[We recently added a gaming reviews section to our forums, giving our users a chance to post reviews they had written. The first one was posted already, and is a great review of Zack & Wiki: The Quest for Barbaros' Treasure by Dexter345. We thought it deserved to be posted on the front page of MEGATONik, and so it can be found below - and if we see any other well written, well done reviews we may post those too. -zizzy]

There’s not much I can say about Zack & Wiki that hasn’t already been said elsewhere. It’s garnering critical acclaim across the board, and yet, rumors are abound that early sales have been abysmal at best. It’s sad to think that one of the best games on the Wii ever might go the way of Beyond Good & Evil or Psychonauts, adored by those who played it, and ignored by most everybody else.

Zack & Wiki are the newest recruits of a group of pirates called the Sea Rabbits. The name makes sense, because everybody in the group other than Zack & Wiki are actually rabbits. The captain is in debt, so Zack & Wiki set out to find treasure, and ultimately, to be the best pirates ever. It’s a simple story, and it works. There is a major *twist* in the tale, but I would be lying if I told you it was unexpected.

Despite the passable story, nearly everything else about this game is excellent. Look at the picture up there. Is that not some of the most vibrant artwork you’ve seen in a video game? The visual style is a bit like that of The Wind Waker (and I’m sure I’m not the first to make that comparison), and it really captures the mood of the game. It’s bright, it’s colorful, and it’s fun.

The music is also pretty good, though a bit clichéd. In the ice area, you’ll hear exactly what you expect to hear, soft soothing tones punctuated with twinkles of notes here and there. In the haunted castle area, the music takes on a playfully spooky tone. The music is good enough that it enhances the game, but not so good that you’d want to buy the soundtrack.

Well, except for one song. I absolutely love the slow flute song played by the Growlin’ Goblin Chief. I would put it on my iPod if I had it.

But anyway, now that we’re past the aesthetics, we can get to the real reason why this game is one of the best games on the Wii: the gameplay.

It’s being called an “action puzzler,” and I can understand why. While at first it seems to be a standard point and click adventure title, many of the puzzles require a steady hand, quick reflexes, and a sufficiently sharp mind. Rather than being an entire continuous adventure a la King’s Quest, Zack & Wiki is divided into short levels, where everything you would need for each level is present in it. Personally, I prefer this format, because one of the more annoying occurrences in a game like Myst is when you miss a minute detail at one point, only to get stuck much later on and have to backtrack trying to find the heptagonal silver disc that fits into the heptagonal silver hole.

The puzzles start out easy, but ramp up to a comfortable-yet-doable difficulty and then to friggin’ hard. With the exception of a few instances, the puzzles are never hard like, “Man, that’s so cheap,” they’re hard like, “Wow, that’s really clever.” Once you get into it, the harder levels are absolutely the most fun of the bunch.

One of the most difficult things in writing this review is conveying how the game plays without spoiling the game itself. It might not be possible, as a lot of the enjoyment is derived from getting in and figuring stuff out for yourself. Though I’ll refrain from going into specifics, suffice it to say that Zack & Wiki would have suffered greatly had it been developed on a system other than the Wii. There are some standard things you’ve come to expect from the Wiimote, such as sawing motions, fishing motions, and lots and lots of waggling, but then there are some points where the Wiimote is used so perfectly, and in such an innovative way, that you cannot help but be impressed by what Capcom has done with it.

While I can’t seem to praise Zack & Wiki enough, there are some minor flaws. While 90% of the Wiimote actions work exactly how they should, others have a bit of a learning curve and aren’t completely intuitive. More of an issue though, are the few rare occasions where I felt cheated by a puzzle. I knew the solution, but I didn’t know exactly how the game wanted me to do it.

Still, those occurrences are few and far between, and while they detract from the enjoyment, they don’t hurt the experience much. Aside from that, the camera control and movement takes some getting used to, and it hiccups from time to time, but again, not enough to be infuriating.

All in all, while I think Zack & Wiki is an excellent game, I can also imagine that some people might completely hate it. By no means is this a game for everybody. Some people just want to sit down, turn their minds off, and blow stuff up. And that’s fine. Those people will not want to play Zack & Wiki. Some people see the colorful graphics and immediately dismiss it as a child’s game. Not only are these people completely wrong, but they’re probably not the type to enjoy Zack & Wiki either.

If, however, you are not one of these people, and you have a Wii, and you wish you had something to play on it, then trying out Zack & Wiki is imperative. You might not quite understand the veracity of this statement, but missing Zack & Wiki is simply not an option.

And truthfully, I have an ulterior motive for recommending this game so strongly. Zack & Wiki needs to sell, or else I will never see a Zack & Wiki 2. And the thought of having and endless stream of minigame compilations for the Wii, but no sequel to one of the best games on it makes me weep a little on the inside. Whether you do it now or you wait until after the holidays, it is imperative that you buy Zack & Wiki.