Zak is back!
The original Zak McKracken is one of the most fondly remembered of the Lucasfilm point-and-click adventures, and with its mix of wacky humor and clever puzzles, it stands alongside Monkey Island and Discworld as a must play for any fan of genuinely funny games. This is actually a fan made sequel to the original and surprisingly enough, it makes for a very accomplished experience which doesn't disgrace the memory of its inspiration in any way. The story continues directly on from the first game, so make sure you play that before starting this, and once again finds our hero on a rescue mission, and which takes him all over the world in search of Annie, one of the stars of the earlier game. In terms of gameplay, this remains identical to the original, and to others of the genre, in that it's a classic point-and-click adventure, so you'll be exploring various outlandish locations, while searching for items to solve the inventory-based puzzles and interacting with the many unusual characters you'll meet along the way. Considering this is a fan made game, this is pretty decent. It retains the original's complex puzzling system, so you'll need your best lateral thinking hat on here, but they are very satisfying as well as tricky, which makes up for the occasional obtuseness. The visuals are lovely, with some superbly crisp environments and character work to enjoy, but the game is let down a bit by the rather lack luster story, which doesn't add much to the first game's, while the whole thing is quite short too. Still, it's well worth a look if you're a fan of the genre.
