Wild Things

We were foolish enough to think the zoo might provide refuge, but all that greeted us were approaching footsteps that shook the earth.

Objectives:

• Open the rear gate to Raccoon Zoo.
• Turn the zoo's power back on.
• Find two Lion Emblems to open the front gate. To do this, you will need to collect several Mr. Raccoon medals.
• Defeat the boss - either Oscar or Max.

Lockpick solutions (Alyssa)

Location	Easy	Normal	Hard	Very Hard
Zoo back entrance → Back Alley	P	P	S	W
Back Alley → Restaurant	W	W	I	P
Door to kitchen (register)	I	I	P	S
Door to kitchen (back)	S	S	W	W
South Concourse → East Concourse	-	-	-	I
South Concourse → North Concourse	-	-	-	P
East Concourse → North Concourse	-	-	W	I
Elephant Stage → Connecting Passage	P	P	S	P

Mr. Raccoon Medal locations

Gallery

Take a look at this gallery (opens new window) for possible Mr. Raccoon medal locations.

Addendum: Upstairs of the lion cages, the medal actually spawns left of the door, not on the right, as the screenshot suggests.

Restaurant area

Your mission in this starting area is to collect as many items as possible. The hunting rifle will make your life loads easier at the end of the scenario, so make sure to pick it up. The Mr. Raccoon medal will also make your life easier, possibly allowing you to avoid the lakeside area completely. Last but not least, the bolt cutter will allow you to go through the lion cages faster, and with a better camera angle. If for some reason you're unable to get the bolt cutter, you can read a document inside the restaurant with instructions on how to unlock the zoo gate.

Other items of interest include handguns, a revolver, shotgun/revolver ammo and herbs. In particular, there are two green herbs, one blue herb and one red herb. There's also a butcher knife, which David types may find useful.

If Alyssa is on your team

Alyssa should unlock the back street door while the rest protects her from zombie attacks. Enter the back street and collect the bolt cutter and the hunting rifle, if it's there. Now, let Alyssa unlock the restaurant's back door. Once inside, protect Alyssa while she unlocks one of the doors to the kitchen. Then collect the rifle, if it wasn't in the back street. Feel free to deplete Alyssa's stun gun, since it's useless outside this area. Proceed to open the zoo gate.

If Alyssa is not on your team

One member should stay outside, distracting the zombies, while the rest goes inside the restaurant. Once inside, force open the door closest to the entrance, and collect the rifle, if it's there. Then, force open the back door, and collect the bolt cutter, and the rifle, if it wasn't in the kitchen. Now open the gates and enter the zoo.

Raccoon Zoo: turning the power on

Players that don't enter the zoo will be automatically brought in after a while.

Enter Oscar, the zombie elephant. Try to get behind him as soon as possible, so he goes into the east concourse. His attacks do a huge amount of damage, particularly the stampede attack.

If Alyssa is on the team, she should give the bolt cutter to another member, if she is currently holding it. Then she should proceed to unlock the area's three locked doors. If Alyssa is not on the team, shoulder tackle the two locked doors in the area. If you need some firepower, go to the east concourse and push the green cart to get some ammo. Mark can push the cart by himself; otherwise, two people are needed.

Now proceed to the service road. As soon as you enter, a lioness will jump from the bushes. Avoid it as best as possible, then follow the path to a ladder and a locked door. Go down the ladder, then up the boxes towards the small passageway. There's a herb close to the truck if you need it, but be careful not to open the truck's doors, or you will release another lioness. There may also be a revolver or a Mr. Raccoon medal on the floor close to the boxes.

Once inside, you will see another lioness above some cages. If your character has a decent speed, you can perform a hairpin turn to unlock the door, then get up the wooden box nearby, and avoid the lioness completely. Slower characters must use their dodges, or lure the lioness close to where you first entered the room. Carefully move to the other side of the room, use the bolt cutter on the door, and release the lock. If you don't have the bolt cutter, go upstairs and exit the room through the door there.

In the lion stage, open the door to the front gate plaza. Two lionesses will be waiting for you. Offensive characters should make quick work of them. Otherwise, if you're the first person entering the plaza, immediately move to the cart on the left (your character's right) and push it. But if you see a lioness going for you, ignore the cart and avoid the attack. Find a white jacket close to the zoo's entrance, which contains a 4-character code. There are also a few medals scattered around the plaza; exchange any items you have for the medals. Go back to where you entered from, push the cart if you didn't already, then enter the crawlspace.

If you still have some spare shots left, you can get rid of the lioness in this area very easily. Just shoot in direction to the lakeside area door, and the lioness will be dead without aggro-ing other enemies. In any case, go up the stairs while avoiding the bird, and enter the cabin. Collect the elephant key, and any medals you might find. Now you must return to the east concourse. There are two routes: through the show animals' board house (i.e.: the way you came,) or the lakeside route. If you have plenty of inventory, the lakeside route is more rewarding, but much more dangerous. If you decide against the lakeside route, make your way back to the east concourse and use the elephant key on the door next to the green herb and enter the elephant stage; skip the next paragraph.

If you do decide to go through the lagoon: Enter the lakeside area, which is behind the door closest to the crawlspace. Dispose of the bird if you can, then go inside the lagoon. Here, you will find a zombie alligator, which can IK you if you're low on health. Don't worry, though, since all characters have a dodge when swimming: just use the aim button. Time your dodges to avoid the gator and bird attacks. Enter the terrarium and follow the path upstairs, avoiding the vines as best as possible. They don't inflict too much damage, so don't worry if you get hit by them. You can push the box next to the panel if you want, but be careful of the bees. Exit the terrarium, then unlock the door in front of you. Unlock the next door with your elephant key.

Inside the elephant stage, collect the office key on the stage ring, and possibly a Mr. Raccoon medal close to the door you didn't use the key in. Exit to the east concourse, and enter the door closest to the elephant stage. Take a sharp turn to the left to avoid the hyenas, and unlock the door with your newly found office key. Enter the building and proceed through, avoid the elephant attacks. Enter the office proper, and input the password you read in the front gate plaza. A cutscene will now play.

Medal madness

Now you will be able to collect the rest of the medals, alongside rifle ammo. You did get the rifle in the restaurant area, didn't you?

By this time, you should have at least three medals. Search the office building for more medals, then use them on the raccoon statue in the room next to the power board. After you use three medals, two floor lights will go on; push the statue on the left, and stand on the right floor light to open a safe which contains the blue Lion Emblem. You can pick it up now, or leave it for later. If you do pick it up, go to the front gate plaza, and use it on the lion statue on your right.

There are several ways to deal with the next few sections. I will list them in an order that avoids as much backtracking as possible, but feel free to do the next areas in any order you want. Of course, many players can do these sections simultaneously. Along the way, you will find several medals; if you're item constrained, get rid of the medals by using them on the raccoon mechanism or by exchanging them for other items.

Locking Oscar inside the stage

Go to the elephant stage. In the back of the stage ring, there is a ladder. Go up inside this ladder, then play the Parade BGM (the rightmost panel) to attract Oscar. Once he is inside the stage ring, close the gates using the middle panel. Exit through the door nearby, then go inside the storage. You will find some goodies, including a Mr. Raccoon medal. Now exit through the door closest to the stairs. The zoo employee will have dropped some goodies. Take what you need, and make a decision. You can wait for Oscar to break the cage, or keep him locked. This will determine the boss you fight in the scenario's end.

The terrarium

Go through the sliding door in the connecting passage. Push the movable box upstairs if you didn't already, and use the panel here. For the remainder of this section, there is a high chance you may get poisoned by the bees; just ignore it. Now go back down, through the box, and use the second panel. There may be some goodies here. Finally, go to the area right of the back entrance, and use the last panel. Sometimes, you can find a FAS and/or a medal here. In any case, the secret compartment will open. While there is always an alligator key/rifle ammo, sometimes there is also a Mr. Raccoon medal here, so be sure to pick it up. Exit the area.

The lion stage

Enter the lion stage. If you entered from the lower doors, go up the ladder to the control panel. Operate it to turn on the stage lights, and release yet another lioness. Avoid it as best as you can (the camera angles don't help here,) and collect the item in the stage's "cave."

Show animals' board house

Enter the show animals' board house. If you entered from the first floor, go up the stairs to the control panel. Operate it to raise a wooden board, then go there to collect some items. Be very careful, as the board may fall and hurt you. Also, be careful of the lioness; fortunately, there is a very easy way to deal with her. Refer to the image for details.

After dealing with all sections, you should have collected and used at least 12 medals. This will turn on another floor light in the office. Step on it to open another compartment which contains the red Lion Emblem. Collect it, along with the blue Lion Emblem if you didn't already, then go to the front gate plaza. Use the emblems on the lion statues - red on the left, blue on the right.- The main entrance gate will now open. Go through the gate for a boss battle!

Boss battle

Before starting the boss battle, you may be able to pick a couple herbs directly in front of you. Trigger the boss battle by moving around the area. The boss you will fight will be either Oscar the elephant, or Max the lion, depending on Oscar's status when you enter this area. If Oscar is dead or caged, skip the next two paragraphs.

Oscar, the zombie elephant

Oscar has lots of health, but he can't put your character on Bleed. He has very damaging attacks: he will charge towards allies if they are far away; his trunk swing has good range; his trample attack has several variations, one of them being an IK. When he is attacked in the rear, he will backstep to deal damage to allies.

When he roars while lightly standing on his back feet, attack him with your strongest weapons. Four rifle shots should be enough to defeat him. In any case, Oscar has no invincibility frames, so you can attack him anytime, and since he is a big target, you will most likely always be attacking at all times. You can also get behind the platform's pillars to protect yourself while attacking. After defeating him, approach the platform to end the scenario.

Max, the zombie lion

If Oscar is dead or caged, you will fight Max. He is accompanied by two lionesses, which make this battle much harder than necessary. Max has the exact same attack pattern as lionesses, which means he can put you on Bleed, and also one-hit kill you. Try to deal with the lionesses first to make your life easier. If you don't mind a bit of cheating, be the first to enter the boss arena, activate the battle, then exit immediately: the lioness on the platform roof will not go down.

After dealing a certain amount of damage, Max will jump to the platform roof, regaining some health. You can avoid this by stunning him before the jump, either with a tackle/Kevin's kick, or by dealing a critical hit. Keep shooting him and he will eventually die; the rifle does a good job, but be careful not to attack Max in his invincibility frames, i.e.: while jumping or preparing his IK attack. After Max dies, approach the platform to end the level.