IGN conducting the Zack & Wiki hype train
by JC Fletcher 
{ Jun 19th 2007 at 5:35PM }
IGN's Matt Casamassina wants you to buy Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure. Is he communicating this by being effusive in his previews? Not exactly. He outright wrote an article called "Buy Zack & Wiki Campaign 2007."
He goes on to say that the last time IGN shattered the illusion of objectivity to promote a game (our words) was for Eternal Darkness. Because Zack & Wiki is such a competent and fun game, reminiscent of the classic PC adventure games, it is absolutely worth buying and evangelizing, in his opinion, but it may need help getting noticed.
Bafflingly, Casamassina thinks that the game could be in sales trouble because it's cartoony and doesn't depict realistic, gritty violence. That may have been the case a couple of years ago, but ... has he heard of this "Wii" thing?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jared @ Jun 19th 2007 6:16PM
Were those dudes at UKResistance serious? Honestly, it was tough to tell. Either way, that was freaking hilarious! Thanks for the laugh. I needed that today.
Mr Khan @ Jun 19th 2007 6:22PM
Either way; i liked that BlueSky in Games campaign
Aaron @ Jun 19th 2007 7:19PM
IGN is doing a good thing here. I probably wouldn't have given the game a moment's thought if it weren't for their passion for the game. Now, despite the title (ugh), I'm quite interested in this game.
Tom @ Jun 19th 2007 8:29PM
I decided I would get this game after listening to Matt's podcast last week. I'll still wait to read the review first, however. From what I've gahered it's a puzzle adventure game where you point and click where you want Zack to go. The Wiimote can be used to mimick turning cranks, playing a flute, sawing wood, scooping up water, etc etc.
Ryan P. @ Jun 20th 2007 1:25AM
I checked out the video IGN has for the game after reading the story and it looks awesome. If i hadn't seen a link here i probably wouldn't have ever seen it.
By the title and graphics alone i would never have looked twice. But it's a tease to hype the game so early, i checked the release and it's FALL 2007. Boo.
L @ Jun 20th 2007 4:46PM
That reminds me, I still gotta play Eternal Darkness.
Peter @ Jun 20th 2007 4:03PM
Actually, after reading just the tidbits before, this sounds like a really cool game regardless of what's going on. However, it would still be wise to wait for some initial reviews. Of course, I'd be more willing to trust a review from an Adventure games site rather than a regular console site. People who play Adventure games tend to have a different perspective than people who play a typical console game.
Still, the different way to use the Wiimote as part of the puzzle solving looked pretty cool. As long as it's got a decent storyline and the gameplay isn't overly contrived, this looks very promising. Of course, they could turn it into a really bad adventure game if they're not careful (move boxes constantly, can't win if you don't do step X at a point you can't go back to, excessive death, Timed puzzles to an excessive level, etc).
Now I just need to actually get my hands on a Wii. :-) (They're still in short supply down here in the DFW area.)