On one of my two very brief outings to Barker Hanger during E3, I stumbled upon a developer with a Wii-mote in his hand moving a young boy back and forth across a log that crossed a crevasse. The boy was followed by this bird thing. Periodically, the dev would shake his Wii-mote and the bird-thing would spin in circles and sound like a bell. When I asked what it was he was doing he said, "Looking for treasure." Huh.
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, is a unique adventure/puzzle game. The entire point is to find treasure. Finding it is another thing entirely. You don't have direct control over Zack, you simply point in a direction and he moves, with Wiki in tow. Wiki is his bird-like companion whose entire purpose is to transform items from something dangerous into something useful. While I watched, a lobster-like creature was "belled" into a saw.
This left Zack & Wiki with a chasm to cross and blocked cave to enter. The cave was blocked by two wooden bars - obvious, use the saw. Entering the cave and going further became a bit of a quandary. There was a big ape-thing (all of the animals are "things") at the top of the caves; half-way through it was dark; further on there was a dip in the caves - reaching water - but we couldn't get back to the staircase again. All we had were the saw, the sticks from the bars and a fire back across the chasm.
We thought the obvious was to light a stick on fire and take it to the dark part of the cave. But, every time we tried air blew through a totem near the cave door. A lot of exploring, blown out torches, swimming in water and having the ape-like thing smush us and we discovered some clay pots at the top of the caves. Overturn one on the totem, and we've stopped the airflow.
Other than the sheer puzzle-solving of it all, it was fun to saw through the wood and turn the pot over on totem (even if it took me three tries!). The art style is fun and light without being too cartoonish; items are what they are - although determining what they can be? I leave that up to Wiki and his bell. The one time we were really stuck we used the hint genie for help. Yeah, for cryptic genies. I'd be loathe to say this game is for children. The puzzles aren't simplistic, but neither are they overly ambitious. They're just the right level of difficulty to make the game fun.
I'm a mother of two boys, ages 11 and 13 and live in the chaos that ensues. I've a permanent disability that keeps me homebound, so books, kids, games and books are my constant companions. Oh, and books, too. *grins*
My children both play games so I often play them first, getting to know exactly how something may effect my sensitive and easily stimulated older child vs. my stoic and imperturbable younger.
I like games for games; for the pure enjoyment of them and believe that no game is wholly bad, though some are real stinkers.
I also have the dexterity of a camel in mittens so find playing FPSs difficult (and I also don't like the gore) and RTSs at times can stump me. I just can't seem to move quickly enough to keep up with them. Some of my favorite games are arcade games and I'll spend 3-5 years on the same 5-6 levels because I just never get any better. But, I have fun.
