The Bomb Ball is an enemy introduced in the The Doctor Who Cloned Me DLC for Duke Nukem Forever.
Description[]
Built by a resurrected Dr. Proton during his takeover of Area 51, the Bomb Balls are designed to overwhelm an enemy with sheer numbers and detonate themselves on him. With the ability to hover, they keep themselves at a distance and hover all around their target in an attempt to disorient him until they are primed, at which point all Bomb Balls rush toward their target and explode, with fatal results.
Commonly traveling in large packs, Bomb Balls flash a red light if they are in passive patrol mode. If they are primed for detonation and ready to attack, they flash an array of various colors before rushing headlong into their target.
Eventually, all creations of Dr. Proton, including his Bomb Balls, were destroyed at Area 51 when Duke Nukem killed Proton and destroyed a portion of Area 51 before escaping with his friends, General Graves and Captain Dylan.
Combat Analysis[]
Bombballs will dive right at Duke and detonate. The attack's splash radius is considerable, so it's important to stay on the move while engaging them. Hitting one with a weapon will send it flying in a random direction and detonate. If a Bombball blows up in the presence of others, that explosion will also send them flying so they can detonate as well.
There are only two regular encounters with them:
- Towards the tail end of the ambush, three Bombballs will enter from a door that opens up (allowing the player to escape the room). The will hover for a bit before they attempt to seek out Duke. It is also possible they will seek out and destroy any aliens in the room if there are still some survivors (since waves do tend to overlap). The existing weapons in the room (Shotgun, Ripper and Pipe Bombs) are more than sufficient in dealing with this small group of them.
- This encounter is more difficult. The round room, limited cover, shear number of Bombballs and lack of other targets allows them to actively go after Duke.
- At this point in the game, weapon options are limited to: Pistol, Shotgun, Ripper, RPG, Enforcer Gun, Devastator, and Impregnader.
- The Ripper's high rate of fire can hit these quickly and trigger their explosive payload. It is probably the best-suited weapon for this endeavor.
- Devastator, Enforcer Gun and Shotgun are decent choices, but the Devastator and Enforcer Gun are risky, because explosive weapons tend to drive them to fly at the player before they explode.
- The Pistol's low rate of fire makes it possible, but not the best choice.
- The Impregnader's limited range and firing arc and the RPG's poor ability to track the enemy's quick movements makes them ill-advised to use.
On rare occasions, if the Bombballs mess up taking out an Assault Trooper in the level Going Down, there may be one or two of them floating around in the area of the large ambush area.
Trivia[]
- In Duke Nukem 3D, the Sentry Drones behaved very similarly to the Bomb Balls and may have been the inspiration for their design.