Call it a puzzle, call it an adventure. Zack and Wiki is in fact indescribable
There is no way to describe Zack and Wiki in a few words, since it doesn't belong to any of the existing genres. One could say that it is a puzzle game, but those are usually too simple and don't have any kind of storyline and a main goal to be achieved. So, you can assume it is an adventure game or a platformer, but once again you would be totally wrong, because it is actually much more deep and puzzling as most games of these genres.
So, how can we describe Zack and Wiki? Particularly, I would say that it is a game on which you have to control Zack, a rookie pirate, and its mechanical golden monkey, Wiki, on an adventure filled with astounding puzzle, marvelous scenarios and a couple of interesting battles.
The storyline, not compelling by any means, takes us into a pirate world where there is a legend of a treasure. But this is not an average treasure, it is actually the loot of the most legendary pirate ever, Barbaros.
During your quest you will come across more than twenty stages. Each stage is a huge puzzle itself, and it is composed by lots of smaller puzzles, each one of them can be solved by using more than fifty cool items that will use most of the Wiimote's capabilities. It sounds complicated, but it isn't. The game concept is brilliant, you can looks everywhere you want to, but I assure you will never a game that can be compared to Zack and Wiki.
The puzzles are amazing and extremely creative. On games like Zelda for example, you already know what kinds of challenges you will find, there will always be a room on which you will have to light all the torches, a mirror room and a puzzle on which you need to throw your boomerang at a few targets in a certain order.
But Zack and Wiki's puzzles are unpredictable, some of them can be solved in two or more different ways. I could list at least thirty of them here, but it would completely spoil the game for you. So I'll just say that, you can't even imagine what kinds of challenges are waiting for you.
The gameplay is nearly perfect. The point-and-click controls work fine, but sadly there a few times when you will point desperately at a certain spot and Zack will just refuse to walk there, so you will have to pick another place on the stage for him to go if you want him to move. All the items work perfectly and the controls are extremely responsive, throughout the game I haven't encountered any problems when using them.
The graphics are flawless. If you were astonished by the Wind Waker's cell-shaded look then you had better be prepared for Zack and Wiki blows it away. There some really cool light effects and all characters are very well designed. The art concept is impressive and the textures look really good. But there is a minor shortcoming. On some stages, especially those where there are either lots of enemies wandering around or a huge boss performing massive attacks, the frame-rate drops from time to time.
The cutscenes are all very cool, and the cartoony look of the game makes some of them quite funny.
The sound effects are really nice, and there are lots of them since you will be using a bundle of different items. There aren't any catchy tunes, but all of the games' songs perfectly match the mood of the environment. There is no voice work, but since the game isn't driven by its plot than it is not such a big problem. The characters actually call each other by their names, but that's it.
Zack and Wiki is basically composed of lots of puzzles, and was we know puzzle games don't have such a big replay value because once you have solved them there is nothing else to do, and the second playthrough is usually very uninteresting. But we are talking about an awesome game and Zack and Wiki does a perfect job on this area.
First of all, when completing each stage you are given a score based on what you did and how quickly you figure out how to use a certain item and how you solved the puzzle, so there is always something to improve. Besides, there some stages that can be completed in two or more ways, so figuring out all of those paths can keep you going for some time after you have finished it.
You can't let this game's appearance deceive you. If you think all puzzles here are a piece of cake you will be really surprised when you play it. The games kicks off pretty easy but as you advance the difficulty sky-rockets. As you approach the ending there are some stages that will require your full dedication. It took me around five hours to figure out what to do on one of the late stages.
Be aware that while this level of difficulty may be good for some, it can also be frustrating to a more impatient gamer, because Zack and Wiki is full of traps, on certain stages you may have to start all over again because you did something wrong, or because you were killed by an enemy. So you will have to go back to restart the level and carefully retrace your steps so that you figure out what you did wrong.
For those who are not so patient there are two items that may help you, one allows you to restart the level from the part where you screwed up and there is another item that gives you some advice as to what to do next. But those items are kind of expensive so you had better keep your wallet filled with gold.
In a nutshell, Zack and Wiki is simply amazing, it is one of the few Wii games that presents so many novelties. On a system that has seem lots of ports and games that are gimmicky Zack and Wiki is a must buy. All I have to say is congratulations Capcom and keep those coming, because the Wii needs more games like this one.