Gasbag

The Gasbag is an alien species, either a native creature from the planet Na Pali or possibly artificially created through bio-engineering by the Skaarj race. Due to the places they appear, though, it is more possible that it is native. It's round in shape, has two arms and several black eyes on the forehead. It floats around and moves through air. It's a quite common enemy in Unreal and Unreal - Return to Na Pali, where it's generally found in locations such as castles and rocky places.

Gasbags are about the same size as the player, but they may appear to be smaller due to their anatomy and the often large distance between the player and the Gasbag. This large distance puts the Gasbag at a disadvantage. Their flaming projectiles, though powerful, are very slow-moving. If the Gasbag is near, its projectiles have a bigger chance of hitting, plus it can use its fists to punch the target (though this does very little damage). Gasbags therefor try to approach the target while firing their projectiles and evading shots from the target. Gasbags dodge well in the air, and only weapons such as the Rifle will guarantee a hit.

In Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004 Gasbags are one of the enemy species of the Invasion gametype.

Giant Gasbag
The Giant Gasbag is a mini-boss in Unreal's single player campaign. It appears only once in the game, in the top of the Nali Castle. As the name indicates, the Giant Gasbag is much larger than a regular Gasbag (3x as large). Its health and punch, pound and projectile damage are also 2-3x higher than that of a normal Gasbag.

When in a fight, the Giant Gasbag will spawn up to 2 regular Gasbags for assistance. When one of these Gasbags dies, the Giant Gasbag will spawn another to take its place. Although these Gasbags are meant to help the Giant Gasbag, they will often fight each other when left alone (resulting in the Giant Gasbag killing the regular Gasbag).

Much like the regular Gasbags, its main tactic is to hit the target from the air, using its powerful projectiles, while moving in to pound and/or punch the target. Spawning Gasbags is another one of the Giant Gasbag's main priorities, and it will often cease its attack briefly to spawn a new Gasbag. What this Gasbags wins in power, it loses in agility. Its inability to evade shots like regular Gasbags do, along with its sheer size and the enclosed space it resides in make shorter-range weapons effective as well. Be sure to stay away from its arms though, as its punches are not nearly as harmless as those of the regular gasbag.