The Zumb'ul is an enemy that appears in the Serious Sam series. They are armed with two rocket launchers that they use as their primary attack. They are first introduced in Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, and later appear in Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope.
Overview[]
The Zumb'ul is a bipedal, humanoid alien creature that originates from the planet Ras-ad-Nyk. After they were discovered by Mental, he added them to his ranks and trained them in his 'East Clintwood' facilities, which were named after a famous 20th century gun-wielding actor. Mental used to build discipline by telling them that they if they didn't work hard, they would end up taking pictures of bridges. In the end, they all graduated and now attempt to stop Serious Sam.[1]
Application[]
Zumb'uls usually serve as support troops and to provide covering fire for lightweight and melee units. Like Arachnoids amd Common Aludran Reptiloids, they are often spawned on top of pillars, columns or other inaccessible locations to give them a good vantage point.
Occasionally, a lone Zumb’ul or a pair of them will spawn to ambush the player spawn after picking up a suspicious or secret item (health pills or armor shards, for example).
Appearances[]
Serious Sam 1[]
Zumb'uls are mainly encountered alone or in pairs, mostly supporting other enemies. There are a few instances in later levels (like the Courtyards of Gilgamesh or The Grand Cathedral) where several Zumb'uls can be encountered at once.
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope[]
Zumb'uls are rare enemies in The Last Hope compared to The Second Encounter, and only appear on a few levels. They are, however, in large numbers when they appear.
Behavior and skills[]
Zumb'uls are armed with two plasma launchers which they use as their primary weapons in combat. When they spot the target, they will fire two rockets at them; one rocket is fired directly at the player, and the other rocket is fired at a preset angle depending on if the player is facing its left or right. The rockets are about as fast as rockets fired by the player. In Serious Sam HD, the Zumb'ul has a melee attack. Should the player get too close to a Zumb'ul, they will hit them with one of their rocket launchers. This attack deals roughly twice as much damage than the rockets they fire.
Zum'buls make loud snorting sounds when idle, which can easily give away their presence.
Tactics[]
General[]
- Zumb'uls can become a major problem when dealing with other enemies; their projectiles are large and fast, making them difficult to dodge if the player isn't paying attention. They should be one of the first targets taken out in a group, especially if there are more than one of them at once.
Serious Sam 1[]
- A Zumb'ul's rockets can be jumped over, which is useful for situations where the player doesn't have enough room to dodge the rocket, but can jump over it.
- Zumb'uls in higher places such as rooftops are more dangerous as it is harder to avoid the splash damage of their rocket hitting the ground.
- The RAPTOR Sniper Rifle is particularly useful against the Zumb'ul; one zoomed shot can kill it, making the RAPTOR the best weapon to use against medium or long range Zumb'uls.
- Groups of Zumb'uls can quickly be killed with either the XM214-A Minigun or XPML21 Rocket Launcher, as they both have high rates of fire, allowing them to quickly inflict damage.
- The Thompson submachine gun is fairly effective against a lone Zumb'ul, though it does take a fair amount of ammo to kill one.
- The SBC Cannon is very useful if Zumb'uls are lined up so that multiple Zumb'uls can be killed with one cannonball. However, using it on one is a waste of ammo.
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope[]
- Dual-wielded Laser Pistols, Laser Swords and M29 Infantry Assault Rifles are effective weapons against lone Zumb'uls or groups of them.
Trivia[]
- In Croatian, "Zumbul" means hyacinth, and "Rasadnik" means a nursery garden. So it actually means a hyacinth from a garden.
- In the original version of The Second Encounter, the colour of the Zumb'ul's rockets is blue, while in other games they are red instead.
- In non-Serious Sam Fusion titles, if a player dies to a Zumb'ul in co-op, an on-screen obituary message reading "Zumb'ul gunned [player name] down." will appear regardless of how the Zumb'ul killed the player.
- The Zumb'ul is similar to the Mancubus from the Doom series.
- The Zumb'ul is called 'Guffy' in the game files.
- The Zumb'ul in Serious Sam HD has been given a completely different design compared to its classic counterpart, as well as new sounds. Its guns also use different sounds when they fire their rockets.
- According to NETRICSA, Zumb'uls suffer from wisdom teeth problems.[1]
- The Zumb'ul has an unused new wound sound in Serious Sam HD.
- The Zumb'ul's death sound in Serious Sam HD and The Last Hope is a mix of its classic death sound and unused HD wound sound.
Gallery[]
Artwork[]
Serious Sam 1[]
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope[]
Sounds[]
List of appearances[]
- Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (First appearance)
- Serious Sam: Xbox (non-canonical appearance)
- Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter
- Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter (non-canonical appearance)
- Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope
- Serious Sam Classics: Revolution (non-canonical appearance)