Gameology 2.0

I just completed Lucas Art's Zak McCracken game today. It wasn't so long ago I played through their previous title, Maniac Mansion, released in 1987, just a year before McCracken. It's interesting to compare the two games and think about the direction Lucas Arts was taking its GAGs back in the late 80s. The famed Lucas Arts humor is present here, as are the many in-jokes and references to pop culture and Maniac Mansion. There is also the ability to switch among several avatars (4 people and at least 3 animals). I am wondering if the developers felt that having so many avatars was part of their games' appeal; perhaps there was fear that players would get bored just sticking to one. It's interesting to note that neither Loom nor Monkey Island had this feature.

I played the game with SCUMM Virtual Machine, a handy emulator. the version I played was for the FM-Towns System, a Japanese platform of which I sadly know very little. The graphics and sound quality reminded me very much of my old Amiga 1000. There are apparently several other Lucas Arts games that have been ported and significantly enhanced for the FM-Towns System.

There are lots of cool things I can say about McKracken. I'm was happy to find several unexpected allusions. I found three references to Maniac Mansion--two posters and a gas tank. When I examined the tank, I discovered it was for chainsaws only. Finally my avatar exclaimed, "It's for another game," and I remembered that in MM I found a chainsaw but never any fuel. Funny. All of these intergame references really help to produce a sort of "meta game" across the Lucas Arts library; even though Zak and MM are certainly not "sequels" or the like, there is enough continuity here to make them fit nicely together.

There are some highly annoying aspects of McKracken. Perhaps the very worst is the high volume of frustrating "mazes." The mazes seem to be randomly generated at times; though I am pretty good at making maps, I discovered that doing so was useless here. I finally just jacked up the emulator's speed and clicked my way through them. I can't imagine how tedious it would have been to get through them without a speed boost; the mazes are definitely a time-waster and quite stupid.

Another thing I didn't like was the inability to examine or look at things (also a problem in Maniac Mansion). The closest you get here is a "What Is" option that will name "hot spot" things if you scroll over them with a mouse. Thankfully, the game isn't too difficult, so this isn't a dealbreaker.

On the plus side, most puzzles can be solved in a variety of ways--a feature I really like to see in GAGs. However, it is possible for any of the avatars to die and to get the game in an "unbeatable" state. I don't so much mind the threat of death (oops, reload and try something else!), the threat of getting the game in an unbeatable state is much worse. In fact, I experienced the consequences of this--after hours and hours of exploration and discovery, I got hopelessly stumped. I didn't have enough cash to get Zak out of Zaire. I wasted all kinds of time until finally consulting a hint site. As I suspected, I had no choice but to restart from a much earlier point. Blah!

I also liked this game because I enjoy reading tabloids like The Weekly World News. Much of the theme of this game seems based on that mag; indeed, the title character is a tabloid news reporter. Clearly, the world of tabloids is a rich source for GAGs, as this game illustrates. Two-Headed Squirrels, the face on Mars, the Bermuda Triangle, Elvis, telepathy with animals, Atlantis, and a plot to conquer earth by making everyone stupid--yup, it's all here. I kept half-expecting to run into Bat Boy!

In short, Zak is a good game that deserves its place in any serious GAG collection. While I saw few things I'd describe as "revolutionary," it does seem more polished and streamlined than its more celebrated predecessor.