Capcom is known for action games, but this fall the company is making a foray into adventure games with Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure on the Wii. The unique puzzler mixes traditional adventure gameplay with movements of the Wii Remote with interesting results. We're not entirely sold on the game, but it's hard to deny the charm it possesses.
Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure tells the story of a wannabe pirate and his flying monkey sidekick aiming to find the derelict ship of the legendary pirate Barbaros. Locating Barbaros' lost ship and consequently becoming filthy rich and famous requires locating various artifacts and treasure, which is accomplished by solving puzzles across seven worlds. You'll explore areas ranging from a dilapidated jungle temple, an ancient castle, airship, and even volcanic caverns. With Wiki at his side, you'll guide Zack through a series of puzzles that involve interaction with the environment and movement of the Wii Remote.
Two puzzles were playable during our demonstration. The puzzle was set in a dark castle, a locked tower jutting into the moonlit sky. Our goal was to find the key to the tower and grab the treasure inside. Since you don't have direct control over Zack, you have to guide him through levels using a pointer. Movements of the Wii Remote enable you to move the cursor on-screen. Pressing A orders Zack to jaunt on over to whatever location you've designated.
Elements of the puzzle we played are timed, so you'll have to carefully direct Zack through each level. For example, skulls sitting on the third floor of the castle come alive whenever the moonlight shining through an adjacent window is covered. Getting past the skeleton requires waiting for the moonlight to return and quickly directing Zack to run past him.
In many ways, Zack and Wiki plays like an old-school adventure game, having you interact with items and placing them in the surrounding environment. Objects that you can interact with are shown by a change of color on the cursor; in short, it turns from yellow to pink. In the section described above with the skull, we were able to pick it up and set it back down on a switch to trigger an elevator. Later on in the level, we collected a moon artifact created out of moonlight and water; with that in hand we put it into a lantern close to two skulls in order to prevent them from waking up.
In addition to toying with items, you'll also be able to interact with stationary objects within levels. For example, the lowest floor of the castle houses a generator powering a spinning wheel that is two floors up. Having Zack target the generator switches the screen to a close up view. From here we were prompted to twist the Wii Remote in order to turn a dial on the generator; as a result, the generator turned on and the wheel began to move.
What we've played of Zack and Wiki leads us to believe that it'll be a unique addition to the Wii library this fall. There are concerns that its point-and-click style of adventure gameplay will prove too difficult for most--it was definitely hard for us in the short demonstration we played! While it should be applauded for its originality, we're hesitant to endorse it until we get more time with it, which should be sooner than later as its set to ship at the end of October.
