Sam B, the Tank, is one of the four playable Heroes in Dead Island and one of five Heroes in Dead Island: Riptide. He is a one-hit-wonder rap star of fading fame. Originally from New Orleans, he is now performing four nights a week at the Royal Palms Resort. He reappears in Dead Island 2 as a survivor and as one of the main characters of the game.
Background
Sam B grew up in New Orleans and had a rough childhood as his father died in prison and his mother was an addict that didn't care for him, resulting in his grandmother raising him the best she could. From an early age he wanted to a rapper, only for most of his music to not catch an audience until he made his hit song "Who Do You Voodoo". This made him an overnight celebrity, with him even forming a relationship with actress Emma Jaunt. He believed that he would simply keep making more songs to make up all the money he was spending, but each song afterwards kept falling off the charts and he started losing big gigs to perform at. Wanting to continue growing and being a celebrity, he left Emma and booked a gig at the Banoi Royal Palms Resort to try and make it big again.
Events of Dead Island
After his performance the night before, Sam woke with his fellow heroes (Logan Carter, Xian Mei, Purna Jackson), only to discover a zombie outbreak had taken over all of Banoi. Guided by a man on a radio, Sam and the others escape the hotel, only to be attacked and discover they are immune to the virus infecting Banoi. The group is later rescued by a life guard named Sinamoi, who was contacted by the man on the radio. Sinamoi explains that the man on the radio, supposedly Colonel Ryder White, says that he can contact the army for evacuation, but the connection is weak due to an incoming monsoon and the weak radio setup that he has currently. Sam and the others help Sinamoi's group by helping them get into the Lifeguard Tower, burn the zombies' remains, fix the tower's radio, and find more food. Sinamoi realizes that there isn't enough food in the resort to feed everyone so he asks the heroes to grab an armored truck and bring it to a mechanic to reach the city of Moresby. Sam takes the truck to the mechanic, Earl, in exchange for taking his daughter, Jin, off the island.
When the group reaches the city, they head to the church and discover it being attacked by a Ram and several zombies. They stop the threat and help the church by turning its water back on at a pump station. Mother Helen, leader of the church, reveals that there isn't any food left in the town, as it was stolen during the looting, but the rich district should still have some after the army blew up the bridges leading to it. She tells a man named Joseph to guide them to the sewers to reach the other side. This leads Sam to the town hall with the Mayor telling them they can't take any of their food. This leads to an argument between Sam and the other immune, with Sam arguing that they should play for themselves now as no one is willing to help them; this changes when they learn of an untouched supermarket filled with food. They travel through the sewers again and run into several thugs that took over the market. Sam and the other load container with the food and head back into the sewers when the infected being to attack, they stop by the now infected town hall, before heading back into the main part of the city. Talking to Mother Helen again reveals that Jin and Joseph both took the food the Raskol controlled police station and need to be rescued, leaving the church they find a dying Joseph who explains that the Raskols were drunk and nearly killed him but left his key to the sewers with him letting the group fight their way in. They kill the gang's leader and find Jin, Sam and Logan both get angry at Jin for going to the police station willingly, while Purna and Xian realize what they did to her. The group then leaves the city, not looking back.
They return to the Lifeguard Tower with Sinamoi thanking them for their sacrifice and explaining that Dominic went to the resort to use their equipment and managed to reach the man on the radio. White reveals that he is stuck on the prison island and that they need to find a smuggler named Mowen in the Jungle to get past the defense surrounding the island. The group fight their way through the jungle, eventually reaching a village that Mowen would normally be. They find the entire village nearly wiped out by the virus after a war lord named Afran took their guns; he also stole Mowen's boat, leaving the heroes unable to reach Mowen in the deeper regions of the jungle. The village leader, Matutero, sends the heroes on a mission to regain their arms and kill Afran for the boat. After a long battle, Afran dies and they take the boat to Mowen. Mowen says that the man on the radio is lying to them about a way to the prison, but says he knows of a place where "the dead come from". They travel to this place and discover that it is a hidden laboratory owned by GeoPharm. The group encounters the lead scientist, Robert West, who explains that they are studying the virus and that the local natives seem to be immune the infection so they could be a source of a cure. The group finds the tribe leader, Koritoia Ope, who makes them part take in a ritual for his blood and later takes them to his village to gain an ancient sample of Kuru. Reaching the tribe's burial site, Ope tries to kill a girl named Yerema, with Purna defending her by killing Ope; Yerema reveals that Ope told the natives to eat the zombies as they were "immortal" and they themselves could be immortal by eating them. The group takes Yerema with them and save Mowen from the zombies along the way. Yerema is left at the laboratory, and as thanks for saving him, Mowen reveals that he does now the path to the prison, but it is dangerous and they need supplies and modifications to the boat to get past the mines. After getting gas and "supplies", Sam and the rest return to the mechanic shop with Jin putting an end to her infected father. Ryder than contacts the heroes as he's heard screaming from the laboratory and the heroes find the scientists dead and zombies everywhere. Yerema says that Doctor West was going to kill her through blood loss and accidently released all the zombies trying to get her. Ryder then realizes that West made a vaccine and demands that they bring it with them.
Mowen and the heroes leave for the prison with White saying that he won't be able to contact them, but they need to head to C Block to reach him. Mowen introduces the heroes to Titus Kabui, the current leader of the prison, and convinces him to let them stay with cigars and the fact that the heroes are immune and as such are advantageous to have. Titus will allow them to reach C Block if they do favors for him like rescuing his friend and bringing food to the inmates. During an attempt to gain weapons the group encounters the hacker, Kevin. Titus says he will let them reach C Block if they get him guns from B Block, a dangerous section of the prison. Upon reaching said weapons, Ryder contacts Sam and says that they can't let the prisoners gain weapons and should instead use B Block to get to C. Reaching an elevator in C Block, the heroes encounter Jin and Yerema, who reveal that the prisoners started a riot against Titus and the place became overrun with the dead. Mowen traded his boat for a way to reach the Block from a prisoner and brought Jin and Yerema to safety, sacrificing himself in the process. Entering the elevator, the group is gassed and are awoken by Kevin, who reveals that White stole the vaccine and is taking his infected wife with him and firebombing the island when he escapes. Kevin says he's taking the long way so the heroes can reach him but must take the dangerous and short path through the hospital. The group then corners White, saying that evacuation will happen and the vaccine will be mass produced, but it seems to be all lies as Jin approaches Emily White and releases her, infecting White. White then shoots and kills Jin and takes the vaccine himself and mutates into a deadly monster and attacks the group. After a long battle, the heroes leave Banoi forever.
Running low on fuel, the group sees a military vessel, the HMAS Avenger, and lands and meets Lt. Colonel Samuel Hardy and Frank Serpo. Hardy wants the heroes detained while Frank, his superior, has them tested and experimented on. Sam and the other immune encounter John Morgan, a fellow immune who was also experimented on. The immune pass out from the experiments and wake up to discover that the soldier's have turned into zombies. Trying to get to the surface, they discover that they are in the middle of the monsoon that Sinamoi was worried about with nobody in control of the ship. Hardy stays to help out the heroes, only for Serpo to abandon them and leave them for dead. They try to get to the controls only for the ship to hit several large rocks and sink.
Waking up on a beach, Sam and the other immune are discovered by Harlow Jordan who explains that they are on Palanai and that the zombie infection is on the island as well. She points Sam in the direction of the Paradise Survival Camp, only to discover it under attack from hordes of infected, the heroes fight off the infected and destroy the bridge which was letting infected walk right in. Harlow returns with Samuel Hardy, who explains that they are not safe as the island will be nuked unless they make it all the way to Henderson on the other side of the island. The newly formed group of survivors look for a boat in Halai Village, only the find out those who could had already left; they attempt to take the only boat they have to reach a road to Henderson only to discover it destroyed by the storm. With no other options, the group asks the people of Halai what to do and find out about a man named Marcus Villa. They say that Marcus might know another way to Henderson and need to find him. They find him in a Dead Zone trapped by a butcher named Ogre; once rescued, he reveals that there are several military tunnels that were used to house weapons that could be used to get to Henderson, he says that he has a map to them but it is located in his house in Mataka Village. Reaching the home, the heroes encounter a native named Batram who explains that Marcus was shunned for doing dark practices and couldn't be trusted. Realizing that the Paradise Survival Camp is in danger, they arrive and Marcus rants that they need to set the immune on fire and eat them to become immune; he then sets the place on fire with the building slowly being overrun until Harlow comes to rescue them.
The group relocates to Halai Village and decide that Marcus' old friend, Dr. Kessler, might be a lead as he has a map of the tunnels and could be trusted. Upon meeting Dr. Kessler, he is hesitant to help until he is told that Marcus tried to kill them because they were immune. He offers to help, but only if they collect mutagens from his mutated assistants and test their blood. Dr. Kessler finds out that the immune are suppressing the virus but not destroying it which is dangerous as the chemicals in the tunnels could cause them to lose their immunity or even worse. Not willing to give up, the heroes find out that the tunnel is at the remains of the Santa Maria Mission. The tunnel, with some resistance from smugglers, leads them to the Pinai Ferry Station, but things go bad as Wayne is revealed to have been bitten and mutates into a new kind of infected. The immune decide to lead the charge ahead and encounter a gang of escaped prisoners holding up in the station. This leads into a fight only for the immune to become consumed by rage and murder all the prisoners and realize that the virus has mutated in their bodies from the chemicals in the tunnels. The head into the control room and discover a man named Marvin who can run the Ferry, taking them all to Henderson.
Arriving at Henderson, the heroes discover that the virus is in Henderson from dead washing ashore. With no other real plans, Marvin mentions that the Old Town Cinema can be used as a safe zone if they can get in. Heading there they find Jacqueline Phantom, who lets them stay and move the rest of the survivors there after activating the shutters around the building. A fight between the survivors begins as the group realizes that Harlow is gone and the rest of the group blame the immune for this due to their exposure in the tunnels. Hardy then tells Sam and the immune to go to the Henderson Military Base for evacuation as it should still be safe, but discover the dead have taken over. Hardy then instructs the heroes to find the military's radio to set up to contact to the outside for help and encounter Serpo again. Serpo reveals that Hardy was lying about the nuke and says that he is sending a helicopter to rescue them if they make the cinema for a landing site. Doing so, a helicopter is sent but Serpo demands that the immune come up first, Hardy responses to this by climbing up and demanding the nonimmune come up first, resulting in him being shot and the helicopter crashing at the Fort of Henderson. The heroes fight off a horde and Jacquline decides to stay at the cinema while the rest try to find the helicopter and Serpo for a way out. They find Serpo who reveals that he knows that immune have changed and knows of the only way out of Palani. The way out is the only ship left, but it is in the quarantine zone, one of the most dangerous places on the island. They manage to break in, with use of exploding bulldozers, and discover that the outbreak on Palani was intentional and finds Harlow. Harlow explains that they were testing mutagena on the infected and tried infecting her but discovered that she was immune. Harlow tries to kill the heroes as she believes none of them can leave the island, during the fight she takes the mutagen and becomes an insane monster trying to kill them with a chainsaw. With no other choice, Sam and the immune take the mutagen and kill Harlow and find the boat. Serpo follows them and says that he can help them as he knows that they took a sample of the mutagen. Tired of him, the immune take the boat and leave Serpo to the horde of infected behind them and escape Palani forever as the few who decided to stay are overrun and killed.
The group separates after reaching safety and Sam makes his way back to California after hearing news of an outbreak to try and save Emma. Sam B appears during the mission, Bel-Air Brawl. He reveals that he is immune and that this has happened before and later teaches the Slayers how to modify weapons. He plays a major role in the mission Serengeti Siren, finding weapons with Ronnie Redford and the Slayer. When he finds out that Ronnie he mentions that only people like them, the immune, can handle the world like this and pleads to the Slayer to not go to the military as he has experience with people on radios. Later, in the mission Saddle Up for Santa Monica, Sam makes it a rule that no one except him can go outside and tells the Slayers to not leave for the military. When they continue to leave anyway, Sam says to use the sewers as it makes the zombies easier to line up. Afterwards, he hangs around Emma's Mansion and talks with other survivors like explaining why he left and naming his gun Jin. He returns in the mission The Search for Truth, getting kicked out by Andrea and later meeting Patton who doesn't know who Sam B is. Sam also starts coughing around this point. Sam, Patton, and Emma get separated from the Slayer by a quarantine door in the subway. Sam and Emma fight their way through the subway and meet with the Slayer at Hollywood Boulevard, with all of them about to escape until Sam B collapses as the Autophage has taken its toll on him. The Slayer later fights and kills Dr. Reed and uses the cure on Sam, turning him back to normal.
Character Selection Info
"I grew up in New Orleans. The Lower Ninth Ward. My Daddy went to prison when I was two. That's where he died. Angola. Momma didn't ever recover from that and drank and did crack and any other random motherfucker who didn't smack her round too bad. My nanna's the one who raised me. She ran a washeteria and we lived in a little shotgun house on Burgundy. From the time I was ten, man, I wanted to rap. I was into old school free-style rap and I'd be kicking ass at them battles, brah. But man, I just couldn't catch a break. Nothing caught on. So one Halloween, I came up with "Who Do You Voodoo, Bitch?" Just as a motherfucking joke, you know? It went right to the top of the hip hop charts. Like a motherfucking rocket! Suddenly, I was famous. Going to the Grammies. Hitting the parties. Man, I had bitches up the yin yang and for the first time in my life, I was making money. But shit, I was spending it as quick as I was getting it. I thought I had made it, you know what I'm saying? That the gravy train was never gonna end. So I did another song. And another song. And nothing hit. Nothing fucking hit. Song after song and ain't nobody gave a shit. It's been ten years man, and yeah, I can still get gigs, but all they want me to do is "Who Do You Voodoo, Bitch?" I used to play the big Casinos in Vegas or Atlantic City, but now it's just been Reno or Laughlin or some motherfucking cruise ship. So this gig here might be my last chance. There's some heavy Hollywood hitters up in here and if I get noticed, I could be right back on top there, you know what I'm saying?"
Appearance
Sam is a middle aged bald man with a small beard and moustache. He wears a black and gold trimmed jacket, light blue jeans held by a black belt, and red sneakers with no shirt. The waistline of his jeans sag slightly, exposing the white band of his underwear. He also wears a large golden B necklace, two small gold chains on both wrists, and a few gold rings. He also has a small tattoo around his navel.
In Dead Island 2, his hair has grown out. He now wears a black overcoat with a golden skull design on the inner flaps with no shirt, blue jeans, and black dress shoes. He still has his B necklace, and also wears a golden watch on his right wrist, a gold chain necklace, another necklace with a golden skull, tooth, and feather hanging from it, and he wears black sunglasses and a golden nose ring
Strategy
Sam is by far the toughest of the four characters, and the most capable of wading straight into groups of lesser enemies in melee combat. His specialization in blunt weapons which have very high Force attribute let him knock enemies around like bowling pins, as does his Rage ability. Don't get too confident with him though; he can still be brought down quickly by a large enough mob.
For most enemies the tactics are relatively similar, try to draw a couple off at a time so that you don't get surrounded and bash them flat. The one enemy that needs a very different tactic is gun-toting humans. Trying to charge one (and usually there are more than one at a time) is a bad idea; unless you are able to sneak up close to one without them noticing until it's too late, they will be able to put several shots into you before you get in range and they will occasionally backstep to try to avoid you. It's best to keep one good pistol on hand and try to shoot them in the head, which is almost always a one-hit kill. Look through the iron sights while doing this for better accuracy.
Trivia
DEAD ISLAND RIPTIDE - Sam B "No Room In Hell" Song HD
Sam B. in.
- To promote Dead Island: Riptide, a live action music video for No Room In Hell featuring Sam B was released. This makes Sam B the only Hero currently depicted in live action.
- His blood type (along with the other Heroes) is O negative.
- If you stay idle for long enough, Sam will start whistling and singing his Who Do You Voodoo? song.
- The Game Text files have the following scrapped closing dialogue for Sam B:
- "For the longest time, there was nothing there. Nothing inside me. When I was young I had so much to say. So much to prove. Man, I had so much anger inside of me. I knew the whole motherfucking world was against me. But then I made some money and I didn't know what to say. And the money went away and still had nothing to fucking say. Well, I have something to say now. The world ain't so black and white no more. It's black and white and red all over, man. People do amazing shit when they up against it. The one's who think they're all that, the ones you think will stand their ground, they fucking run. And the quiet ones. The ones you don't even notice. Man, they don't give an inch. They'll give up everything for someone they don't even know. There's a song there somewhere. A song about something real. Shit, I don't even know if anyone's gonna be left when this is all done. But if they is… believe me, I got something to say."
- Sam B is the only Hero to call the zombies by their actual name instead of nicknames such as "bastards", "freaks", and so on.
- Sam B is the only hero who doesn't reveal his surname, "B" not being his real surname.
- His last name as it is shown in the game, which is 'B', may refer to the word 'blunt'. Blunt being his preferred skill set.
- His full name may also be an unusual reference to the word zombies. If you say his full name, Sam B, it sounds like zambie. This being a play on words of the word zombie.
- His full name may also be a reference to Baron Samedi. Baron Samedi is a Loa (god) In Haitain Vodou. "Sam"-edi "B."-aron.
- Like the other heroes, Sam B gets an alternate model available for selection in the options menu if the Fashion Victim DLC has been installed, or if playing the Game of the Year Edition or the Definitive Edition of Riptide.
- Due to the events of Escape Dead Island and Dead Island: Epidemic not being considered canon by Deep Silver, his status was, much like the other heroes, unknown after the events of Riptide until his appearance in the 2022 reveal of Dead Island 2.
- Sam B is confirmed to be alive in the 2022 Dead Island 2 trailers, though his role in the game is minor with gun runs for the group.
- In Dead Island 2, upon Curtis' suggestion, Sam B decided to name his gun after Jin, stating on how she looked after everything they couldn't and that they counted on her a lot. This tells us that Sam feels guilty for being rude to her after she was assaulted and how they couldn't get her off the island like how her father hoped they would.
- In The Art of Dead Island 2, it's revealed that Sam B is a Numen.
- It is unknown what was happening to Sam B if he was a numen, but it could of been the Rebirthing process that numen go through.
References
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