Zak McKracken - Lucasfilms/US Gold  œ24.95

Zak McKracken is an ace reporter, at least, he would be if he
didn't work for such a sleazy rag as The National Inquisitor.
It's hard to get enthusiastic writing stories with such
titles as "Bigfoot Wins Kissing Contest", "Holy Men Seek God on
the Golf Course" and "Scrambled Son Tries to Kill Parents with
Eggs".

Zak would really like to write a novel and stand a chance of
winning the Pulitzer Prize. But his editor wants him to cover
another silly story about a two-headed squirrel attacking
campers near Seattle, and while he's in the area to write up an
account of the first UFO sightings on Mt Rainier 50 years ago.

Then something incredible happens and makes the stories Zak
usually writes look believable. He uncovers a plot by aliens to
make everyone on Earth extremely stupid. The crafty aliens have
taken over the phone company and are using a stupidity machine

to affect everyone's brains and reduce their IQ to the point
where taking over the planet will be simplicity itself.

As Zak, it's up to you to save the world and its inhabitants
from the Alien Mindbenders and their fiendish machine.

The game starts in your editor's office when you are given the
squirrel assignment and a plane ticket to Seattle. Next, you
experience a dream sequence in which you discover the alien plot
and then the game proper starts in your appartment.

A quick look around this modest abode will uncover several
useful items. Leaving the appartment takes you down to the main
street with a bakery in one direction and the telephone company
offices the other way. Perhaps it might be a good idea to pay
your phone bill while you're there? But why is the company
representative wearing such a strange 10-gallon hat?

At various points in the game, there is an animated sequence
that shows you events taking place in the alien headquarters.
This will make several things clear to you (such as the reason
for the large hat) and also give you a good laugh at the two
aliens who star in these sections. One of them is definitely not
playing with a full deck - put it this way, he will never win
Mastermind!

To return to Zak; on the corner of the road you will find a bus
to take you to the airport (once you have found out how to wake
the driver who is catching a few zzzzs) and around the corner is
a loan shop where there are several useful items to buy.

Once you have made some purchases, it's off to the airport and
time to catch a plane. It's tempting to cash in your ticket and
go somewhere more exotic than Seattle - how about Lima or
Mexico? - but I suppose work should come first and even Seattle
has some interesting points that a good reporter would be sorry
to miss. Later on in the game you will get plenty of
opportunity to travel!


The game comes on three disks with the option to combine some
files onto double-sided disks or a hard disk. But with two
drives, the game plays quite adequately. The screen display is
in two main sections. At the top is a large picture of the
location which either scrolls to the adjoining location (rather
jerkily) or, if you're going through a doorway, for example,
loads the new scene from disk.

The bottom of the screen shows several columns containing all
the verbs you can use for that particular location. For this
game doesn't require any keyboard input, everything is
controlled by the mouse. You can select verbs using the keyboard
according to the layout on the screen but this seems pretty
pointless when the mouse control is so easy.

At the very top of the screen is a pair of lines for incidental
messages during the game, people's comments, Zak's thoughts etc.
Between the location picture and the verb list is your current
input line and at the very bottom of the screen is the top of
Zak's inventory which can be scrolled up and down.

The location picture is animated, not only as Zak moves but
there is also a considerable amount of basic animation going on
all the time. In the first location, Zak's bedroom, his pet
fish, Sushi, swims around the fish bowl and a cat clock ticks
away on the wall. The sound effects aren't too great though.

Entering commands is very simple. Just use the mouse to select
the verb or expression you want and then select the object on
the screen. For example, walk to/door, get/key. Sometimes you
will want to use two objects together and, if so, the program
will insert the relevant connecting words such as "on" and
"with". You can also just click on the screen when you want
Zak to move through an open door.

At the start of the game, you will just control Zak but as the 
game progresses you will able to control other characters as 
well. You do this by using the verb "switch" or the function 
keys. Other function keys control loading and saving, turning 
the sound on and off and restarting the game.

The packaging for the game is excellent. As well as the booklet 
which contains a few hints, especially for starting the game, 
there is a copy of The National Inquisitor and a code booklet.  
The codes are needed before you can catch certain flights from 
the airport but, don't panic! They are very easy to input. The 
National Inquisitor contains a lot of clues for the game and is 
well worth reading.

The overall appearance of Zak McKracken is similar to the Sierra
games as it is a cartoon-like animated graphical game, though 
unlike the Sierra games, everything is mouse controlled. The 
Sierra games have a slightly more polished look but Zak is great 
fun and I am looking forward to playing Lucasfilms' next 
adventure, done in the same way, based on the latest Indiana
Jones film. It should be worth seeing.

                                           Sue