Zak and Wiki/Monkey Island
I've already made one thread comparing MI to another video game, but I think the Comparisons/Contractions are more obvious. Here's mine, feel free to add your own.
Compare: Both pirates
Undead evil enemy pirate? Check.
Lots of puzzles
Voice acting
The treasure your looking for turns out to be bad (MI2)
Monkeys
Contrast: ZaW you die A LOT, MI: Almost never.
Zak's a kid, Guybrush an adult.
ZaW: lots of Wiimote mini/micro "games" MI:much more point and click
In monkey island, Guybrush works alone, while in ZaW, he's got a slightly annoying sidekick. (A monkey bell)
ZaW: you need to buy hints oldMI: No hints newMI:hints are free
Compare: Both pirates
Undead evil enemy pirate? Check.
Lots of puzzles
Voice acting
The treasure your looking for turns out to be bad (MI2)
Monkeys
Contrast: ZaW you die A LOT, MI: Almost never.
Zak's a kid, Guybrush an adult.
ZaW: lots of Wiimote mini/micro "games" MI:much more point and click
In monkey island, Guybrush works alone, while in ZaW, he's got a slightly annoying sidekick. (A monkey bell)
ZaW: you need to buy hints oldMI: No hints newMI:hints are free
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Comments
Apart from the minigames, Monkey Island always goes out of it's way to make all of the puzzles solveable in your own time; i.e. at any point in the game you can just take your hands away from the computer and leave the game running.
Zack and Wiki is designed to add time constraints to it's puzzles, either by having actual timing puzzles or by adding enemies into the levels.
And let's not even mention the fact that you frequently get stuck and need to restart the level...
I was under the impression that Guybrush was only an adult under the laws of the time and that, by today's standards he'd be considered a youth but not old enough to drink. (Possibly not old enough to drive but that depends on the country you're in. But I don't know if they had laws preventing you from driving anything that could be driven before a certain age, back then. They used to drive cattle, back then. I don't want to know how that worked). Maybe there were laws preventing you from steering a ship at the time, but he tends to hire navigators for that...
You've kinda lost me.
He's old enough to drink grog, grow a beard, marry, and is voiced by an adult who is not using a child's voice, I'm going to make the obscure assumption he is at least
a young adult, but, to each their own I guess. Part of the fun of video games is the lack of info that allows you to stimulate your own imagination.
I've known 14 year olds who had beards. And in times passed many countries allowed marriage at all kinds of ages. The voice sounds kind of pubescent to me. Or at least like a humorous impersonation of a pubescent voice.
He might have said “Don’t I look 15?” and the Barkeep might have said “Actually you look closer to 16” but whatever ages they were talking about it was certainly under 17.
I do appreciate that this is not proof that Guybrush and Elaine are teenagers.
Really, the words "pirate" and "undead" were the only similarities.
Who told you it was like Monkey Island?!?!
There is a story but it's very weak.
I enjoyed the puzzles, they seemed to make sense.
True. Wiki reminded me of Pikachu... who I hate..
I would say it's a pretty damn good game. I wouldn't use the phrase 'for a Wii game' but for a game in general.
Comparing it to Monkey Island is pretty ridiculous though. Even if they do share the piratey theme and point 'n' click interface, they're very different games. Z&W is a lot more.... I dunno.... "gamey"? Oh, and it's VERY Japanese.
I'd say it's more of an arcade adventure, particularly due to levels, time constraints and lack of story.
Yeah. I liked that about it. It was a fun take on that kind of game. I'd only ever want it in that game though. If they took that approach with beloved franchises like MI...... well... it doesn't bare thinking about!:)
I'm not sure where I heard it, but it was certainly multiple places. Possibly the kind of places that haven't seen an adventure game since Monkey Island, but multiple places nonetheless.
I quite enjoyed it for a while because some of the puzzles were interesting, but it makes no attempt to signpost anything, relying instead on trial & error, and sending you right back to the start when you make a mistake... it just became time-consuming and annoying to me... and the whole hub world and "plot" did nothing but steal me away from the gameplay.
I guess you could say I like adventure games for the story more than the puzzles.
Fair enough. I felt that's what it achieved though, making the puzzles more enjoyable than in most games of that nature. The creator said his main inspiration for the game was from 1990s adventure games, is that maybe what you heard? It seems like a sin for someone to compare it to Monkey Island.:)
I dunno, it sort of suits the Japanese style well, however I agree western adventure games really shouldn't take this route, in the same way wrpgs shouldn't be turn based.
Yeah, the fact that it was Japanese kind of made it acceptable and gave it it's own weird/quirky style.
Googling gives quite a few references by the way, a lot of which are not from official sites but forums, etc. (I also found a few along the lines of "will people stop saying Zack & Wiki is like Monkey Island!")
"It's very much like Monkey Island on PC"
"similar in spirit to some older PC games like Torin's Passage and the Monkey Island series"
"Its done in the traditional point and click style of the Monkey Island"
"This game is somewhere between Monkey Island and King's Quest"
"Zack & Wiki is a point and click adventure game similar oldschool classics like The Secret of Monkey Island"
"Zack & Wiki is a point-and-click adventure in the vein of classics like Shadowgate and the Secret of Monkey Island"
Damn... people are confused!
Actually, I'm 95% sure the character is a reference to Data from Megaman Legends. Boy, that monkey sure knew how to dance!
Nice find! There's a lot of references to Capcom as a whole with stuff like collectible 2D sprites from their older games. If you ever do get a Wii, you should give the game another go. If you give it more time you might get hooked!
2) Having never played the games (yet...) I probably will say things that are considered blasphemous to the people who grew up with them. I sinserly apologize.
3)I also contrast...
4) It's just a little fun.
You can compare the two but it doesn't seem like a very accurate comparison. I'd have prefered if they said "inspired by the classic 1990s PC adventure games".
Oh, I thought that was an attack on me for starting this thread.
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Booo other websites! For Shame! Like comparing Apples to Artichokes!
It's terrible. Played it twice then sold it on ebay for £3.
Damn.... What didn't you like about it?
Oh, I wasn't trying to attack you! I knew by your post it sounded like you were insulted in some way.
heh, really you must have played only fantastic games then.
Games are fun. This is an ungame.
Going into it, I was kinda aware that it was going to be a weird, obscure Japanese game so that's probably why I ended up liking it.
There's pirates
There's puzzle solving
their's islands
...
Or maybe MI and kitties, think about it
Kitties have sharp teath, Guybrush has a sharp wit
Kitties explore their enviorment. Guy brush explores his enviorment
...
Just kidding, I'm done with the compare/contrasting. I've started to realize how shallow it is.