Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure

By Daniel Needham

The adventure genre is definitely one of the most popular gaming categories of all time. And with the release of the Wii, we (no pun intended) are seeing something of a resurgence in the genre, as the Wii controls get fully explored by developers worldwide. Latest to throw their hat in to the ring is Capcom, who in December will bring Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure to the Wii.

The game starts off with a story revolving around Zack, a young apprentice pirate keen on seeking out treasure. During his escapades he comes across a talking skull that once belonged to a legendary pirate by the name of Barbaros, who long ago stole a fantastic treasure and left it hidden within the depths of a mysterious island. Add this to Capcom’s pledge of around fourty hours of gameplay and you have a mighty big quest ahead of you.

The gameplay is a combination of puzzle and platforming elements, with Zack running around with Wiki at his side in self-contained stages, which you need to survey when you first enter to see how the end goal can be accomplished. Once you drop in on a level you are able to survey the landscape, and from there make an educated choice of how you’ll go about retrieving your goal.

Manipulating objects is another core gameplay element behind Zack & Wiki. Whenever an object in-hand can be used on an environmental puzzle, a generic human model will appear on screen, holding the Wii remote in the proper way. There are many different ways to hold the remote to perform tasks, much like the different techniques used in Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. You can, for instance, pull the Wii remote like a lever, turn it as a key, or slide it back and forth vigorously like a saw.

The game takes place over various colourful, well-animated locations, such as the ruins of a jungle, an airship and even an ancient castle, complete with a cell-shaded style. The game gives you a rating dependent on how quickly you completed puzzles and whether or not you asked for hints along the way, which is aimed at increasing the re-playability of the game.

With the cell-shaded look and a pirate back-story this game was just meant to be! And this sure could be a stocking stuffer, as it’s a pre-Christmas release, and after you’ve read this preview you know you’ll be dropping subtle, or maybe not so subtle, hints everywhere. Look to NZG for more coverage of this title, and many others, in the big rush leading up to Christmas.

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