from Above, and appear every now and then along with other beheaded enemies in the early levels. They become much rarer later on.

Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]

The first Bombers appear in A Smell Of Petroleum Prevails. Afterwards, they appear sparingly along with Firecrackers and Rocketeers. They are much more common when playing on New Game+.

Behavior and skills[]

The Bomber's primary attack is to throw bombs at the target. These bombs make a slight whooshing sounds once they are tossed, until they hit the ground or the player and detonate. After the Bomber has thrown a bomb, there will be a slight delay before he tosses another one. Bombs thrown by the Bomber explode on impact with the ground or a live target. Bomber grenades have a smaller splash damage radius compared to the MK III grenades, but can deal moderate damage if they hit the player directly, especially when playing on higher difficulties.

When killed, the Bomber will explode soon after his death (in Next Encounter, he always instantly explodes regardless of what kills him). He will also explode when gibbed with a shotgun, explosive or piercing weapon, sustained fire from automatic weapons like the XL2 Lasergun (especially if Serious Damage is active), or by getting crushed by a moving object (e.g. a door). In Serious Sam 4 and Siberian Mayhem, though, the XM214-A Minigun and lasergun will always gib him regardless of the damage dealt to him upon death. In most games, the Bomber does not melee the player when they get too close to him, with the exception of Serious Sam 4 and Siberian Mayhem.

I Hate Running Backwards[]

Instead of throwing bombs, Bombers will throw C-4 explosives at the player. Upgraded Bombers are able to use stun bombs, with each tier upgrade increasing the chances of them using the bombs. If the player is hit by a stun bomb, it won't cause any damage, but this will impede the player's movement for a short period of time.

Serious Sam 4/Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]

The Bomber behaves slightly differently, and he has a slightly longer delay between throwing grenades. Instead of just tossing bombs like before, he will take a grenade out of his pouch, pull the pin off it, and then throw it at the player. He has also been given a melee attack, and he will kick or punch the player if they get within close enough range. This attack is much weaker than the bombs he throws.

When playing on Serious difficulty or New Game+, the Bomber will occasionally throw up to three bombs as opposed to just one, mimicking the Beheaded Commando's multi-bomb throw attack in Serious Sam Classics: Revolution. The main difference between the two is that the Commando can throw up to five bombs at once, whereas the Bomber throws at most three.

Tactics[]

General[]

  • Small and large groups should be dealt with in haste, as their explosive bombs are more powerful than a Rocketeer or Firecracker missile or even a Kleer Skeleton's chainball projectile.
  • The Bomber's grenades can be shot in mid-air, should consequences be dire.
  • Melee attacks are not recommended, as the Bomber can still throw grenades at a short distance when approaching. If the player is close to the death explosion, being caught in the radius can take off a bit of health and armor, especially on higher difficulty levels. However, this is not as powerful as a Beheaded Kamikaze's death explosion, which deals 30 base damage at most.
  • Bombers are not immune to their own grenades, which can lead to clever tactics of causing one to kill themselves or another Bomber or beheaded enemy, such as Kamikazes.
  • It is not recommended to use a shotgun, the grenade launcher, or rocket launcher at close range against Bombers, as they will explode upon death, which can cause moderate damage to the player if they are within the blast radius.
  • Like Firecrackers, Bombers can be dangerous if mixed in with other enemies. When this occurs, Bombers are usually perched on high spots where they can rain down grenades without the player noticing until an explosion is heard, or if the grenade collides. If left unchecked, Bombers can inflict a large amount of damage while the player is fighting more dangerous threats like Kleers and Common Aludran Reptiloids.
  • Because the bombs have such a small blast radius, the player can consistently avoid Bombers' grenades by strafing continuously in a single direction, even at close range.
  • On Hard difficulty and higher, the bombs thrown by the Bomber can deal even more damage than they would on lower difficulties. As such, they should be treated as medium to high-priority targets.

Serious Sam 1[]

  • Despite their dangerous attacks, Bombers are very weak enemies and have the same health as other beheaded soldiers. They can be taken out with two shots from either the Schofield .45 or the Thompson submachine gun. These weapons are most effective at dispatching Bombers from medium to far range without getting caught in their blast radius when they die.
  • For groups, the aforementioned weapons or the 12 Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun work very well against groups of Bombers, especially when mixed with groups of other beheaded enemies in the early levels. It is not recommended to use this weapon in close-quarters, though, as this puts the player at risk of being damaged by the Bomber's grenades as he dies.
  • For obvious reasons, the P-LAH Chainsaw should not be used against the Bomber, as it will always cause him to explode, damaging the player.

Serious Sam: Next Encounter[]

Serious Sam: Double D[]

  • As with the other Beheaded types, the Bomber is very weak. Even a few shots from a single Type II Machine Pistol can quickly kill him.
  • Gunstack combinations of both the 12 Gauge Shotgun and thompson are effective against groups of Bombers.
  • The armored Bomber can be killed by making him jump with the Jump Pad and shooting his back while he jumps and is unable to attack. Homing weapon upgrades and the Cybernetic Bees are also effective against them.

I Hate Running Backwards[]

  • Like other weak enemies in the game, Bombers are a rather basic enemy with low health and can be easily killed with any weapon, even on higher tiers.
    • This does not mean that the Bombers should be underestimated, however, as they are always placed far into the back of the playing field and use enemies in front of them as meat shields, meaning it may take some time before the player has a clear shot at the Bombers.

Serious Sam 4/Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]

  • The pump-action shotgun and SOP38 Pistol are good weapons for taking out small groups of Bombers.
  • For groups of Bombers combined with other beheaded soldiers, the AK-74MX or M29 Infantry Assault Rifle works well on them.
  • Like in previous games, the player should not get too close to a Bomber after he dies.

Behind the scenes[]

  • An early Alpha shot of the Bomber reveals that they were supposed to have a chainsaw and a spike on the stump of their necks. The spike was eventually added back to the Bomber in Serious Sam HD, but with their decapitated heads being stuck into it. This design was similar to the Firecracker from the Alpha version, both would appear to have pikes in their necks, holding red inhuman heads in one hand, and a chainsaw in the other. The difference between the two enemies being the clothing attire, where the Bomber would sport a green t-shirt with a strange pattern embedded on it, and white pants.
  • According to the Bomber's official description on the (now archived) official Croteam website, it's revealed in the Bomber's backstory that their bombs are in fact modified versions of a high-tech pyrotechnic toy that was made by the Sirians.[3] These "bombs" were for comedic effect, and would inflate and become larger when thrown. Originally, the explosion was just a dramatic effect to celebrate national holidays, but Mental got hold of the design and changed it to be a deadly weapon.[3]

Trivia[]

Serious Sam 1[]

  • The Bomber's grenades appear identical to the bombs used by the Kamikaze.
  • In the classic games, if the player disables gibbing, the Bomber's corpse flies up as he explodes then disappears in the same way as other enemies.

Serious Sam: Double D[]

I Hate Running Backwards[]

  • Like the Firecracker, the Bomber uses Herobrine's head, a popular Minecraft community icon.

Serious Sam 4/Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]

  • The Bomber has a unique animation which involves him priming his grenade before he tosses them at the player. This results in him having a slightly longer delay between his throws in comparison to the Bomber's throw rate in older games.

Gallery[]

Serious Sam 1[]

Pre-release[]

Retail[]

Serious Sam: Next Encounter[]

Serious Sam: Double D[]

I Hate Running Backwards[]

Serious Sam 4[]

List of appearances[]

References[]

  1. NETRICSA description
  2. Serious Sam 4 NETRICSA description
  3. 3.0 3.1 Ia icon Serious Sam official website (Archived)
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