Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure for Wii Reviews by Gamers

Zach and wiki puts you into the shoes of a young pirate on the hunt for a legendary pirate ship. Along the way you find the skull of Barbaros who promises you his legendary ship if you help put him back together. All in all the story is something you'd come to expect from a Shohen Jump anime.
The true star of Zach and Wiki is the controls. Taking adventage of the wiimotes motion sensors, it propells would would be a medicore PC adventure game into console stardom. Simple point and click tasks like shaking a tree, turning a key, or opening an umbrella feel innovative and fresh. Take note Sam and Max. The wii is calling for you.
As you progress in the game puzzles become more complicated and there are multiple ways to solve them. It rewards you for creativity in puzzle solving as long as you get it right.
The one major flaw in the game is that it just doesn't have the replay value. This is not so much a shot at Zach and Wiki as it is a shot at the entire genre of adventure gaming. Other than loading the game up every now and then for old time's sake and "remember when"s there just isn't a reason to go back for a 2nd or 3rd play through.
If you're and adventure game fan or just someone frustrated with the lack of good titles on your wii, check out Zach and Wiki. It's at the very least worth a rental.

Zack & Wiki is essentially a point and click adventure game. The Wii controls not only lend itself very well to this genre but enhance it.

The bulk of the game is puzzle solving. These puzzles range from easy to pretty hard. The two elements that make these puzzles so unique are the zones and the items.

The items you pick up can be used in many ways. Like an umbrella could be a poking device, could be opened up to float with, or can even be flipped to use the hook handle. Also creatures in each zone can be changed into items and back. The animals and items they become can each be useful. The item manipulation is done beautifully with the Wiimote.

The zones can have a timed element, a certain amount of attempts, a lurking danger. Some have elements that if not done properly actually take you to a point of no return...without telling you. The only way to find out is to use the otherwise horrible hint system.

Issues with the game. Many enemies and situations are not consistent. Some times I'd walk right up to an enemy and it wouldn't attack. Other times I could enter a room with them and fail because they saw me. This is just one example. Also failing a zone means you start over or use a ticket to revive yourself close to the point of failure. This transition is handle poorly. With the possibility of frequent restarts I feel this could have been streamlined much better.

Overall the game has really inventive controls and refreshing gameplay. It is a good game and definitely worth a rental. It is not for everyone. I do feel it has been over hyped in the gaming media. Hopefully similar titles like this to come to the Wii. One can only hope a future developer will apply a little of the old-school Lucasarts philosophy to it.