Capcom Press Day NYC: Zack & Wiki: Quest For Barbaros' Treasure
Once known by the generically boring title Project Treasure Island Z, this game has recently been rechristened with the generically tacky title Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure. While the nomenclature is unfortunate, and you can almost see the marketing goons arguing over which buzz word has more cachet with the kids these days, the game itself looked very cool.
Described as "one part brain teaser, one part Rube Goldberg device," Zack & Wiki takes a very Wiimote-friendly approach to its gameplay - each level is a series of puzzles that young treasure hunter Zack must solve with real-world manipulation of the Wiimote to effect in-game items and puzzle elements. Wiki, of course, is a floating monkey companion who occasionally assists with gameplay and is clearly designed to boost the game's cute factor into low earth orbit.
While I obviously don't mind wasting a little time poking fun at Zack & Wiki's prefab Wii-friendly art direction, I'm actually super excited for its release. The game runs so much like a Wii-ified update of the concept found in The Incredible Machine that any true puzzler fan will recognize that this shallow veneer hides a wealth of brain-racking, IQ test-style puzzle progression. (In fact, we learned that Capcom had bought the TIM rights years ago but had been unable to make the concept work on the original PlayStation.)
Unlike the surplus of minigame games for the Wii, Zack & Wiki was designed specifically to take advantage of the Wiimote for a good reason - everything that happens in the game, be it picking up a widget, turning or flipping said widget, turning a screw inserting a peg, is done by performing the action in question with the Wiimote. From what I could tell, not only does Zack & Wiki succeed as a game-designed-for-Wiimote concept game, it might also be the first great puzzler for the Wii.
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 24 May 2007
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: capcom, nintendo, project treasure island z, puzzle, wii, zack & wiki
Why must they infantilize the names of these games? I know they want to appeal to kids, but do they have to embarrass the rest of us who might want to play it by giving it a name that sounds like story for 4 year olds?
Ah well, going back to play Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg.
Joking.