You have seen this game before, you know. You walked by it at Gamestop while picking up Fire Emblem or Assassin's Creed the other day. Could anyone blame you for walking past it? After all, the game's received pretty much zero attention from any website or magazine. Besides that, it looks and sounds like the kind of crap meant to sucker the money out of parents of young children.
But here's the crazy part: it's actually good. It's actually really good.
Zack & Wiki - also known as "Project Treasure Island Z" or simply "Z-Dub" - pits you, the aspiring pirate Zack, against a series of hostile environments brimming with puzzles. The game is separated into a series of thematically-similar "zones" (jungle, castle, etc.) which themselves are separated into smaller levels, culminating in spectacular boss battles. Levels are navigated similar to the point-n-click adventures of old via the Wii remote's pointer. Specific spots in each level will allow for a special degree of interaction, at which point the game will prompt you to change your grip on the remote and utilize it to solve the puzzle.
The puzzles themselves are by far the game's strongest suit. Zack's monkey-helper Wiki (long-lost cousin of Mega Man Legend's "Data") will transform with a simple shake of the remote into a magical golden bell capable of transforming any sleeping, stunned, or otherwise pacified enemies into items. With these items - ranging in variety from the simple (Batbrella) to the bizzare (Frogbomb) - you and Wiki will saw, yank, whack-a-mole, drill, scare, duel, shoot, and yes, cuddle, your way to victory. The motions that accompany these puzzles are, with a few very unfortunate exceptions, perfectly implemented. This is not "mere waggle" that would be better done with a button click.
Unfortunately, Zack & Wiki will probably never receive the audience it deserves. The game's horrendous name, non-existent marketing, and cutesy style all but kill its chances of mainstream success. While most will look upon it as "child's play", the game is in fact far too difficult for most children. The latter, at least, can get help from the in-game hint system and from a parent via the game's limited multiplayer mode.
Of course, the game has its flaws. Being an adventure/puzzle game, there's not a whole lot of replay value save for getting the painfully well-hidden extra treasures available after beating the game. The second-to-last level suffers from an awful lot of slowdown. Many have complained about the (admittedly, rarely heard) high-pitched voice of Wiki. As mentioned before, there will be an occasional motion - maybe one for every "zone" - that simply does not work as it should. The game's few attempts at humour, while invariably successful at tweaking my funny bone, are far too sporadically placed. But these are all minor nitpicks that should not dissuade anyone, even in this time of Mario Galaxy and Call of Duty, from getting this game post-haste.
For Zack & Wiki is, above all else, fun. Yes, it looks like a (beautiful) cartoon. Yes, I could gush about the madness that was the last two boss battles for another several paragraphs. I could talk about the joy that comes from figuring out the correct motion to the most dastardly of puzzles. I could write about how the screenshots I've supplied don't even come close to doing the game justice. But I won't. Why? Because reading anything more would only keep you from doing what you really should be doing: buying Zack & Wiki. Because it is exactly what a videogame should be. Because it is fun.
