This is a collaborative walkthrough for Shank. Please add any missing information to any section and/or correct any errors that you find.
Level 1-Return Home[]
The story begins with a cutscene how Shank got his default weapon (Chainsaw and Dual pistols), then Player will be introduced with Combat mechanics that split into 3 types: Melee (Shank attack), Heavy (Chainsaw,Machete, and Chains), and also Pistols (Dual Pistols, Shotgun, Uzi).
Shank will fight his way out the bar, full of enemies.
Level 2-A Big Show[]
Shank will be faced with the Butcher, the ring will be closed. Get prepared for your first boss fight!!
BOSS: The Butcher (fake)
There are two ways to finish this:
- Easy Way:
You can simply beat him by climbing wall, waiting him to do a charge attack. When he hit the wall, he will be stunned, and a symbol will be appear above.
- Hard Way: Focus on quick attacks and dodge when he start to do grabs or slams.
Then, Shank finally know that the Butcher he kill is fake.
Level 3 - Other Side of the Tracks[]
In this level, you will get a Shotgun. This weapon is a great weapon and will be useful for future levels. You also can find Minigun, the first pickup-able enemies weapon. In the midway, enemies also shooting you from above. take them out as priority, then take out shield-wielder big enemies.
Level 4 - Ride[]
When you reach the third swing skull, a short cutscene will play showing the enemies up ahead. Take their cue and shoot the propane tank from the skull by aiming at it.
Level 5 - Cars and Grenades[]
BOSS: The APV
- All you have to do is stand still in the leftend of the train and keep shooting at the APV, watchout for incoming enemies that can throw grenades at Shank.
- The Enemies itself will be taken care by APV's rockets and Grenades.
Level 6 - Meatpacking Plant[]
This level is one of the more platform heavy levels in the game. Whenever you're sliding down a slope, be ready to jump to avoid sliding into a death trap. The game will slowdown to let you know when it's time to jump.
Level 7 - The Butcher[]
BOSS: The Real Butcher
Fighting The Real Butcher is easy as fighting the fake Butcher. Beware of his opening charging attack. Shoot the Meatlambs hanging above, trying to positioning the meatlambs between you and The Butcher. When he uses his chain attack,it will be stuck and you are able to pounce him. Repeat this until the cutscene.
Level 8 - Red Lights[]
There's actually not much to note in this short level other than the introduction of shielded enemies that wield shotguns. They take a long time to shoot once they pull their shield away, so you should have plenty of time to jump to their backside or hit them with a quick attack before they get the shot off. Note that you can't block the shotgun blast.
Level 9 - A Good Fight[]
BOSS - Cassandra
- Cassandra's weakness is her susceptibility to counter attacks. Pepper her with quick attacks and be ready to dodge whenever she flashes. What you're waiting for is a prompt for you to press guard.
- Note that Cassandra will pretty much block all of your gun shots, so stick to the shank for this fight.
- You should also be careful when Cassandra blocks. She has a tendency to attack right out of her block and catch you off guard. Be on the look out for those flashes and be sure to roll through her as soon as you see them. Keep this up and eventually a cutscene will play that has Shank putting a bullet in her head.
- Otherwise, you can keep avoiding her attack and get away. Once you do this, shoot her with Dual pistols from afar, with a chance 3:10 bullets that hit.
Level 10 - On the Run[]
- You'll fight against a new female variety of standard enemy in this level. Females are generally much tougher to kill and tend to be much more evasive. Still, they can be grabbed and thrown, so you should make use of this as much as possible to keep them grounded and neutralized.
- During the part where hordes of enemies come down the stairway, put your grenades to good use and try to take out groups of them at a time.
Level 11 - Sweet Love[]
BOSS - Denny
- Like previous boss battles, Denny has a glaring weakness that, when exploited, makes this fight really easy.
- Denny has two phases during the boss fight. He starts of with having his entire face covered by the mask, limiting him to just headbutting you in his charge attacks. Once he lost roughly 50% of his health, he will enter his second phase, where the lower part of his mask is removed exposing his mouth as well as improving his charge attack where he will also bite shanks if he manages to grab him in this phase, dealing substantionally more damage than the normal headbutt.
- You'll notice that periodically, a guy with a squirrel mask will hop out of the cage above and try to grab hold of you. Try to always have this squirrel guy in between you and Denny at all times.
- When Denny flashes and charges, if he runs into the squirrel mask, he'll start squeezing the life out of it, allowing you to run over to him and pounce for some big damage.
- One easy way to make sure that the squirrel mask is always in between you and Denny is simply by climbing the walls. There's nothing that either of them can really do to get you down and eventually Denny will charge into the squirrel mask.
Level 12 - Venom of the Vipers[]
- This level starts out pretty standard, but about halfway through you'll start to get showered by grenades as you're trying to make your way from building to building.
- Note that you don't actually have to kill the enemies here. It might be better advised for you to just ignore all enemies and keep on moving until you come to a fight where you actually can't proceed until you take out the enemies.
- Eventually you'll reach the roof where the grenade launcher guy has been hiding out. Take him out first so you don't have to deal with his grenades anymore.
- After you deal with grenade launcher guy, pick up the minigun and get ready to mow down the incoming enemies to the right.
Level 13 - World of Warriors[]
- This level is nothing more than an arena style battle against waves of increasingly tough adversaries.
- Try to conserve your grenades for the last two waves where you'll have to deal with big enemies wielding flamethrowers, miniguns, and grenade launchers. It may be tempting to pick up the big weapons once they're dropped, but be careful if there are too many enemies still around. The minigun takes a while to get going and the flamethrower has very short range.
Level 14 - A Bad Confession[]
- Halfway through the level, Angelo will start randomly firing rockets with some pretty nasty splash damage. Once again, you don't have to fight every battle here. Keep moving and only fight when you're forced to in order to proceed.
- When you get to the part where the rockets cause the roof to fall on you, be conservative with your dodge and only use to avoid getting hit by the falling rocks. Use your jumping attack to plow through the enemies without having to actually fight them.
- You need to be quick on the poles, so instead of just shimmying across them, jump forward a significant distance. Just be careful not to jump off by accident.
Level 15 - Bombs and Bells[]
Level 16 - Unjust Steward[]
BOSS - Angelo
Angelo's main weakness is that he can be backed up into the fire for a stun. Then a icon appear above his head.
Level 17 - The Underworld[]
- Lots of enemies with shields and shotguns inhabit this level. Use your grenades on them whenever possible so you don't have to deal with getting in close to them.
- There are also lots of strategically placed propane tanks. Use your shotgun to shoot through an enemy and blow up the propane tank if it's located behind them. Also know that throwing an enemy into a tank will blow it up as well.
Level 18 - Leap of Faith[]
- Rocks will fall from the ceiling throughout this level that will not only hit you while you're fighting enemies, but also while you're just trying to run across a wall or shimmy along a pole.
- You'll know when rocks are about to fall by seeing the screen shake. If you're on foot, hold L1 to block the rocks. If you're swinging or sliding down something, there's really nothing you can do other than use trial and error.
- The placement of the falling rocks is consistent, and thankfully, checkpoints in this level are fairly generous. If you get hit by rocks while swinging between two skulls, you either went too fast or went too slow. Adjust your speed accordingly and either wait on the previous skull until the rocks fall, or just pick up the pace a little.
Level 19 - Fertile Ground[]
- You'll come to another section where enemies standing on top of a ceiling will shoot you while you deal with enemies down below. Use your dual pistols to take out the enemies above before you deal with the enemies down below.
Level 19 - Fertile Ground - Part 2[]
BOSS - Toro
- This boss is actually just like the first boss you fought against, with the exception of the fact that now when he charges into the wall, he will jump off of it and try to slam on you.
- Aside from that, the same strategies that applied to the fake butcher battle still apply here.
Level 19 - Fertile Ground - Part 3[]
- More areas with enemies shooting down from above await you after your boss fight with Toro. The good news is that for the remainder of these types of fights, the enemies above won't shoot you if you stand under their platform. Use this to your advantage and clear out the bottom level so you can easily take out the guys on the top.
Level 20 - The Final Fight[]
BOSS - Cesar
- Unfortunately, there are no real weaknesses to Cesar. However, that doesn't mean you have to go in this fight without a strategy though.
- By doing this, you hit him quickly enough to avoid any attack he might throw at you, and by dodging after throwing just two hits, you'll typically counter his attack without even trying to do so.
- Of course, this strategy isn't fool proof so you likely will take some damage, but thankfully after every phase of the fight, you're given two bottles to refill your health with. Just make sure that the fight doesn't move over to the bottles or you might accidentally take one when you don't need the health.
- Stick to the strategy and avoid using heavy attacks or guns. Heavy attacks are too slow and typically will get stopped before you get a chance to damage him with them, and guns will just be blocked and cause Cesar to use his own guns on you.
- When Cesar puts you into a hold, quickly tap block to break it. Shank will headbutt Cesar, knocking him back. While Cesar is stumbling, grapple him, and Shank will jump into the air and slam Cesar into the ground for more damage.
- During the third phase, after you deal enough damage to Cesar, you'll get a chance to use a grapple attack when prompted. Use it to bring him within a inch of his life and then finish him off.
- After you defeat Cesar, your revenge will be complete and you'll have beaten Shank!
