Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure

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Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
Developer(s)	Eichiro Sasaki (Director) Hironobu Takeshita (Producer)[1]
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Platform(s)	Wii
Release date	October 23, 2007 October 25, 2007 January 18, 2008 February 21, 2008 April 26, 2008[2]
Genre(s)	Point-and-click adventure game
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: E PEGI 7+ OFLC: PG[3]
Media	Wii Optical Disc
Input methods	Wii Remote

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, known as Takara-jima Z Barbaros no Hihō (宝島Z バルバロスの秘宝, Takara-jima Zetto Barubarosu no Hihō^?, literally "Treasure Island Z: Barbaros' Treasure") in Japan, is an adventure video game for the Wii console. The game uses the unique control mechanics of the Wii Remote.

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Plot 3 Reception 3.1 Buy Zack & Wiki campaign 4 Development 4.1 Controversy 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Gameplay

Zack & Wiki is presented as a third-person perspective adventure game, with the player controlling the actions of Zack through the Wii Remote. The player can point to objects on the screen, identified by a cursor, to have Zack investigate the item or move about the level. Enemies in the level can be transformed into usable items by having Zack shake his companion Wiki like a bell. When the player has Zack interact with a usable item, the game shifts to a first-person view, and the player must mimic the operation of the item with the Wii Remote. For example, to cut down a tree with a saw, the player holds the Wii Remote horizontally and moves it back and forth. Successful actions are awarded points based on the cleverness of the action, how many attempts it takes to perform the action correctly, and the difficulty level.

[edit] Plot

Zack aspires to be the greatest pirate ever. He and his "enchanted" friend Wiki are the newest members of the pirate gang, "The Sea Rabbits". On their flight to the Sea Rabbits' hideout, Zack and Wiki crash land on an island. On the island, however, they find a treasure chest with the golden talking skull of the legendary pirate captain Barbaros who promises to lead them to his famous Treasure Island and give them his Legendary Ship if they will restore his body, by collecting the various pieces of his body scattered around the area.

Zack and Wiki search through several areas of the world, each one containing either a missing piece of Barbaros' cursed self, or a map leading to other areas. While they explore these areas, they frequently run afoul of the Rose Rock Pirates, a group led by the bourgeois Captain Rose and crewed by her band of seemingly indestructible Goons.

Finding the last piece of Barbaros in a chest in his own castle, Zack rings Wiki in order to restore Barbaros to his former self. This restores Barbaros' humanity, but also reveals his true intentions; that he never planned to give Zack anything, and wishes Treasure Island all for himself. It is also revealed that Wiki was the one who originally cursed Barbaros, which Wiki had lost memory of. Barbaros then casts Zack and Wiki into a pit and departs for Treasure Island.

Zack and Wiki give chase and join forces with Captain Rose to trail Barbaros to Treasure Island, an island that seemingly floats in the gap at the center of the earth. There, the heroes outsmart Barbaros and escape Treasure Island with his Legendary Ship. As they escape, Barbaros attempts one final assault using a large mechanized creature. Zack is able to repel this assault in the end, but at the cost of losing Wiki to the collapsing Treasure Island. The epilogue details life soon afterwards, with a despondent Zack in the Sea Rabbits' hideout. He hears a familiar ring and rushes out to find a chest washed onto the shore. The game ends as Zack opens the chest.

[edit] Reception

Zack & Wiki has received very positive reviews, with the controls being especially praised. The game currently has an average of 87% on Game Rankings.^[8] Despite these good reviews, Zack & Wiki sold only 35,000 units in the US in its release month, November 2007. ^[9] The game proved more successful in the UK, reaching number 17 in the all format games charts during its first few days on sale.^[10]

Despite its slow start, Zack and Wiki has sold over 300,000 copies worldwide so far.^[11]

[edit] Buy Zack & Wiki campaign

Leading up to an official announcement on June 18, 2007,^[12] Matt Casamassina, the editor-in-chief of IGN's Nintendo Channel, and Mark Bozon had been praising the game for its originality and unique gameplay.^[13] In this announcement Casamassina officially stated that the two would make it their obligation to make sure that as many people as possible will buy the game upon its release.^[12]

Since this announcement, a number of websites, such as GoNintendo, Neoseeker, Knight-Nui, Destructoid and N-Europe, have picked up the campaign. Issue #29 of the UK Official Nintendo Magazine recently did the same thing, also including Battalion Wars 2 into it.^[14]

[edit] Development

[edit] Controversy

In a promotional video for the game first shown at E3 2007, the game featured background sounds after accomplishing certain tasks. One such sound used in the video was the Islamic prayer "Allahu akbar" ("God is great"), which was repeatedly used as players worked on a puzzle while tribal islanders prayed around a totem. After receiving complaints and being contacted by The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Capcom removed the phrase from the game.^[15]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• Official Forum
• IGN page
• Nintendo of Australia page