Difficult as it may be, it's still a really great game.
Positive: - excellent graphics - ingeniously clever puzzles and solutions - intuitive use of the Wii remote - great music -
Negative: - gets way too hard way too quickly - hints are rarely helpful at all - early frustrations hurt the game's accessibility -
Zack & Wiki is considered to be a very overlooked, underappreciated game. I thought I'd give it a rent and see how it is. It's definitely a great, high quality game, but there are some things that make it incredibly frustrating and way too hard too early on in the game.
Zack & Wiki's story isn't anything too special. Zack is an aspiring pirate with a desire to be the greatest out there and after the game's introduction, he sets out to find all the missing pieces of the infamous pirate Barbaros' golden skelaton, and in return he'll get the ultimate treasure. The characters in the game are pretty forgettable, though, and the best character may well be a bunny pilot named Johnny Style, who is pretty funny and has a great, entertaining personality. Zack is a mute like many Nintendo characters, but that really hurts his character because he could be greatly helped along by having some dialogue. Wiki is just annoying, he's always saying something you don't need to know, making an annoying noise, or saying "Ding!" in the dialogue.
Zack & Wiki is a full-on puzzle game, nothing more and nothing less. But these puzzles are likely the most clever, imaginative puzzles you'll ever find in a game. They take place in a variety of environments and the solutions are always very clever and often funny. To solve the puzzles, you need to use the items available in the level to interact with certian objects and things in the level, which is always really cool because everything uses the Wii remote so well. If you get really badly stuck on a level, you can use an Oracle Doll (purchased at the base) to get a hint, but the hints are always either not helpful at all or tell you something you already know, but they really can help occasionally. It just depends on the level.
The controls in the game are definitely great, but moving Zack takes some getting used to. Each item has a unique remote grip and use, sometimes it's an umbrella while other times it's a flute. Any time in the game, though, you can shake the remote to make Wiki into a bell that can hurt enemies to get new items. To move Zack, you point at where you want him to go and press A. This is really annoying on some levels and a nunchuk control stick or even the remote D-pad would definitely have been preferable. The controls add a lot to Zack & Wiki and the game definitely wouldn't be quite what it is without them.
Zack & Wiki is great in the areas of graphics and sound as well. The graphics are arguably some of the best on the Wii with sharp, high quality cartoon animations. The first time I saw the graphics I couldn't believe it, I thought it was still the opening cutscene! The sound effects are also great and add a nice, somewhat childish feel to the game (in a good way). The music is really cool too, the main theme is awesome.
While you play through the first area of the game, you will be a bit challenged to accomplish beating it but you don't feel overwhelmed. But once you get to the second area, you feel like you just can't do anything. I managed to beat two of the levels, though, and get to the boss level, which is really frustrating and feels totally impossible to beat. Zack & Wiki definitely isn't a game that eases you in with progressing difficulty, and frustration comes naturally before you can even get halfway through the game. Sadly, this game really needed to ease the player in more and so this really hurts the game a lot.
To sum it all up, Zack & Wiki easily could have gotten a 9/10 from me if it wasn't so difficult and frustrating so early on. When I play a game like this, I want to be eased in with some easy stuff to begin with and real challenges at the end, but this just didn't do that for me. I felt hopelessly overwhelmed before I was even halfway through. The rest of the game, though, is a real treat and all the elements create a hugely likeable game that's ingeniously clever and fun. It's worth a rent, no doubt, but you will likely feel inclined to buy it later because of it's low pricetag and because it is, quite simply, a really great game.
Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Value: 7
(this does not necessarily affect the overall score)
To see this review on GameSpot.com, click here.
Negative: - gets way too hard way too quickly - hints are rarely helpful at all - early frustrations hurt the game's accessibility -
Zack & Wiki is considered to be a very overlooked, underappreciated game. I thought I'd give it a rent and see how it is. It's definitely a great, high quality game, but there are some things that make it incredibly frustrating and way too hard too early on in the game.
Zack & Wiki's story isn't anything too special. Zack is an aspiring pirate with a desire to be the greatest out there and after the game's introduction, he sets out to find all the missing pieces of the infamous pirate Barbaros' golden skelaton, and in return he'll get the ultimate treasure. The characters in the game are pretty forgettable, though, and the best character may well be a bunny pilot named Johnny Style, who is pretty funny and has a great, entertaining personality. Zack is a mute like many Nintendo characters, but that really hurts his character because he could be greatly helped along by having some dialogue. Wiki is just annoying, he's always saying something you don't need to know, making an annoying noise, or saying "Ding!" in the dialogue.
Zack & Wiki is a full-on puzzle game, nothing more and nothing less. But these puzzles are likely the most clever, imaginative puzzles you'll ever find in a game. They take place in a variety of environments and the solutions are always very clever and often funny. To solve the puzzles, you need to use the items available in the level to interact with certian objects and things in the level, which is always really cool because everything uses the Wii remote so well. If you get really badly stuck on a level, you can use an Oracle Doll (purchased at the base) to get a hint, but the hints are always either not helpful at all or tell you something you already know, but they really can help occasionally. It just depends on the level.
The controls in the game are definitely great, but moving Zack takes some getting used to. Each item has a unique remote grip and use, sometimes it's an umbrella while other times it's a flute. Any time in the game, though, you can shake the remote to make Wiki into a bell that can hurt enemies to get new items. To move Zack, you point at where you want him to go and press A. This is really annoying on some levels and a nunchuk control stick or even the remote D-pad would definitely have been preferable. The controls add a lot to Zack & Wiki and the game definitely wouldn't be quite what it is without them.
Zack & Wiki is great in the areas of graphics and sound as well. The graphics are arguably some of the best on the Wii with sharp, high quality cartoon animations. The first time I saw the graphics I couldn't believe it, I thought it was still the opening cutscene! The sound effects are also great and add a nice, somewhat childish feel to the game (in a good way). The music is really cool too, the main theme is awesome.
While you play through the first area of the game, you will be a bit challenged to accomplish beating it but you don't feel overwhelmed. But once you get to the second area, you feel like you just can't do anything. I managed to beat two of the levels, though, and get to the boss level, which is really frustrating and feels totally impossible to beat. Zack & Wiki definitely isn't a game that eases you in with progressing difficulty, and frustration comes naturally before you can even get halfway through the game. Sadly, this game really needed to ease the player in more and so this really hurts the game a lot.
To sum it all up, Zack & Wiki easily could have gotten a 9/10 from me if it wasn't so difficult and frustrating so early on. When I play a game like this, I want to be eased in with some easy stuff to begin with and real challenges at the end, but this just didn't do that for me. I felt hopelessly overwhelmed before I was even halfway through. The rest of the game, though, is a real treat and all the elements create a hugely likeable game that's ingeniously clever and fun. It's worth a rent, no doubt, but you will likely feel inclined to buy it later because of it's low pricetag and because it is, quite simply, a really great game.
Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Value: 7
(this does not necessarily affect the overall score)
To see this review on GameSpot.com, click here.
