While he isn't the most compelling protagonist, Zack is the centrepiece of this fantastic puzzle-adventure game.
Let me preface this post by stating how unenthusiastic I am about the mainstream video game industry at the moment. It's an amazing feat when I can sit down and play a game for more than fifteen minutes without getting bored by cutscenes, dull visuals, horrible controls or bad game design. Zack & Wiki is a brilliant game, it's not trying to be anything it isn't which is a rare find these days. The puzzles are hard without being too hard, the visuals are colourful and full of life and the core gameplay is unhindered by any other elements. Zack & Wiki is everything a game should be.
Within only a few minutes of inserting the disk I was already playing the Zack & Wiki, solving puzzles, waving my Wiimote around and hunting down pieces of a dead pirate named Barbaros. The brilliance of Zack & Wiki's game design lies within the way it rewards the player with HirameQ, a silly name for what is generally referred to as "points". You get H-Q for everything you do that progresses you through each level, from pulling a lever to smacking a fireball at a spider using a tennis racquet made out of a spider. However, there is a catch as if getting points for doing these tasks wasn't enough, you will also be shown how many points you could have attained based on how efficient you are at the task at hand (I can't express how discouraging it is to receive 100/60'000 H-Q for putting a totem into a totem-shaped slot in the ground). Even though I'm yet to finish Zack & Wiki I'm already itching to go back and redo each level to perfection.
Another reason to love Zack & Wiki is the impressive way it utilizes that cunning piece of technology known as the Wiimote. Basic movement of Zack is done by pointing the Wiimote at the screen and clicking where you want him to move to. The beauty of the game, however, lies within the interaction between Zack and the many, many unique objects he encounters throughout the game at which point the Wiimote becomes whichever object you are currently using. For example, let's say that you decide to use a CentiSaw (a saw made out of a centipede for those of you unfamiliar with insect-based tools) to cut down a tree, you are required to perform a cutting motion, with the Wiimote acting as the saw, another good example is when you are required to swing the Wiimote like a tennis racquet to propel a fireball at an enemy spider. Of course, various Wii games have already implemented similar mechanics to this before (Cooking Mama, Wii Sports: Tennis) but it has never been as successful outside of the mini-game scenarios those games present them in. Zack & Wiki blends the use of the Wiimote seamlessly into the core gameplay and that's what I believe makes it such a great game - it embodies everything which got me so excited about the Wii back in 2006.
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