Level 1 - Welcome to Punchbowl

Welcome to punchbowl, and welcome to my walkthrough of Stubbs the zombie. This will get you through the whole game on the insane difficulty, and hopefully find all of the hippos on the way. Where needed, I will include screenshots, and maybe (but probably not) even videos. Enjoy, as soon as I ask permission, I will link the recordings of the commentaries to their respective hippos.

Level 1
First off, do what guidebot tells you. Hit the guy, eat the guy, and then head left. Yes, left, the opposite way that guidebot does. We are going to get our first hippo! On the way, feel free to eat any civilians that may be walking around, although they won't be too useful to you. Up until the instant you fart, the zombies won't walk properly. Head left, along the right side of the street (under the monorail) and you will see the hippo along the edge of the street, a bit before you run into the barricade (Commentary 1)if you really need to know what it looks like, here's an example below.

Once you have the hippo, head back to guidebot. She has a green marker above her head. Proceed through more brain eating, and the fart tutorial, then head over to the big statue in front and to your right. Go up the stairs on the statue, and around it to the left, you should see a hippo (commentary 2).

Head back to guidebot, and complete the zombie bullying lessons, then head through the big door on your left. Your zombie friends can't come with you unfortunately.

Once through the gate, start eating people. Once you have eaten 4 or 5 of them, leave the cops to them, and head off to the leftmost wall, just past the roadblocks, in front of the second indented doors, there is a hippo (commentary 3). Continue down the wall, unfortunately you are best off ignoring the cops, as they are pretty hard to kill from range. Head off to the next indented set of doors where you find (commentary 4). A good technique to know when you are avoiding cops is that if you walk up against a wall for a bit, you can start off running. When running, especially perpendicular to the line of fire, you have a pretty low chance of being hit. Head across to the other wall, if you want to be really safe, you can go behind city hall. If you go in front, you will probably need a fart to take out the 4 cops waiting for you there. Every cop in blue takes exactly three attacks before you can eat them.

The next hippo is to the left of the monorail entrance (green marker) in an indentation in the orange wall (commentary 5). Now go around the monorail entrance, being sure to stay well clear. It is easy to finish the level on accident here. Go to the door indention before the roadblocks on this side for (commentary 6). Then follow it up to the indentation directly before the monorail to get (commentary 7). After this, head in the direction of the monorail, I just ignore the cops, and finish the level up.

Hippos

1. Left from the first tutorial, on the right side of the road (after you have turned left)

2. On the far side of the big statue before you go through the gate
3. Indentation just past roadblocks on the left
4. Indentation farther down the left wall
5. Across the level, orange indentation left of the monorail
6. Indentation right of the monorail (be careful not to get too close to the monorail)
7. Indentation on the same side, just in front of the road blocks

Level 2 - Bleeding Ground

Here is level two. I mean to get these done quicker, but school is hectic, as well it should be. I know I am getting my moneys worth. These end up taking me quite a while, because I finish the level every time I play through the whole level, but only get a percentage of the walkthrough finished. Then on the next few rounds through I have to play through the start of the level again. The problem is that I can't just rush though the level, especially not the Sod-O-Mobile bit. There is always something that catches my intrest, and keeps me playing for a while, most often seeing how high I can jump up a wall does it. This one includes links to commentaries. Thanks to Wideload Games dot Org and the guy that captured them (Quicksilver I think).

Level 2

Stubbs, apparently following his zombie sense of smell winds up in the greenhouse. You start the level surrounded by cops and scientists. The cops are the same as before, and the scientists are new. Fortunately the scientists in this level are all unarmed (free food). Three attacks gets them stumbling and ready to eat. Of course that point is moot as there is a shiny bit of green goodness sitting in front of you. Hit y to enter the Sod-O-Mobile, a machine named strictly for its ability to spread sod. In this sucker, you are near invincible short of rolling it over onto your own head. There are two easy ways to do this: you can run it into a wall, or you can get shot by another Sod-O-Mobile. You will have to make a conscious effort to get killed otherwise. My advice to you then, is: don't roll your vehicle. Other than that, the only tricky part can be navigation. And today you readers are all lucky ducks. I decided to make you a map.

If this map doesn't convince you that I care for you, I don't know what will. When you deal with me, you get two things: quality, and style. I don't like to get into matters of quantities, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. It's not to scale or anything, but it gets the job done. I was actually surprised at how simple this area was, once I took the time to figure it out.

Head left from the way you were facing at the start. The first path you see branching to the right has a hippo in a little indentation in the wall (Commentary 1). Once you grab the hippo, you can take whatever route you want, but you need to get to the switch room. I usually go back along the edge of the level past the garage. You can also just drive around for a bit, listen to the commentary, (this is an especially good one, in my mind, both due to length and content) and eventually you will get a green marker pointing exactly to the switch. Right now, the switch room door is the only one that will open for you, so if you can go in, you know that you are in the correct place.

Inside the switch room, there are a few police, but plenty of things to hide behind. You can sneak up on at least one when you enter, and from there just move on through, choosing whichever path you want. There are two things we need to do in this room. The switch is obvious and red, on a raised platform facing the big screens. On top of a machine at ground level, beneath the screens there is a hippo. Just take the ramp straight ahead from where you entered, and keep an eye off to the left. When you see it you can just jump down and grab it (Commentary 2).

Hitting the switch does 3 things, as far as I can tell. Two of them are useful, one if you aren't looking for hippos. It unlocks the garage and room 1109 (the exit). It also knocks over the podium by where you entered, but I couldn't tell you why.

Our next target is the garage, but only if we are hunting for hippos. Head over to the garage, Sod-O-Mize everyone there (that is, destroy them with your Sod-O-Mobile, yuk yuk.) and drive into the garage if possible. If you fail to get in, don't worry. Just get out of your vehicle and approach the door. It will open for you. Once you are in, there are two scientists, and straight to your left, over in a corner is a hippo (Commentary not recorded).

If any of you just want to know how to win, skip the next two paragraphs. They won't do you any good. Half of them won't do you any good no matter what you are looking for, so it might be smart to skip in the name of efficiency.

A couple notes about the Sod-O-Mobile, before moving on, because I do love it so. There are 5 around here, I put them all in a row. The one you start with, and one in front of each of the three doors. I have no idea where the 5 th one stays, it just attacked me when I was hanging out near the start of the level. I am sure hanging out brings images of me leaning against some wall, with my controller in hand and my shades on, but I really mean listening to the lovely looping music and typing this walkthrough. Apparently for some however, the music is not lovely. A direct quote from my roommate “I love that music, but I can't wait for you to go on to the next level�. He put scissors in his ears when I told him I was going to play through at least four more times.

Also, you can have quite a time jumping up walls. My search for a spot where there is no barrier continues without much success. The maneuver is a little tricky to describe, but if you drive forward and look straight down while shooting, you can go into a back-flip of sorts. The trick is to end up facing down and to the wall when you are right up against it in the air so you can get a second, and occasionally a third boost off of the wall. Getting a capture of this is on my to-do list, as a video will be better than a text description.

Now head over to room 1109. (I call it this because it says 1109 above the door) There is a meaning behind this number, but we don't get to know what it is. If anyone can finds out, there might be a pie in it for them. Perhaps the answer will be in the novel (if you went to the garage, you would get it). We are heading to the gift shop. Logical.

If you want to make this section easy on yourself, keep a zombie army the whole time. This means that you will have to whistle them through the tunnels, but it ends up making the rest of the level very easy. You also end up with a very sizeable army by the end which is a good time.

After the very short cutscene, you will see a robot directly ahead. Just to the left of the robot you will find (Commentary 3). Kill the police and the scientist, and move on to gut grenades. Once the guidebot is through giving you your new ability, you get a set of 4 cops to fight. Either grenade them or fart, and move on, keeping any zombies you make close by.

Gut grenades are fun. You can use them much as you would use grenades in halo. That's right, you can jump a little higher than normal. Not terribly exciting, especially once you make it a ways through the cop station, but here is a video of me going somewhere that is normally just out of reach. Not exciting in any way, but there could be better applications (really I only say that to make myself feel better. A short way into the next level, you can put your hand anywhere that isn't walled off, so all of the jumping in the world wouldn't do you any extra good)

Once you enter the next set of tunnels, just follow the yellow gift shop arrows (I told you that was where we were going) whistling your zombies along with you as you go. When you are through this set of tunnels, you hit an opening. If you have a zombie army, follow behind them to the left path, and eat all of the cops, further increasing your army size. If you don't just head to the right, fighting the two-three cops there, and move on to the next set of tunnels.

Cops alone in tunnels are hard to fight if you don't have minions. Hitting them with grenades (preferably sticking them) is the best way to go. You can also wait and hide. Sometimes they will move to you. The problem with direct attacks is that you will get shredded up running straight at two cops. By the time you can eat one, the other will probably kill you. You really can't miss the next hippo, right off to the left of your path. If you see a cutscene in the tunnel, you know that you have passed it (Commentary 4).

Once you grab the hippo, head to the tunnel for a very quick cutscene. Proceed through the tunnel, zombie army (hopefully) in tow. Continue to follow the yellow arrows on the ground until you are outside once more.

This outdoor area is a long straight path with many enemies. Fortunately for you, they tend to group, making them perfect targets for gut grenades and farts. Go ahead and kill the few enemies that are right outside the tunnel. Once they are dealt with, the safest method is to make your approach from behind your zombies. If you get close enough, go ahead and hit them with a fart, but the number of enemies makes a gut attack a much safer option. It should only take you two well placed guts to cause significant disorder to cut through the remaining enemies. Once you are though the main group, another cop or two will exit from the next tunnel, but they are easily dispatched by the standard eaty methods.

Now we are on the home stretch. Fight your way through these tunnels, and don't be afraid to use any guts you have left if you get in trouble, this will be your last chance for this level anyways. You can pretty forget about your army, as it is only a short dash to the end of the level. Keep your eye out for a repair-bot; the final hippo of this level is off to the side of it (Commentary 5). Follow the tunnels to find the gift shop that we have been searching for.

Hippos:

1. Left then right from the start of the level.
2. Switch room, on top of some machinery, straight ahead from where you enter
3. Garage, you can enter after you have hit the switch. Get out of you Sod-O-Mobile to open it.
4. Next to a guidebot when you first enter the tunnels.
5. Right in the Center of your path, before tunnel-bridge cutscene
6. Next to repair-bot in the final set of tunnels.

Level 3 - The Slammer

Welcome to level 3: The Slammer. Unfortunately, I don't really like this level. It is pretty short, and not too interesting. The parts that are meant to be great fights end up being a little too easy, and retracing steps is always a no no in a game (except for Resident Evil and Tomb Raider... I still don't know why anyone likes them). Here is how to beat level 3, although there is less strategy needed than there is shooting accuracy.

Also, if you notice a lack of lovely 800x600 captured content, my apologies. My capture card is fubar, and to the extent that it likes to drag my whole computer down with it. So for now, no more nice pictures, but if I ever get the chance, I will go back and old ones.

A side note to the rest of you: I hope you read this guide incorectly, and that in doing so, you have trouble beating the level.

The Slammer

Kill all of the prisoners! Once you leave the lineup room, there will be three detectives. I usually just fart, because it is embarrassing to die this early on in the level. Right out of the lineup room, go right twice (into the room for viewing the lineup). Just to the right of the door is the first of what seems to be very few hippos in this level (Commentary 1). Push your zombie army (should be about 6) into the next couple of rooms to help clear out the cops.

Click "read more" from the front page to read the entire article.

Go down the hallway. There are two bathrooms on the left and a room on the right, none of interest, although they may contain a cop or two. When you get a chance to turn left, don’t. It’s a dead end. Go straight on into the room with red carpet and doors. The doors on the right have a cop behind them, and the ones on the left are locked for now. Go to the next room, and the next. In the room with three doors, go right into the locker room.

Since this part is pretty bland, and linear and so on, I will throw a bit of strategy out there that I use when I am fighting cops. By now you have probably noticed that attacking cops can be pretty annoying. You might attack to many times, or not enough times. I avoid this by just not attacking. Instead I run close to them until they try to melee, and just run around behind them. If you are behind them, you can eat their brains no matter how weak they are. This works best on the taser cops, as their melees take a long time. It is a quality technique for a few reasons: First off, if you do it properly, you never get hit by the melee, you also are guaranteed to eat the enemy, which ends up being a lot better than if you attack them.

Go straight across from the locker room, and watch the quick cutscene with the chief on the screen. Now you have to fight a big battle against a while lot of cops. Fortunately you get a whole lot of free zombies on your side, and you don't even have to make them. Let them do the work for you. Here I just suggest running around eating the cops that are attacking the zombies. If you keep up a good ratio of zombies to cops, you have a pretty good chance for success. If you are getting hit too much, just run out and recharge. There are rooms you can step into on every side of the large square room that you are fighting in, save one. One side has a large door that is still locked. The door has an exit sign over it if there is any confusion as to which one it is. Once you have killed all of the cops, that door will open up with about 6 detectives waiting for you. If you have grenades or farts left, now is the time to use them. They can make short work of the cops, and you can move into the room. Go to the back of the room where you will see a quick cutscene.

Now you are a hand. Head off into the vent straight ahead of you, up the wall. This part can be done in three different ways. I will start with hard and go from there.

Hard: This one really is hard, and if you are not careful, you can end up having to restart the level. Take the first right turn once you are in the vent. Here is the hardest part because you are in a room with a whole load of cops in it, and you are going to quick save the instant you possess one. Try to pick one that has a reasonable amount of shelter and go for it. In all likelihood getting out of this room is going to take you a few tries. If you are getting killed too quickly after the quicksave, your only option is going to be to restart the level. Otherwise, learn exactly where all of the cops are until you can make your escape. Remember, two shots to the head is a kill… if you spend many more here, you are likely to be in trouble. There are three doors in the room you drop into. One is locked, one is filled with cops and one is empty. The empty one is the one to the right of where you entered, and it is the safest room to be in for now, so you should head there post-haste. It is a room with 2 long tables and three doors. As soon as you are in the room, the door across from you will open and riot cops will enter. These aren’t that bad because they aren’t a threat at a distance. Just wait until they start to advance (they are inept enough that they can’t advance with their shield up) and hit them in the head. You can also hit them in the feet pretty effectively while their shields are up. You want to stay near the door you came through, but you also want to be sure any cops you failed to kill in the previous room can’t come from behind. If you go near the door across and to the right, you will have to worry about riot cops from two directions as opposed to one.

Once everyone is cleared out, proceed down the hall. You could probably just walk the rest of the way to your goal, but that would be slow and boring. We are going to kill them all! Ignore the room on the left at the end of the hall (there are some guys there, but fighting them can’t do you any good) and turn right when the hall turns right. The hall turns again, and you run into another room that has more cops in it. The only suggestion I can give you here is to try to keep it so only one enemy can attack you at the time. Use the pillars to hide, and don’t stick your neck out too far. Also be aware of ammunition. Empty your clip if you are low and have some spare time. It can make the difference when one too many enemy is rushing you later. Wait for the next room to send all its cops into the room that you are in before progressing. The next room should then be empty. The room after that has even more pillars, which is a very good thing. Keep hiding and shooting then go to the button that is marked by the green arrows.

We have reached the home stretch. You should be in a room with a lot of cells. Kill the guy in the booth thing to the right then progress down the hall. I suggest running down the left side of the hall, as the guard at the end seems to be much more accurate than you are at a distance. Push the button and approach your body.

Medium: Go straight to the end of the vent, and you will be on the medium path. This puts you into a room with a few cops, none of whom seem to want to shoot you. Hit them in the head, and move up exactly two paragraphs. (Starting with Once everyone is cleared out). This is the same as the second half of the hard path.

Easy: There is a left hand turn, farther down the vent. Take this for the easiest route to Stubbs. When you come out, you should be behind a prisoner in a cell. Possess the prisoner, and the cop will get the bright idea to let you out. Once you are out, hit the button just to your right, and the one across from you. This releases the other prisoners and provides adequate distraction for your escape. Then it is as simple as making a left turn and opening the door where the rest of stubbs is waiting.

We can now use the hand as we wish, and that has very important strategic implications. If nothing else, a hand is a free kill for every brain you eat, and usually you can take a few extra down with it. There are times, of course when the best course of action, possibly the only course of action is to possess a specific character, and this guide will be explicit about those times. Otherwise, assume that if you have a hand and a hiding space, you should probably be using them to the best of your ability. This is, of course, largely a game-play preference. Although I enjoy playing as Stubbs more, I still end up spending a large percentage of my time controlling possessed characters on this difficulty, just because you can be so much more efficient that way.

Another note is that we have a new character, for the rest of this level and the next. That character is the riot cop. These silly fellows can’t walk and hide behind their shields, so the preferred way to take them out is with a gun. If you are Stubbs, however, simply stand beside one and grab their arm (you can’t eat their brains, because they are wearing helmets. As smart as Stubbs is, those little squeezy clicky “clips� are just one step too far). Once you have an arm, use it to beat anything else carrying a shield. You will cut through the riot cops like a large blunt arm through a riot shield.

Once you resume command of Stubbs, eat a scientist and proceed back the way you came from (as the cop). You will have two riot cops, and possibly some prisoners to fight. Once the riot cops are dead, head to the sixth cell on your left to find the second hippo for this level (Commentary 2). You are now left with a single cop at the far end of the hall. If you think you will have time, I would try to possess him, but it is a difficult task. Pretty quickly, a whole gaggle of riot cops come through the door behind the cop. You have two good options for dispatching them. 1. Gut grenades (this is the safest, but it really depends on if you have any left from the muster room battle), and 2. Grab an arm and start swinging, although this will get you bludgeoned to death at least once. For the next few rooms I like to just possess a detective, and blast away. It is a very linear section of the game, and if you did the hard hand route, one you have already traveled in its entirety.

Really, you just need to go straight up the middle, as you don’t seem to be able to progress unless you have killed a pretty decent percentage of the cops. Trust me when I say the best way is to possess as many cops as you can, and using that cop shoot a whole lot of other cops. If you show your face as Stubbs in “the gauntlet� you will get shot up before you even have a chance to close range. Feel free to use any remaining powers you have here, as the level is pretty much at its end. Proceed down the gauntlet, make a right, and head to the door at the end.

Hippos

1. Just after you leave the lineup, in the room on the other side of the one-way mirror.

2. In a cell, about six down on the left when you are leaving the room where you are kept captive.

Level 4 - Painting The Town Red

Alright, let me start of by saying that if you are on insane, you are screwed. Go home. If you are already at home, leave. This level scared me away from the game (and these walkthroughs) for a long time, but now I am back to save those of you stalling here. My apologies, but I wasn’t doing much better. I made it through the level in a couple of hours while writing this guide, so it should be doable. Good luck, and thanks to hawk for inspiring me to go back and face my fears.

Level 4 - Painting the Town Red (or the one where Stubbs dies a lot)

To start off, turn around. This needs to be quick. Our intended path is to the left at the intersection and we are looking for the first entrance into the parking garage along that road. Possess one of the two cops that are behind you at the start, and shoot the other one. Try to leave Stubbs around the corner and out of sight of the intersection. Now take the cop out and left at the intersection and try to kill as many people with guns as you can. It is important that you don’t kill the civilians, as they will provide you with nourishment soon. Your cop will probably get got pretty quickly, but hopefully you took a few of his friends down. Some letter jacket kids should now be heading your way (assuming you left Stubbs safe). If they aren’t try to attract attention a few times by poking out. They should come running in no time. Eat them and use the hand you now have to possess another cop, preferably one that isn’t right in the middle of a pack. Kill as many as you can with him, and return to Stubbs. You should still have a fart left from the start of the level. Get yourself running and head for the center of a group of cops. If everything went well there should be about 5 cops total, and you will probably need to hit 3 of them to survive. Using a gut here isn’t a bad idea either, it can thin the cops a bit and provide a couple of zombie distractions. (A technique called the leaping fart can come in handy, jump, and then fart in mid-air {Im not even sure if this helps, but it looks funny}). You should be able to eat the three you gassed, and take out the other two by eating them, as they will be distracted. If you are low on health use the gut for a quick kill. The intersection should now be clear, and there will be three cops in view. One on the bridge, and two down at the end of the road (we are still on the road to the left of the intersection. You should be able to go eat the two at the end, and I generally ignore the one up high. You made it past the intersection! Way to go, but I can’t say life (death?) is going to get much better…

If you were able to eat the cops you should have a bit of a group with you. Turn right at the end of the road and run past the entrance of the garage to draw some civilians out. Eat them all before you think about going in. Avoid going around the corner, as there are a lot more baddies over there and we are going to do our best to avoid them. Once in the garage go left and eat the two cops, then turn around and get the rest that are on the other side. If you kill all of those cops, you should be left at the end of the garage as if you had turned right directly after entering. Turn left when you have to, and then head up the spirally ramp. There will be something like 3 cops on your left , 2 and the right and 2 right in front. First try to lure one of them down, eat him, then if one is left alone posess him and kill the rest. If you do this you should be able to take him up a bit longer. You want to go left from the spiral ramp and you should be going up hill. When you reach the uphill sloping part, get off to the left. Run up a ways, this will trigger a cop car which will come down, if you are the cop, stay up, and pick the two cops off, if you are stubbs, run down so you can be close to them when they get out and eat them. You can also blow them up with a gut if you don’t get down quickly enough.

We are at another sticky point now. Around the corner, there are a whole cluster of cops, just waiting to punch holes in you. The basic strategy here is to try to lure some of them around the truck where you can eat them , and possess one. Kill as many as you can, rinse and repeat. If you are having trouble getting any to come around the truck, try a grenade. Sometimes it makes them run at you, or sometimes it kills them. If they die, wait until the cops start shooting at the zombie, then run out and eat the closest one. You will then be able to possess again. Repeat until they are all gone, then head up to the top of the ramp to meet an old friend.

Bowl your head if you want to, if you think you can make it through without it is worth a try as well. The head bowl is a nice ability to hold on to. Through the door in front of you is a whole pow-wow of cops, so hopefully you have your abilities full. If you go in, throw a grenade at a group on one side, then fart on the other side, you should make it through ok. Don’t worry about building an army, because you can’t take anyone through with you.

Exit the elevator. If you have a hand, possess the first cop you see, if not eat him, and possess the next one. Do what you can to clear the entire top level off before you go down. You should be able to do it using only one or two cops. On the bottom level there are two different sets of cops. One right in front of you and one all the way to the left, in the big indentation in the wall by the door. If you have a hand and need to possess someone the group by the door is smaller, but beware. If you take Stubbs too close to the door, it opens and lets a whole new swarm of cops in. Make sure you have the entire bottom level clear before you go near the door.

Kill the cops that have probably come in near the door, and go outside. You have to be careful here, because you will get hit from above, and hard. There are doors on either side of the courtyard leading up. IF you are shooting around on the bottom part of the courtyard, try to leave the civilians alone, you will want them later. You can charge up with a cop and try to clear off the top level, or you can climb a hand up there and possess one that is already up.
With the courtyard clear Proceed up the little hill and to your right. There is a mostly empty walk to the theater. When you reach the theater there will be come cops and civs around. I generally bowl a head, but you shouldn’t find too much resistance here.

The road only goes one way, so follow it. You will reach an area with two bridges up above. Do some damage in the middle, but don’t waste any abilities. You are heading to a room just a little ways down the road and to the right. Go up and possess a cop on the bridge, killing the other. Focus on clearing your walking path, don’t worry about the cops on the bridge across from you just yet. Good grenade or fart use is important at the end of the hall because there are quite a few cops in a small space. The next bridge only has 3 cops so you should be able to dispatch them without any real trouble. Use whatever powerups you have left to clear out the next room and take the elevator down. Remember, if you have a cop possessed, try your best to take out as many other cops with guns as you can. They are the biggest threat to Stubbs. The nightstick guys aren’t nearly as big a deal.

Out of the elevator, you get a bit of free-food. Use this to fill up your abilities. Keep an eye out, because in front of you a lot of cops will swarm out of a small area. Hit them all with a couple of grenades or a head roll, and you will be done with the level before you know it! This is quite possibly the hardest level in the game, so hold your head up high! If you are lucky, I will come back and get you through the next level.