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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 2.  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: The Random Encounter.  This subject appears in Serious Sam 3: BFE. This subject appears in Serious Sam: The Greek Encounter.  This subject appears in Serious Sam's Bogus Detour.  This subject appears in Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope.  This subject appears in I Hate Running Backwards.  This subject appears in Serious Sam: Tormental.  This subject appears in Serious Sam 4.  This subject appears in Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem.  This subject is from the Mental War era. 

 
"You ought to be more careful, you'll put an eye out!"
Sam Stone[src]
 

The Gnaar is a common reccuring enemy in the Serious Sam franchise. They have appeared in almost every Serious Sam title except for Serious Sam Advance. In Mental's army, Gnaars often serve as close-range assault or as cannon fodder.

Overview[]

Gnaar in-game

A female Gnaar in Serious Sam 3: BFE.

 

The Gnaar is a medium-sized bipedal creature originating from the planet Sirius. They are not very intelligent or organized, but were trained by Mental to attack opposing forces, which they will do with single-minded determination.[1]

Gnaars are somewhat humanoid in appearance, and stand slightly taller than an adult human. There are, however, many differences, such as the center of the Gnaar's body, which consists of a 'head' with a large, gaping mouth with several crooked rows of sharp teeth. Just above the mouth is a single large eye without eyelids. This eye serves as a Gnaar's main weakness, and incapacitating the eye by ripping it out of its socket will instantly kill the creature.[2]

Like humans, Gnaars have two arms and two legs, but they have neither head nor palms. Gnaars can walk either on two legs or use their arms as another set of legs, enabling them to walk on all fours. Whether they walk using just their legs or on all fours does not seem to affect their speed.

Appearances[]

In their appearances, Gnaars are usually the first or second enemy the player encounters, and often appear on the first level of every game. Males are often the first to be encountered and are more common than the females in some instances. As the player progresses, males become less common and are often replaced by the females.

Like Kleer Skeletons, Gnaars are often spawned as part of a trap whenever the player picks up a suspiciously placed item like a health pill or armor shard.

Serious Sam 1[]

In Serious Sam: The First Encounter, Gnaars are common enemies, with males appearing more frequently in the early levels than females. Nearly-invisible Gnaars and levitating occur quite frequently as well. In the later levels, female Gnaars start replacing male Gnaars.

In Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, females appear more often, though males are very rare, only appearing in the Tower of Babel, along with levitating Gnaars. Nearly-invisible Gnaars are completely absent in The Second Encounter, though they do appear on Serious difficulty. Their final appearance is in The Grand Cathedral.

Serious Sam: Xbox[]

Gnaars follow the same spawning mechanics as they do in both The First Encounter and The Second Encounter. A few Gnaars can be seen filming Sam in Valley of the Kings. They also appear in many cutscenes.

Serious Sam 2[]

Gnaars do not appear as enemies in this game this time around, but are often featured in cutscenes or as NPCs, often featuring them doing comedic acts. Two Gnaars are featured as minor characters; George B. Gnaar and Johnny Lee Gnaar. George works as a news reporter for GNN Live, while Johnny is a street perfomer.

Serious Sam: Double D[]

In this installment, Gnaars are common enemies, first appearing in Egyptian Assault either after the player picks up the secret Extra Large Health in the start of the level or after getting the first 12 Gauge Shotgun. Armored Gnaars are much rarer than normal variants, first appearing in Amber Chambers, though they appear in Egyptian Assault as well when playing the game on Serious difficulty.

Serious Sam 3: BFE[]

Unlike before, only female Gnaars appear in the game. Sam first encounters one on a rooftop of a building after falling out of his helicopter, and proceeds to rip its eye out. Throughout the level, more Gnaars appear, either as individuals or in small groups. Later on during the campaign, Gnaars appear more frequently, where they are usually accompanied by tougher enemies, though they are absent in The Guardian of Time, the final level of the game, and instead are replaced by stronger forces like Kleer Skeletons and Juvenile Antaresian Spiders.

Serious Sam: The Greek Encounter[]

Gnaars often appear with other weak enemies, such as Kleers and Slugs.

Serious Sam's Bogus Detour[]

Gnaars are very common in this game and first appear in Knee Deep in Sand. They usually appear in small to medium-sized groups in the early levels, then in bigger hordes in later levels, with many of them being spawned by Interstellar Tele-Destinations. Elite Gnaars don't appear in any official levels, though they can be used in custom maps.

A Gnaar called Mr. Buttersworth appears as a secret in Path of Feast/Fear. Finding him unlocks the Mr. Buttersworth achievement.

Serious Sam: Tormental[]

Unlike many games that Gnaars appear in, they are very rare in this title. They only appear in Mental Woods in the Mental totem rooms. A baby variant of the Gnaar, called the Gnaaw, appears in the Egypt level.

Serious Sam 4[]

The Gnaar's spawning mechanics are quite different this time around. Males are much more common than the females, and can show up in groups consisting of several at a time to large swarms. Males have a tendency to line up in front of each other when they chase the player, which can lead to the Gnaars swarming all over them. Females are still common in the game, but appear sparingly in the early levels.

Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]

Gnaars first appear in A Smell Of Petroleum Prevails, and appear in all other levels of the game, often appearing in groups. They are even more numerous when playing on New Game+ mode.

A giant mutated Gnaar duo, the Cryomorph Gnaar Pair, appear in Roadside Picnic, at the end of the "Alpha and Omega" side objective.

Behavior and skills[]

There exist both male and female Gnaars; their gender can be differentiated by their size and the coloration; males are purple-skinned, faster and smaller in size than the less common females, whose skin is green. The females are also larger, tougher, and more aggressive than the males.[3] In most of their appearances, Gnaars usually walk around on two legs, though sometimes they run towards the target on all fours. Gnaars are fast and are capable of catching up with an adult human (though they are not as fast as Kleer Skeletons) but the player can easily run away from them by sprinting.

Gnaars are not equipped with any weaponry, unlike most creatures seen in Mental's army. Instead, they rely on the sheer physical force of their strong, clawed hands (or teeth in some instances) to attack their opponent. This attack is slow, easy to avoid, and deals very low damage, though it is powerful enough to break through brick walls.[4] Due to their low health, a Gnaar can be easily dispached with the the use of firearms such as a shotgun or assault rifle. Another efficient way to defeat a Gnaar is by ripping it single eye out from its socket, which will instantly kill the creature.

As Mental has tampered with the genetic code of Gnaars, this has granted some Gnaars the ability to retract their limbs and float around, using bites to attack instead of punches.[3] In rare cases, Gnaars can turn almost invisible. If a Gnaar has taken sufficient damage, they will flinch for a moment before continuing to pursue the player aferwards.

Serious Sam: Double D/Serious Sam: Double D: XXL[]

Gnaars can jump to reach the player if they are above them, a trait shared with Vuvuzelators. In Serious Sam: Double D: XXL, an armored Gnaar variant exists; they are larger than the other variants and the armor on their front deflects most attacks. They still can be easily killed by shooting them from behind or with explosive weapons.

Serious Sam 3: BFE[]

Only female Gnaars appear in this installment, and behave quite differently than their classic counterparts. They will run on all fours, in a similar manner to a chimpanzee, to pursue the player upon sighting them. While running on all fours may seem lumbering, they can still achieve a significant speed, even if it appears clumsy. Their only attack is to punch the player, which deals minimal damage and can easily be avoided by strafing or walking backwards. Their health is similar to the Serious Sam 1 female Gnaar.

In the Serious Sam Fusion version of the game, the Gnaar's health has been slightly reduced. Additionally, if the player is playing on Hard or Serious difficulty, the Gnaar has been given the unique ability to perform a supercharged punch that deals more damage and a lot more knockback than their normal attack. This attack is signified by the Gnaar's fist glowing as it prepares to hit the player. Additionally, this attack's damage type is Kicking as opposed to the normal attack's Punch damage type.

Serious Sam's Bogus Detour[]

In Serious Sam's Bogus Detour, two types of Gnaars appear, the Infected Gnaar and the Elite Gnaar. The Elite Gnaar can be recognized by its pale color and is stronger than the male and female variants.

I Hate Running Backwards[]

While regular Gnaars and their tier 1 variants use melee attacks, the tier 2 Gnaar has a chance to spawn with a rocket on its back. These Gnaars will fly in a straight line at the player from the bottom of the screen. They are relatively easy to avoid, provided that the player strafes in the opposite direction before the rocket Gnaar hits.

Serious Sam 4/Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]

Both male and female Gnaars are present, just like in Serious Sam 1. This time, though, the females can now inflict up to 20 damage (four times more than the males) with their punches, which makes them a lot more dangerous than the more commonly seen males. The males are much faster and can easily swarm all over the player, but are very easy to eliminate due to their low health. The females are slower and harder to catch up with the player.

There exists a much larger, mutated version of Gnaars, the Cryomorph Gnaar Pair, which are featured as a boss in Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem. They both have much higher hitpoints than normal Gnaars and use a variety of different attacks.

Tactics[]

General[]

  • While an individual Gnaar is relatively easy to dispatch, they often attack in groups.
  • With other enemies, Gnaars are a low-priority target. Their attacks do not do much damage and can be easily dodged.
  • As Gnaars have low health, rapid-firing weapons such as the AK-74MX, M29 Infantry Assault Rifle, Thompson submachine gun, or XL2 Lasergun are extremely effective at taking them out in groups.
  • The male Gnaar can be killed with one shotgun blast from the 12 Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun, but two shots are required for females.
  • Melee weapons such as the Military Knife are very useful weapons at close range, and a single slice from the knife is enough to kill a Gnaar.
  • Gnaars flinch when they take a certain amount of damage, which can be useful if the player needs to keep a Gnaar some distance from them.

Serious Sam 1[]

  • The Gnaar can be easily dispatched with the coach gun, knife, P-LAH Chainsaw, and XOP Flamethrower at close-quarters.
  • The Gnaar's telltale grunts and growls are a sign of their presence.
  • Levitating Gnaars are more dangerous in the HD and Fusion versions as their attacks now have enough range such that they can damage the player even if they are simply backing away. Extra care should be taken as they can appear from any direction and attack without warning.
  • Luring Gnaars into the line of fire of other enemies is a useful tactic to kill them, as they can be used to block projectiles like Kleer chainballs, Common or Highlander Aludran Reptiloid fireballs, or Major Bio-mechanoid rockets.

Serious Sam 3: BFE[]

  • The Gnaar can be killed with a Melee Grab when it is not throwing a punch. Sam will grab the Gnaar and rip out its eyeball. The eyeball can then be thrown as a weapon to inflict minor damage, or dropped on the ground. The melee grab requires a couple of seconds and leaves the player vulnerable, which makes this attack impractical for groups.
  • Against groups, the Sledgehammer is an ideal weapon, as it can kill multiple of them in one hit. The weapon is especially useful in the early levels, where Gnaars are encountered frequently. Normally moving back and forth while swinging the sledgehammer suffices and is faster than the coach gun.
  • Due to their low health, a Gnaar can be easily dispatched from medium range with a single shot from the SOP38 Pistol and then finished off with the pump-action shotgun. This also helps to conserve ammo. This is more easily accomplished in the Fusion version as they only have 75 HP.
  • To save ammunition, groups of Gnaars can be taken out with the Sirian Mutilator. Up to four Gnaars can be lassoed with the Mutilator at once, and can be taken out in approximately 1 and half seconds after being lassoed by the beam.
  • Gnaars cannot hit a constantly retreating player.
  • Both types of shotguns or the assault rifle can dispatch a group of Gnaars with ease.
  • In the Fusion version of the game, when playing on Serious difficulty, a Gnaar's supercharged punch must be avoided as much as possible because of the increased damage and knockback that they deal. As soon as a Gnaar's fist glows, either back away from it quickly or kill it as quickly as possible.
  • With other enemies, Gnaars are low-priority targets as they don't do much damage and can be dodged fairly easily. The exception is if they block more dangerous enemies like Beheaded Kamikazes, Kleers, and Scrapjacks, in which case they can become medium or even high-priority targets.

Serious Sam: Double D[]

  • The Gnaar's swat attack can be avoided by simply either jumping over them or running away from them. They need to be right next to the player before they use their melee attack, and as long as the player is constantly moving, it will be unable to attack the player.
  • Gnaars are handy for being used as bases for the Jump Pad or for escaping or jumping over pits.
  • Pretty much any type of weapon and gunstack combination will work against the Gnaar because of its low health. The only weapon that can be risky are explosive weapons such as the LM32 Rocket Launcher or MadDog Grenade Launcher, as the Gnaar can get close enough that the explosion from an explosive weapon can harm the player when it kills the Gnaar.
  • The Insane-brand Chainsaw is not a good idea to use against Gnaars if the player wants to use them as platforms, as the Chainsaw will gib them.
  • Multiple Gnaars can be dealt with just like a single Gnaar can. The same weapons can also be used because of their low health.
  • The most effective way for killing armored Gnaars is by causing them to jump with the Jump Pad and shooting them from behind.
  • Gnaars are a low-priority threat when paired with other enemies. It is harmless as long as the player is walking and/or jumping, which happens very often as the player needs to be constantly moving in order to dodge other enemy attacks. In addition, the Gnaar's health is low enough that it can be killed in the crossfire between the player and other enemies.

Serious Sam's Bogus Detour[]

  • The Pistols are effective against lone and small groups of Gnaars, as their health is very low.
  • The shotgun and Thompson submachine gun are effective weapons against medium-sized groups of Gnaars. The shotgun can hit multiple of them at medium range, while the Thompson's high rate of fire and decent damage allows it to quickly kill the Gnaars.
  • The XL2 Lasergun and XM214-A Minigun work well against large groups of Gnaars.
  • The sledghammer is also effective against Gnaars, as it can hit several of them at once.
  • Explosive weapons are recommended to use when encountering a very large group of Gnaars. The lasergun is also effective if it has the Overcharged Laser upgrade.
  • Elite Gnaars are more dangerous than their normal counterparts. As such, stronger weapons are recommended for killing them.
  • When encountered with other enemies, Gnaars are low-priority targets, as their attacks can be easily avoided.
  • While Gnaars are easy to avoid, the player should make sure that they don't surround him/her, as their attacks deal a good amount of damage and can kill the player if they are not careful.

I Hate Running Backwards[]

  • As Gnaars have moderate health, their health is just high enough to be able to barely leave it alive from most heavy-hitting secondary weapons. The best ways to deal with Gnaars is to try and get them caught up in the chain reaction explosions of Kamikazes, then finish them off with a primary weapon.
  • It is not recommended to use secondary weapons against Gnaars, as this can be considered a waste of ammunition.
  • Use the hammer against lone Gnaars to knock them back if there are too many of them. It won't kill them outright, but can knock them back far enough to finish them off the next time they come too close.

Serious Sam: Tormental[]

Serious Sam 4/Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]

  • Gnaars (more specifically, the females) are a more serious threat in these games, as they have a tendency to spawn in large groups or swarms and can easily overwhelm the player. The female's punches now deal four times as much damage as the males, so they should be avoided or taken out whenever possible.
  • Just like with previous games, it takes one shot from the pump-action shotgun to kill a male, and two to kill a female.
  • Groups of them can easily be dispatched with strong or rapid-firing weapons like the Autoshotgun, assault rifle, coach gun, pump-action shotgun, or XL2 Lasergun.
  • If the player is being overwhelmed by large swarms of Gnaars mixed in with other enemies, gadgets such as Psychotropic Grenades work very well against them.
  • The combat knife is effective on small groups of both males and females, especially when dual-wielded. The knife's unique piercing properties allow the player to slice through rows of Gnaars if they are lined up close together. This tactics works especially well against males.
  • As a last resort, the FRPCL's secondary fire mode can be used to shred through large Gnaar groups.
  • When mixed with other enemies, female Gnaars can be medium priority targets in larger groups due to the speed they chase the player at.
  • In Siberian Mayhem, the XPMR "Burner" Raygun is very effective against large groups of Gnaars, as any of the Gnaars killed with it will explode, which often kills the other Gnaars around it.

Behind the scenes[]

  • Gnaars were very different in the Beta version of Serious Sam 1. They were supposed to have one "finger" just for stabbing smaller creatures in nature. They were also supposed to fire some kind of acid slime. They even had different eyes and teeth.
  • There is an extremely rare texture from early 1998 in a red color that was meant for the Gnaars that appear on the Lava Planet.
  • During the Alpha stage of The First Encounter, Gnaars were meant to appear on Sky City.
  • As seen in early Serious Sam 4 concept sketches, Gnaars underwent several different designs compared to the final version.

Related achievements[]

Serious Sam 3: BFE[]

Achievement Ophthalmologist
Ophthalmologist Ps 3 bronze
Remove 10 Gnaar eyes.

Serious Sam: Double D: XXL[]

Achievement Ceiling Slaughter
Ceiling Slaughter
Kill 10 Gnaar on ceiling spikes in Amethystine Depths
Achievement Gnaar-body's Fool
Gnaar-body's Fool 10 Gscore
Kill over 50 Gnaar in a single level

Serious Sam Fusion[]

Achievement Ophthalmologist SSF
Ophthalmologist
Remove 10 Gnaar eyes.

Trivia[]

  • Contrary to popular belief, the term "Gnaar" is actually pronounced "g-naa", not "naa". This is confirmed from the in-game dialogue in Serious Sam 4, as heard from several characters.[5][6]
    • It is also not known if the term "Gnaar" has a plural.[6]
  • A few Gnaars appear as NPCs or Easter eggs in the series. There are two Gnaars in Serious Sam 2; George B. Gnaar and Johnny Lee Gnaar. In Serious Sam: Double D, a green Gnaar called Templeton appears in a secret room of Amethystine Depths, and helping him get out of the room allows him to open a door which only he can open, revealing some items. In Serious Sam's Bogus Detour, there is a Gnaar called Mr. Buttersworth.
  • Like flies, Gnaars will feed on pretty much any organic matter they can get to, from rotting garbage to human corpses. According to NETRICSA, this has resulted in their mouths having a bad odor.[2]
  • In the original version of Serious Sam HD, Gnaars can be seen opening and closing their eyes and mouths, although this is not seen in the Fusion version.
  • Gnaars have a unique walking animation in Serious Sam HD, which is only seen when viewing them via NETRICSA. They are never seen walking in-game, as they always run up to the player to attack by default.
  • Despite not being very intelligent, there are a few instances seen in the series where Gnaars have been known to speak, even in English. The first instance of this is George B. Gnaar in Serious Sam 2, who works as a news presenter. The second time a Gnaar speaks is in Serious Sam 3: BFE. The Gnaar that speaks in this installment speaks in an inaudible alien language. She tells Sam that Tah-Um (Mental) is going to "moon" him before Sam cuts her off.[7]
  • Gnaars appear in a cutscene near the end of Valley of the Kings in Serious Sam: Xbox. Here, they can be seen filming Sam multiple times to mess around with him. He eventually kills them and destroys their recording equipment.
  • In most pre-Serious Sam Fusion releases, an on-screen obituary message reading "[player name] was beaten up by a Gnaar." will appear if a player dies to a Gnaar in co-op.
  • Gnaars were given a new model in Serious Sam Fusion version of Serious Sam HD. They now have more detailed mouths and teeth and have been given new running animations.
  • Serious Sam: Next Encounter and Serious Sam 2 are the only games in the series that Gnaars appear in where they are not encountered as enemies.
  • A male Gnaar stuck in a snowball appears in the Serious Sam: Xbox version of Land of the Damned. Shooting the snowball causes him to break free and attack the player.

Gallery[]

Artwork[]

Serious Sam 1[]

Pre-release[]

Retail[]

Serious Sam 2[]

Serious Sam: Double D[]

Serious Sam: The Random Encounter[]

Serious Sam 3: BFE[]

Pre-release[]

Retail[]

Serious Sam: The Greek Encounter[]

Serious Sam's Bogus Detour[]

I Hate Running Backwards[]

Serious Sam: Tormental[]

Serious Sam 4[]

Pre-release[]

Retail[]

List of appearances[]

References[]

  1. Serious Sam 4 NETRICSA description
  2. 2.0 2.1 Serious Sam 3: BFE NETRICSA description
  3. 3.0 3.1 Serious Sam 1 NETRICSA description
  4. Gnaars can be seen breaking through walls in the Serious Sam 3: BFE level Summer in Cairo
  5. Serious Sam 4 level: Death from Below (conversation between Rodriguez and Kenny)
  6. 6.0 6.1 Serious Sam 4 level: One for the Road (Kenny's dialogue heard via radio)
  7. Opening cutscene in the level The Last Man on Earth

See also[]

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