While 2K Games’ BioShock may be leading the pack as the end-of-year videogame award ceremonies shift into gear, a report published in USAToday suggests that a relatively unknown title on the Nintendo Wii could well be the sleeper hit of 2007.
USAToday lauds Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure as "sleeper hit" of the year. Credit: Capcom.
It has been a bumper year for the Nintendo Wii, having silenced its critics, surpassed all hardware expectations, and already amassed considerable critical praise for leading software offerings Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition. But what of Capcom’s Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure ?
Well, if USAToday is to be believed, this little cartoon gem about a heroic pirate boy (Zack) and his "whirly-gig" sidekick (Wiki) is suitably special thanks to a canny mixture that blends together fabulous humour, quirky adventure, and "outstanding environmental puzzles." Also, factor in the fun already associated with the Wii’s motion-sensing Wii Remote controller, and it would appear that Nintendo has yet another hit on its hands.
Guiding Zack through the game’s 24 environmental puzzles will see players facing a host of complex but captivating interactive challenges that eventually lead to the young pirate securing yet more treasure for his growing collection.
"You solve each puzzle by using the Wii remote in a variety of creative ways," comments the USAToday report. "As you work your way through the game's progressively difficult puzzles, you will use the remote to twist open doors, fish for gigantic fish, play the piccolo, shake animals to morph them into tools or weapons, and so much more," it enthuses. "Some actions require timing, others require finesse. In the higher levels, you will do some fighting."
Japanese games producer Capcom is no stranger to hit software creations, with the Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Street Fighter, and Mega Man franchises existing as just a sample of its formidable industry presence.
Zack & Wiki, which offers up around 30 hours of inventive puzzle-infused gameplay, is certainly proving somewhat of a backburner hit with the critics – not just with USAToday – with leading online magazines receiving it warmly.
Indeed, while Super Mario Galaxy is bathing in the limelight afforded it by Nintendo’s flagship status, Zack & Wiki is certainly holding its own with a current Metacritic review average of 87% spread across 34 separate reviews.
Of Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure, leading videogame Web site IGN awarded it 90% and said it's, "an unpredictably top-quality undertaking whose winning marriage of sometimes-genius environmental puzzles and beautiful graphics will suck you in."
While 1UP enthused: "It’s a huge world of wonderful puzzles to solve, with creative approaches to even the most mundane solutions; it’s also a big game, and it goes on far longer than even the story would imply."
So, BioShock, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Super Mario Galaxy, Halo 3, Assassin’s Creed, and Mass Effect might be the more obvious choices when it comes to scooping 2007’s "Best of" awards, but popular opinion suggests that, if it existed, "Best Sleeper Hit" would firmly belong to Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure.
Want to know more? Check out this GameTrailers video review for the game...
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