Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure

"A Pirate's Life for Wii."

Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (which will be referred to as ZAW from here on) is brought to you by the wonderful minds over at Capcom. It is another one of those good games that will probably only be played by a select few which is why many people are referring to it as the "sleeper hit" of the year. I think it is important to mention that at first glance many will be mislead to believe that this game is for young children due to its cel-shaded style and character design. Let me just say that the youngsters will have an extremely tough time with this game. Even the hardcore crowd will find a great ,challenging (but for the most part enjoyable) experience in ZAW. Here's the breakdown:

Presentation: 9/10
The presentation of ZAW is one of the game's main appeals. It uses a cel-shaded graphic style, made famous by The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and uses it well. Background environments, puzzles, and cutescenes all look great. Occasionally you will see an arm go through a leg or a bandana through a shoulder though. Characters designs are pretty original and range from a flying golden monkey that turns into a bell to an entire bunny pirate crew appropriately named the Sea Rabbits. The audio is nice and fits the mood of each puzzle. There are even mingames with classic Capcom tunes. The menus are decorative but nothing too special. Once you start a game you enter the Hideout, which is basically your main menu. From here you can view the map to choose a puzzle, speak to various crew members, view your game record, buy items, and enjoy various extras.

Story: 6/10
There isn't a whole lot of depth to the story. In the first treasure you obtain you find the head of a pirate, Barbaros. He explains that his body has been turned into treasure and has been scattered all around the world. He strikes a deal with Zack and Wiki which, in a nutshell, is "Collect all of my body parts and I'll take you to Treasure Island and give you my legendary ship." It is obvious from the get go that this pirate has evil motives of his own that somehow link him to Wiki. Nevertheless your adventure begins as you start your hunt for the rest of his body parts. Short cutscenes before and after each puzzle give you a little more story, but not much of it is pertaining to the main objective. The cutscenes can be rather humorous though so they are worth watching. Especially the scenes with Captain Rose, the Sea Rabbits' rival, and her goons.


Gameplay 8.5/10
ZAW is a point and click puzzle game which puts the player in the shoes of Zack, a young pirate with dreams of becoming the greatest pirate to sail the ocean blue. His sidekick, Wiki, is a flying monkey with magical powers. They travel the world together in search of treasure, as would be expected of a pirate.The lavish environments that Zack and Wiki visit range from forest to ice lands to volcanoes and more. Before collecting the treasure, though, Zack and Wiki must solve dangerous, and often times fatal, puzzles.

Each puzzle starts off by giving you an overview of the level so you can get a small grasp on what you will be doing. As mentioned earlier this is a point and click game. Using the Wiimote the player must point and click various spots on the stage to move Zack. Clicking objects and parts of the environment allows Zack to interact with it. For example if I want to pick up a stick or pot on the ground I just click it and wait for Zack to pick it up. Any object that Zack keeps in his hand after interacting with it is a tool. Using these tools, you can interact with more parts of the puzzle to solve it. When using a tool you enter a first person perspective in which you are first instructed to hold the Wiimote a certain way. Second, you need to perform a motion. Most of these tools are self-explanatory. For instance, when using a key you point the Wiimote at the screen and twist. For most of the game the motion controls are pretty responsive. Unfortunately some tools do have their flaws and may take a while for the player to get a full grasp on how to use them. These minor flaws are far from gamebreaking though. They may only delay the puzzle-solving for a moment or so. Most enemies can be turned into tools by turning Wiki into a bell and shaking him next to the enemy. To do this you simply shake the Wiimote.

Sounds easy enough so far right? The hard part is actually figuring out how you will need to use your tools, Wiki, and your knowledge to solve each puzzle. Whenever you are stuck you can use a doll (purchased at the hideout) to give you a hint. The hints aren't very helpful so you end up having to use your noggin most of the tim. Every time you die you can use a ticket (also purchased at hideout) to revive. I wouldn't suggest using tickets very often to start off. The reason being that these dolls and tickets get more expensive as you buy them and many times the player will find themselves clicking on an object to interact with it only to be impaled by spikes, crushed by a boulder, or viewing another of many death scenes. On my first playthrough I had around 46 deaths. If you don't revive yourself with a ticket then you must start from the beginning of the puzzle. This can be frustrating as some puzzles can take up 15 minutes even if you know EXACTLY what you need to do. The whole game isn't like this though. The first half of the game isn't very difficult but begins to get harder after that. It all really depends on your puzzle-solving skills. Most of the worlds have bosses too. These puzzles are not too much different than the regular ones. They are a little more difficult. Some even put you on a time limit.

Replay Value: 7/10
You'll notice as you beat each world that they are only 70% complete. That is because after beating the game Zack and Wiki are challenged to finding the rest of the "hidden treasure." The main game will take anywhere from 18-28 hours depending on your skill for your first playthrough. My initial playthrough was approximately 23 hours. Collecting the hidden treasures and filling up all of your notebook can almost double your playtime. This is great for a completionist like myself but many may not want to collect all of that treasure. Why? Because you don't get anything for it except the satisfaction of getting 100% of the treasure. Of course you can listen to the music and sound effects after you collect them. Getting the extra treasure and going for perfect score are fun but a bonus for 100% would have been nice. Even a costume change for your 2nd playthrough would have been cool.

Overall: 8/10
Capcom really pulled it off with ZAW. When it comes down to it ZAW is an overall great, entertaining experience. It can keep you busy for an upwards of 40 hours. The gameplay is simply to understand while providing a challenging experience. I would recommend this game for any Wii collection, especially at the budget price of $40.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/08

Game Release: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (US, 10/23/07)