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| From: Capcom
Category: Video Games
New (11) Used (9) from £13.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 651
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Media: Video Game
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.6
UPC: 045496364397
EAN: 0045496364397
ASIN: B000WIOOFC
Release Date: January 18, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
 This is not Monkey Island May 19, 2008
So many people compare this game to Monkey Island, but it is not really anything like. This is more similar in concept to the Goblins game that was around at about the same time as Monkey Island - lots of individual puzzles that stand on their own.
The puzzle elements of this game are good (albeit not that tricky) and the graphics and sounds are polished and atmospheric. Just two things let the game down: un-skippable cut scenes (including some that show you how you need to hold the remote to solve each puzzle, which kind of removes the element of working it out for yourself) and poorly scripted pirate dialogue.
The dialogue is the thing that bugs me most. Instead of Genuine Pirate-Speak(tm), as used in Monkey Island, they have simply removed every trailin' gee and changed 'the' to 'da'. It's less pirate speak, more teen-speak.
Proper pirate speak (including gratuitous use of 'me hearties') would have made quite a big difference, but it wasn't to be. As such, it's still a good game, but not in the same league as the magical Monkey Island.
Occasional frustrations don't quite sink this piratey gem May 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Wii's control system is perfect for the almost-extinct point-and-click adventure genre, so it was only a matter of time before they started to make a comeback on the machine. Thankfully, Capcom saw fit to lead the way with Zack and Wiki, bringing back all the usual try-this-on-that puzzling with a little added gesture-based interactivity and bucketloads of charm for good measure.
The game is less dialogue-driven than the likes of Monkey Island or Broken Sword, and instead of acquiring an ever-growing inventory of bizarre items during the course of the game, Zack and Wiki is broken into different missions, each containing their own self-contained puzzle; the solution to which can be found in the items around you in that level. This sometimes involves turning animals into various tools using your sidekick Wiki as a bell. The puzzles themselves are on the whole ingenius and incredibly satisfying to solve - chances are on more than one occasion you'll spend hours scratching your head over something, leering dangerously towards an internet guide. More often than not the answer is there, right in front of you, which makes it all the sweeter when you finally figure it out.
It's not perfect though. A couple of times through I hit a brick wall because certain puzzle elements are not called out very clearly. The game also has a habit of killing you instantly if you examine the wrong thing - which in my opinion is criminal in a game of this type. To add to the frustration, unless you had the foresight to stock up on 'Platinum Tickets', this means starting the entire level again. Using a ticket lets you restart from a previous checkpoint, a feature that - given how easy it is to die - really should've been included for free. (As long as you spend all the money you gain on tickets you should rarely get too frustrated - though you do get graded on their usage)
Also there are design issues, such as the ability in some levels to lose a key item early in the level by using it incorrectly, only to discover it's real purpose later on - by which point the item is gone and you've no choice but to restart. To round off the bad points, some of the gestures are unresponsive - conversely, some actions are carried out accidentally when trying to work out what to do.
These problems will no doubt have you cursing Zack and his cartoon buddies from time to time, but they were never enough to soil my overall enjoyment of the game. It's colourful, funny, makes good use of the Wii remote, and often makes good use of your own grey matter, long since rusty after hours of Generic Shooting Game No.21224. One last complaint is that it's quite short lived, but that's a problem that plays most games of this ilk - once you've solved the puzzles once, there's little to go back to, at least not until you've forgotten them all again. For this reason it's probably best off as a rental or picked up on the cheap, but one way or another everyone should give Zack and Wiki a whirl.
 If you own a Wii, buy this game!! May 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I received this as a gift for 22nd Birthday. When I opened it, I didn't know what to make of it - I'd never heard of it and the front cover did little to convince me. However, as soon as I put it in my Wii, I was laughing my head off at the dialogue and animations. It's brilliant. I've been playing for about 6 hours so far - not bored at all and I've only just passed the first boss level. It can be quite tricky to solve the problems but you can buy hints with the coins you find. You'll feel a great sense of achievement when you finally crack the level too. Oh, and this game is one of very few that delivers exactly what the Wii console set out to - a type of gaming where you can actually act out what you're doing rather than click a button and do a completely unrelated action. If you're sawing, you use it as a saw. If you're hammering, you use it a a hammer. If you're trying to stop yourself splatting when you hit the ground, you need to hold it as an umbrella and even use the 2 button to pop the umbrella open. It's charming. And, last but not least, another cute feature is that you must turn creatures in the level into items you can use to complete the level. This game is awesome. Best game for Wii I have ever played.
Brilliantly Humiliating April 18, 2008
There are lots of things to say about this game. For a start it's not exactly a toddler game like the plot or animation suggests. It's very hard if your brain isn't wired into the game's way of thinking (which mine isn't) but you do slowly get better, just not faster enough to keep up with learning curve. Sure you could use the internet walkthroughs, but on a puzzle game that defeats the purpose!
Then there's the graphics, I wasn't sure about them because I've never been manga fan and although they aren't full-on manga they are very stylised. In the end it doens't make much difference except they fit the attitude of the game well. The characters are slightly bland, as is the plot but it still gets the odd chuckle from you every now and then. The only tiny annoyance amongst the characters is Wiki, it really gets on my nerves, why can't Zack just have a magic bell?
But that doesn't really matter and over all this game is fun and makes full use of the Wii-mote even if it is a bit hard!
 Perhaps I am too old April 6, 2008
1 out of 18 found this review helpful
I gave this up and never got past the first screen, Although it is clever it is all about speed and too fast for me.
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