Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure is easily one of the best reasons to buy a Wii.
The premise of the game casts the player as the indomitable Zack, a kid with an oversized hat who dreams of one day being the greatest pirate in history. He travels with his enchanted monkey-bell-thing Wiki, whom he found during adventures prior to the beginning of the game. The game opens with Zack and Wiki traveling by plane to the hideout of his new crew of pirates, the Sea Rabbits. The trip doesn't exactly go according to plan, however, and before long Zack and Wiki find themselves plummeting towards the ground, crashing on an island far below. On this island, the dynamic duo find the golden head of the legendary pirate Barbaros, which comes alive in their hands. Barbaros explains that he has been cursed, his body turned to treasure, and that if Zack can find every body part, then he will grant Zack use of his legendary ship. Zack clearly can't turn down an offer such as this, so his quest thus begins to put Barbaros back together and become the greatest pirate the world has ever known.
The game itself is not terribly story-driven, and is neatly divided up into bite-sized locations strewn about the world map. There are a number of regions to travel to, such as the jungle zone, the volcano zone, and so on, and within each of these regions dwell numerous levels. The premise of every level is roughly identical: the player must guide Zack from where he begins to a treasure chest located somewhere nearby. This sounds easy, but of course there would not be much game if it was a trifling matter of simply walking over and opening the treasure chest. So, naturally, every level presents Zack with a veritable plethora of obstacles that separate him and his golden objects of desire. Zack & Wiki is a thinking game through and through, and the player must rely on his or her keen brainpower to deduce how to progress. And players should not let the cutesy anime graphics fool them; as the player progresses through the game, the puzzles nicely segues from brain-teasers to head-scratchers to downright sadistic mind-renders.
The reason why this review previously referred to Wiki as a "monkey-bell-thing" is because shaking the Wii Remote makes Zack grab Wiki and shake him, which turns the creature into a bell. This bell has multiple uses in the game, but its most prominent use is with regards to enemies strewn about the land. When an enemy is encountered that isn't actively attempting to kill Zack, the boy can walk up to it and ring Wiki to turn the enemy into an item. The exact item received depends on the enemy. A centipede, for example, will turn into a saw; a snake will turn into a grabber; and so on. The general idea of gameplay is that Zack must find the requisite items in a level and then use them in the proper order to clear the way between him and the treasure chest. At the start, this is as simple as chopping down a tree to make a bridge, but it quickly becomes much less obvious what to do as the player progresses. A plus here is that many items have multiple uses, which is a nice reprieve from other adventure games that load the player with a thousand items that each only have one use.
The player also receives a certain number of points (or "HirameQ") with each successful unraveling of a piece of the puzzle. The amount of points received decreases, however, with each unsuccessful attempt at finding a solution. At the end of each level, the player receives an overall evaluation of how well he or she did, as well, based on the number of points accumulated. This adds a nice amount of replay to the game, as players will want to go through each level again in an attempt to earn a perfect score.
An interesting aspect of the game is the way in which players move Zack. The game takes a page from old point-and-click adventure games like Monkey Island by making players move not by using the nunchuck's analog stick, but rather by simply pointing to the ground with the Wii Remote and pressing A to make Zack move there. The cursor is denoted by a star icon, and a small region around the icon is illuminated to tell the player exactly what the game thinks he or she is pointing at. This goes a long way to eliminate any issues of depth perception that might otherwise have arisen. The game makes excellent use of the Wii Remote when a player goes to use an item, as well. To operate any item, the player must essentially mimic the action one would take in reality with the remote. For example, to use the saw, the player must move the remote in and out quickly to simulate the usage of an actual saw. There are a few items whose usage is a little awkward or unintuitive, which is a possible room for improvement, but on the whole this tends to work very well, and makes things much more interesting than something like "hit A to saw".
One problem many have had with the game is the fact that it's possible to die in the game - or, at least, to have Zack meet an unfortunate fate that renders him unable to continue his quest. This requires players to either start over from scratch or to use an item (purchasable from a fortune teller lady) that permits Zack to turn back time and undo whatever his last action was. An additional problem is that it's not always obvious what will kill you, as sometimes merely examining the wrong portion of the map will cause Zack to meet his untimely demise. There are also cases where Zack has not died, but has nonetheless incorrectly used an item in a way that renders the puzzle unsolvable, thus requiring the player to start over. The reviewer did not find this to be a terrible problem, but many have complained that this essentially just forces players to repeatedly retrace steps that they have already taken, and this complaint is not without merit.
On the topic of aesthetics, the game has very finished and polished feel to it, as both the characters and the scenery come together to form a very visually pleasing whole. Hardcore gamers might be repulsed by the cartoonish nature of the characters, but if one can move beyond the surface, the game absolutely oozes with style and charm. Zack, with his affinity for chocolate bars, is often adorable, as are Wiki and most of the cast, for that matter. Even the most masculine of players might find it hard to resist smiling at the game's cuteness and humor after a long enough time spent with them. And if one grows tired of the characters, one can instead look at the scenery, which is beautifully rendered in every level and is extremely well-designed.
While there is no actual spoken dialog in the game - all dialog is told through text - characters nonetheless have voices within the game in the form of exclamations or other miscellaneous utterances. An interesting fact is that Capcom actually kept the character sounds from the Japanese game, which might be a little odd at first - especially hearing Wiki exclaim "Zackuuuuuuu!" - but one quickly gets used to it. What voice work exists is very tasteful and well done, and most certainly positively contributes to the overall aesthetic whole. The soundtrack to the game is quite well done as well; the musical tracks are more to the subdued end of the scale, on the whole, but they fit in nicely with the gameplay nonetheless. The game's sound effects are largely unremarkable, but they get the job done well enough.
Zack & Wiki is a real textbook example of something being more than the sum of its parts. There are many ways that this game could have been a dud. For instance, the game could have easily fulfilled gamers' first impressions, brought on by the cutesy graphics, by making the puzzles way too easy, and thus making the game one for children. Fortunately, Capcom resisted this urge, and all of Wii-dom is grateful to them, because in creating a truly marvelous puzzle game they have brought about one of the finest games on the Wii. This reviewer highly recommends anyone reading this review to pick up this game without delay; beyond its excellent gameplay, its low cost - sometimes sighted at under $30 - ought to seal the deal to make this game a must-buy.