You know, at the risk of being stoned to death in this forum, I will go ahead and admit that I’ve never played Zack McCracken And The Alien Mindbenders.
Phew! There. I said it. I’ve been carrying that shame for a while now, and it was eating at my soul. I feel relieved.
Would you recommend it to someone who grew up mostly playing Space Quest and other Sierra games (I did play Day Of The Tentacle 20 years ago and loved it), and just recently learned about Mr. Gilbert & Co.?
Oh absolutly. Because that would mean you´d have no problem with the fact that there is a few instances where you can die and there is a money system where you can get stuck because you ran out of money for flights. It´s like Indiana Jones meets the X-Files meets TinTin featuring many topics featured on shows such as In Search Of or Unsolved Mysteries. If that all is right up your alley and you´re not allergic against a few mazes, you´re good to go.
Except for the scene in the hotel with the scared guest, I disagree. I don’t find it much wacky, just comedy. Day of the tentacle was much more wacky, with eyeballs popping out of heads, and the cartoon sounds.
I find there is actual mystery, not just spoof of it. Plus drama and the story is engaging.
Lots of comedy yes.
The mood is to a large degree set by music (and the colors), in that I find a touch of seriousness.
Twitter defines it as “mystery-comedy-noir adventure game” btw.
Sounds neat! I know I purchased it some time ago from GoG.com but never played it. My computer is still out in the shop, but as soon as I get it back up and running, I’ll give it a go. Thanks!
I am not qualified to answer because I started playing Zak at 14 years old and at 41 yo I am still stuck. it is very, very hard. But it’s a masterpiece. It has a real sense of adventure. The Dig does not have half the sense of adventure of Zak. Only a couple of annoying things: you finish money, you finish oxygen, and then the infamous mazes.
I did not add the twitter line to underline my point if that’s what you are implying, I don’t even know what ‘noir’ means. Just thought it should be part of the talk.
Ok, looked up noir now: characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity.
Of course yes. Zak McKracken And The Alien Mindbenders is funny, wide, with smart puzzles and instructive.
You can travel on real places, famous for their alien connection tales & legends, like Stonehenge, Lima, Seattle, Cairo, and Mars.
You have a CashCard with limited credit (money). Travels cost, so you have to learn where to travel, to minimize expenses.
You can sell objects to gain money.
On Mars, you have limited oxygen in the spacesuit (1 hour), but you can refill your oxygen tank, or pressurize the location.
There is often more than one solution to the puzzles.
The first time I’ve played it, I was 13. Played in English and finished in three months. I restarted it countless times, but I liked it for that, because every time I replayed it, I knew what to do, better that the previous time.
For sure, it’s not a “straight line” game!
French for “black” the word derives from the label the Hollywood crime films of the 30s and 40s (like the Maltese Falcon) were given in the press. Film Noir, which means that something is especially gritty or dark mostly in the crime genre. Ray with her cynic remarks certainly adds that thouch, so there is a light element there.
In my opinion, that’s “light” is very very light. Of all the adjectives that I have seen attributed to Thimbleweed Park, “noir” seems to me the less accurate to describe the mood of the game, especially because the story revolves around a dark murder mystery only as an expedient to reveal more disturbing facts and events.
It’s absolutely true that some features of the game are also a characteristic of noir fiction (part of the story, the cynicism of Ray, the style of some tracks, etc.) , but it’s also true that they are not an exclusive of the noir genre. TWP is not more noir than Twin Peaks (the first two seasons, at least) was, which was in part influenced by that style, but was also more strongly defined by other characteristics, starting from a heavy supernatural elements.
I get this impression even completely ignoring the visual aspects of the game and focusing on the story.
That’s true, but aside from a pair of unusually large heads, there’s nothing in seguso’s posted image that even hints at comedy or spoofs. I was evaluating the images in isolation, disregarding what I know about the gameplay because the gameplay isn’t readily evident just by looking at the pictures.
The new key art fits perfectly the mood and tone of the game, as we imagined it. If we had this key art from day one, no one would give it a second thought. There us nothing (other than the Monkey holding a banana) in the Monkey Island key art that would lead you to believe it was a comedy. The key art in Monkey Island doesn’t even represent what happens in the game.
Ron, I strongly believe your next game should be: an interactive comic; but drawn with the style of the new TWP cover; and playable online only like an MMORPG; and with the Cruise for a Corpse UI. I expect you to agree.