A ''Wars'' to end all ''Wars''

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Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaro's Treasure

(Capcom; Wii, Everyone)

Do you like to tinker? Do you throw away all those useless instruction manuals in favor of good ol' fashioned trial and error? Well then, sailor, you're going to love Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaro's Treasure, the first great puzzle game developed solely for the Wii. Using the Wiimote — and let’s be clear, this game would not work on any other platform — you guide wannabe-pirate Zack and his monkey pal Wiki through 20 or so puzzle-based stages to find the — what else? — pirate treasure. (If only it were this simple in real life!) The detailed and colorful settings for each level range from gleaming ice palaces to lush jungle greenery to bubbling volcanic caves. Clearing these levels means solving brain-teasers, mostly achieved by making use of some helpfully provided tools.

Help is available in the form of purchased hints in the form of Oracle Dolls, but try to avoid doing so: buying a hint is admitting your failure. But, yes, levels do become increasingly more difficult as you are required to combine tools and gadgets from previous levels in totally new ways. The only really annoying part about this otherwise stellar title is in the characters and voice-overs. With its challenging puzzles and fairly steep learning curve, Zach & Wiki is definitely not a game for young children (it’s ‘E’ rating notwithstanding), so you'd think that the voices and characters would be a bit less TeleTubby-ish. But that’s quibbling — the game should offer many hours of addictive frustration and enlightenment for any true puzzle-lover. Here's one for all the tinkerers out there! B+ — Samantha Xu

Originally posted Nov 09, 2007

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