Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

It's so unnecessarily difficult and confusing that it just becomes not fun anymore. And I'm not trying to say that if a game is difficult then it's automatically bad, I'm just saying that if a game is TOO difficult then it becomes not fun to play.

1988 was a very cool year, with stylish music and fashion, and cool computers like the Amiga that could commandeer all the powers of multimedia. Scumm games were the state of the art back then and felt like real interactive cartoons, unlike any game of the time, and the novelty effect would help you cope with the tiring Lucasart "humour" and the nonsensical puzzles of which even the game's coverart makes fun of. In order to really demonstrate the engine capabilities, the game uses a lot of different locations, way too many. What really makes this a thumb down is the fact that it's very easy to get softlocked and unable to progress for one reason or another, and only realize you're stuck hours after you've made the mistake. So you're limited to either strictly follow a walkthrough, or waste an unreasonable amount of time trying to solve this unfunny game. The story is not even interesting enough to watch a longplay on youtube.

Auf Deutsch wäre echt gut , wenn es ein Update geben würde

25 years later I unfortunately still remember the solutions to most riddles, so playing wasn't really a challenge. The game doesn't really come with a straightfoward quest progression. It won't tell you what to do next or what to do at all except for your very first assignment. In other point and click adventure like Maniac Mansion this isn't that much of a problem because you can explore the mansion without repercussion but in Zak McKraken you will run of money to buy plane tickets quickly. Here's some tips though, if you never play Zak McKraken and the Alien Mindbenders: [list] [*]save often and don't overwrite your files (some dead ends you might only find out about later) [*]make sure to bring the chainsaw to mars [*]keep your Karma clean [/list]

Back to 80´s !!!! One of the best game ever!

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders foi o segundo Adventure point-and-click lançado pela LucasArts, ainda quando era chamada Lucasfilm Games, logo após Maniac Mansion. Admitidamente, esse é o jogo que eu menos tinha interesse de todo o catálogo deles, tendo iniciado ele e desistido ao longo dos anos. Dessa vez eu finalmente peguei a vibe do jogo e terminei ele, e por mais que tenha me divertido bastante, isso foi com algumas ressalvas que acho que vale a pena destacar. Primeiramente, esse jogo ainda segue a filosofia de design da empresa utilizada em Maniac Mansion, que permitia que o jogador não só morresse, mas também pudesse descartar objetos importantes ou fazer escolhas erradas e simplesmente ser impedido de terminar o jogo, os "softlocks" como são chamados hoje. Essa era uma prática comum em jogos Adventure antigos e jogos como um todo, e que foi aos poucos descontinuada, até mesmo por jogos futuros da empresa, mas que ainda está presente aqui, o que significa que ao jogar este jogo é fundamental ir salvando seu progresso em saves diferentes para voltar caso necessário. Dito isso, eu achei esse jogo bem menos punitivo do que Maniac Mansion, e não tive tantos problemas: a maior parte das ações erradas me pareceu óbvia, e uma vez que você sabe o que tem que fazer o jogo é rápido, eu achei o processo de experimentação e descoberta divertido. Em muitos aspectos esse jogo parece procurar evoluir as mecânicas apresentadas em Maniac Mansion, inclusive possuindo [spoiler]vários personagens jogáveis[/spoiler] também. O jogo também permite que o jogador viaje pelo mundo todo, inclusive tendo dinheiro e tendo que pagar pelas passagens de avião, parece um projeto bem ambicioso pra época. Os aspectos mais datados do jogo foram outros que eu não estava esperando, e que também são enraizados no game design do passado. O primeiro é que na época, o pacote do jogo vinha com um jornal escrito pelo personagem principal com diversas notícias absurdas, mas que na verdade funcionavam como "pistas" do que o jogador tem que fazer em diversos pontos do jogo. Na prática, esses puzzles são praticamente impossíveis e impensáveis se você não leu este jornal, então caso queiram jogar, se façam um favor e leiam ele, o PDF se encontra na pasta do jogo. Eu por sorte li e me achei, mas se não tivesse lido com certeza ia ficar frustrado e preso por horas. Mas o pior aspecto do jogo, mais chato do que qualquer outra coisa, são os vários labirintos nos diferentes locais, que apenas servem para aumentar artificialmente o tempo de jogo. A maior parte é inofensiva, mas alguns possuem mais de uma sala que você precisa acessar sem nenhum indicativo disso, o que me deixou preso por um tempo. Assim como o jornal, o jogo possui um PDF do livro de dicas na pasta do jogo, e dentro dele existem mapas desses labirintos. Eu recomendo bastante que usem eles, pois "resolver" os labirintos não é nem um pouco divertido e eles não contribuem muito para a experiência. No final, eu acabei gostando muito mais de Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders do que eu esperava: é uma história boba, leve e criativa, com diversos locais a serem explorados e com algumas mecânicas bem inventivas que eu não estava esperando. Ele é um produto datado, mas para quem não tiver problemas com isso, ou quem quiser jogar o catálogo completo da LucasArts assim como eu, eu com certeza recomendo ele. (Joguei fora da Steam então não aparece o tempo, mas eu levei entre um e dois dias para terminar ele, pode ser jogado em um final de semana tranquilamente.)

Eines der besten Adventures seiner Zeit. Wer heute noch den Style mag, der hat an Zac McKracken noch immer seinen Spaß. Nach > 30 Jahren war es für mich ein Genuss, mich nochmal daran zu versuchen. Der Lösungsweg konnte ich aus der Erinnerung kramen - und musste mich wundern was ich mir alles behalten hab. Klar ist es es kein Adventure für den man mehre Tage benötigt. Aber allein wegen der Erinnerung war mir es wert.

Recommended because it's a sweet old game, but this release is pretty lazy. English only, even though the game was initialized translated to many languages. No Commodore 64 version, even though it was the original version. No 1988 PC version either.

+ Humour Melbrooksien + Zak à un air de Pauly Shore + Visuel Lucas Arts iconique - Beaucoup de labyrinthes - La complexité de Maniac Mansion x 1000 6/10 Pour les fans hardcore

Got it on GOG long ago, but I ultimately couldn’t resist getting a copy here on Steam too - it’s was a duty, in front of one my favourite adventure games. It sits in a peculiar place: it’s not the one that “started it all” like [b]Maniac Mansion[/b] (whose popularity at the time was also boosted by the NES version), and at the same time it quickly became dated compared to later titles, especially [b]Monkey Island[/b]. I was fresh off that game at the time, and it took a while to warm up to [b]Zak[/b]. There are several valid criticisms that can be raised in light of what came even just a few years later. Even for its time, there could have been more frames of animation, as the characters feel blocky and rigid. The inventory is a chore to scroll through, as only four items can be visible at once. The mazes can get annoying, and above all there are plenty of ways to die or get stuck due to the strict dependence on money for travel, or the risk of leaving behind or wasting a necessary item. From what I remember of my experience at the time, you’ll likely need an initial playthrough just to learn optimal routes and other tricks to conserve money (like avoiding unnecessary phone bills). The lack of a “Talk” command also means dialogue is more limited than what later Lucasfilm/arts titles would offer. But once it clicks, with some patience and plenty of save files, a globe-trotting (and beyond) adventure opens up. There’s a high variety of locations, plenty of clever puzzles with no strict order for much of the game, and even multiple controllable characters later on (it followed up from [b]Maniac Mansion[/b], after all). The sci-fi/new-age premise is full of humour, starting from the unforgettable opening dream. And, technology that makes humans more stupid? How absurd… ha ha ha!… Ha. *[small cough]* Of course, I speak as someone from an era when the game was still relatively recent and I had more time and patience for it, but the fact I can still redo many puzzles from muscle memory says a lot about how much it stuck with me. It’s less polished than later Lucasfilm/arts games, but still rightfully part of that string of classics. Fan projects over the years have tried but never fully recaptured the magic; the 2008 fan sequel is an impressive effort, but in my opinion the humour and writing miss the mark. Back in the day, I had already heard of a Japan-exclusive version with enhanced graphics and sound, which remained a distant curiosity for fans until the advent of ScummVM. It’s available here and is the version shown in the store screenshots. It mostly looks good, if not great, but can sometimes be a bit gaudy, especially in the Mars Maze. While it’s more forgiving, it also removes dark areas where you need a lighter or torch to see. It does, however, benefit from a more convenient interface that shows up to ten items at once. Less well known is that there is also a very early DOS version (the more commonly known one here, uses graphics from the Amiga), with chunky graphics similar to the Commodore 64 version, albeit with a less muted palette. Zak doesn’t even have his iconic look yet, instead wearing a green shirt. There’s little reason to play it beyond curiosity, but including it here would have made this a truly complete package.