Cryomorph Gnaar Pair

Cryomorph Gnaar Pair
General information
Type	Mutated Gnaars
Affiliation	Mental's Horde
Individual information
Health	12,000 each
Attacks / weapons	Melee strike (20-40) Throwing ice chunks
Game information
Designed by	Admir Elezovic, Kirill Zakharkevich and Nikola Koshkarov (concept art)

 

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall."

―Sam Stone

The Cryomorph Gnaar Pair are a male and female Gnaar that are much tougher and have high endurance than normal Gnaars. They are an optional boss fight in Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem, encountered at the end of the "Alpha and Omega" side objective in Roadside Picnic. They also appear in the survival map The Snowrider once the seventh wave has been reached.

Overview

These Gnaars are part of an unidentified, previously unknown form of common Gnaar pair. They both exhibit signs of gigantism, which is believed to have been caused by low-level radiation emissions from the Sirian portal and the crystals found at the top-secret Dig Site no.36.

Appearances

Sam encounters the Gnaar Pair after exploring the dig site before Mental's minions could destroy it, uncovering not only another manipulation by Howard Brand but also a strange portal surrounded by large monoliths. As soon as Sam enters through the portal he finds himself in a large, circular arena where the CGP appear and attack him shortly afterwards. Once the CGP have been defeated, Sam picks up the crystallized Black Hole powering the portal on one side, then gets teleported back into the dig site and can pick up another one.

In New Game+, the CGP are now a mandatory boss encounter near the end of the Mech sequence in The Song Of The Stormbringer.

Behavior and skills

Having been exposed to low-level radiation emissions from the Sirian portal and the crystals, these mutations have caused the Gnaars to grow to enormous size and their skin to develop a protective, crystalline layer on their entire body, making them highly resistant to most weaponry.

The Cryomorph Gnaar Pair are fought at the same time and have a separate health bar each. Despite slight visual differences, one being male and the other being female, as well as their health bars having different sizes, both Gnaars share the same moveset and the same amount of health.

They will frequently charge after the player and attempt to jump onto them to crush them with their massive size, swipe at them with their massive claws or slam them with their fists. However, their considerable strength also allows them to rip large ice chunks from the ground and throw them at the player, sometimes even jumping while doing so to get a different angle.

Tactics

• The Cryomorph Gnaars move fast and hit hard, so staying mobile is key to defeating them.
• Three large rock formations are scattered in the arena, which can and should be used to dodge their charge and throwing attacks.
• Dealing heavy enough damage to them in a short period of time will cause them to flinch and cancel their current attack, so using the XPML21 Rocket Launcher and TCC-2 "Perun" Crossbow are recommended.
  • Furthermore, the ice chunks they throw can be destroyed mid-air by either baiting the other Gnaar into it or simply shooting it.
• The Gnaars' main weakspots are their single eye. They take extra damage when it is shot at, so the player needs to focus all their firepower onto their eyes as often as possible.
• A favourable strategy is to focus fire on one of the Gnaars, as killing one make dealing with the other significantly easier. A Hoverboard Scooter gadget has just enough fuel to reliably take out or critically wound one Gnaar, as long as the other is almost completely ignored. Its high movement speed also makes dodging their attacks incredibly easy while using it.
• In New Game+ playthroughs, the FRPCL, SBC Cannon, XL2 Lasergun, and XPMR "Burner" Raygun are highly useful against the Gnaars due to their high damage output, especially if the player consumes a Rage Serum. The lasergun's death ray can easily erase a single Gnaar's health, although it is incredibly draining on ammo, especially if a rage serum is active. The XM214-A Minigun is also a good choice, being capable of both damaging the Cryomorph Gnaars and eliminating their projectiles, although ammo for it is quite rare.
• While it may be tempting to use the T.A.C.T. on the Cryomorph Gnaars, the smoke and explosions from the incoming airstrike missiles make it more difficult to see the Cryomorph Gnaars coming. They also have more than enough health to survive a single airstrike.
• When fighting the Cryomorph Gnaar Pair with the Mech, focus on the Gnaars instead of the supporting enemies as their projectiles can do heavy damage.

Related achievements

	Alpha and Omega
	Embrace the origins.

Trivia

• The name of the Cryomorph Gnaar Pair's music theme, RaGnaarRock, is a pun on "Ragnarok" and "Gnaar".
  • Dwayne Rodriguez earlier made a similar pun to Kenneth Orkanti during the level Death from Below in Serious Sam 4, with the following quote: "Hey Kenny, I got a good one for ya. Ra-gnaar-rok!"
• Some of the Cryomorph Gnaar Pair's sounds are recycled and modified from Kwongo and the Sandwhale and Ugh-Zan IV from Serious Sam 2 and Serious Sam 3: BFE, respectively.
• The Female Cryomorph Gnaar is featured on the current Serious Sam 4 and Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem editor title while it is loading.

Gallery

Retail

Female model.

Male model.

Concept art.

List of appearances

• Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem (First appearance)