Game 23: Zak McKracken - Final Rating

It’s rather fitting that I’m writing up the final rating for Zak McKracken today, since it’s been exactly one month since the introduction post for the game. Who would have thought that it would take me a month to play a total of 13 hours game time! It might have something to do with the fact I’ve written well in advance of 20000 words on the game! Anyway, you’ve all waited long enough to see who wins the first Lars-Erik sponsored game, so let’s begin…

Puzzles and Solvability
Zak McKracken has lots of puzzles! Not only that, but there are often multiple ways that these puzzles can be solved. Maniac Mansion already had quite a few examples of this, but Zak turned it into a major feature. It’s just as well too, as with such a large playing area spread right across the globe and beyond, finding every little item and piece of information available was tricky. The reader comments have made it pretty clear that I missed quite a bit in this game, and yet I finished it just the same. I often did things differently to other players, yet achieved the same goals. It’s damn impressive that the creators managed to achieve this level of complexity without the game feeling like a confusing mess. A large majority of those puzzles were pretty logical too, with very few examples of trial and error required. Once I’d travelled to all the destinations, I was able to look through my inventory and start piecing everything together in a pretty satisfying way.

Even the first room of the game offers multiple solutions and hidden secrets

However, all is not perfect for this category! There was a little too much reliance on reading the National Inquisitor newspaper that came with the game to make sense of things, and there was unquestionably an overuse of mazes. Getting through each maze was a chore to begin with, but the game forced me to play through many destinations multiple times, meaning multiple trips through the same annoying mazes. Some didn’t even appear to be mazes at all (you end up at the destination no matter what path you take), and were clearly there for no other reason than to delay my progress. Finally, while I freely admit that I underutilised Annie’s archaeological skills, in general the use of multiple characters was gimmicky. At least in Maniac Mansion each character had pretty well defined skills that were useful in different scenarios. In Zak, they felt contrived, and multiple characters were often required for numbers alone. I still think the pros well and truly outweigh the negatives, so it’s a 7.
Rating: 7

Eventually I figured out what Annie's skill was, but it offered little assistance by that point.

Interface and Inventory
The interface is identical to Maniac Mansion, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. That game had revolutionised the way adventure games were played, so it’s not surprising to see the creators of Zak just running with a good thing. It took me a little while to get used to it again after a long run of Sierra games, but I was quickly interacting with everything around me, with very little thought involved apart from puzzle solving. I don’t really know why I noticed more with Zak than in Maniac Mansion, but I do think the lack of a “look at” verb was felt more strongly with this game. Sometimes I had to “read” items to see what they were which made the lack very obvious I guess. I also think the inventory is still a bit of a problem. It works very well on a functional level, but once you have more than about eight items, it becomes very difficult to find the one you need, particularly when you need it quickly! Maniac Mansion got an 8, but that was released a year earlier, and was rewarded for being groundbreaking as much as it was for quality.
Rating: 7

Having to "read" objects, such as the pyramid, to get a description feels clunky

Story and Setting
This is a tough one. On the one hand, the story of Zak McKracken is quirky and intriguing; managing to make admittedly cliché use of several world cultures combined with mythological and alien conspiracy topics. It also has a very satisfying ending that ties everything up nicely indeed. But, the jigsaw nature of the game, with the player pretty much forced to try experimentally visiting each destination just to find out what puzzle needs to be solved, before restoring and trying to find the required solution elsewhere, means the story has very little flow at all. The villains’ motives are also completely ridiculous and their actions throughout the game leave little sense of danger. Both LucasArts games so far have had really stupid antagonists, whose actions are revealed to the player throughout the game, if not to the main character(s). It’s unlikely that story was a major factor in the design of the game, but I can’t ignore how nonsensical it really was.
Rating: 5

Apparently us Earthlings don't really need to be all that concerned

Sound and Graphics
I know it’s slightly controversial for me to judge the enhanced version of Zak McKracken, but since it was released in the same year as the original release, I really don’t see why it should be considered unreasonable. There’s no doubt that the game is the most impressive that I’ve played so far from a graphical perspective. The sheer variety of environments is impressive in itself, but the detail, animation and overall attractiveness is just above what the SCI engine had produced for Sierra. There is some repetitiveness however, particularly when it comes to the numerous jungle mazes and airports (they do all look the same in real life though!), but overall it’s all good. The sound is less remarkable, with merely adequate sound effects and a less than pristine quality overall. The music is not too bad though, with the main theme not being the only memorable and enjoyable tune found throughout. I’m giving the first 7 for Sound and Graphics!
Rating: 7

When looking at Zak, there's really not that much progress to be made to reach Monkey Island

Environment and Atmosphere
There are a lot of environments to be explored in the game, and many of them are locations I’d love to visit during my lifetime. They’re all fairly well represented, even if my motives for going to them were not (Zak seemingly picked random destinations and the airports miraculously led straight to famous landmarks). Without doubt though it was Mars that most captured my imagination, and the cut scene of my characters travelling on the tram across a red Mars surface to alien made pyramids really exemplifies the mysterious and captivating nature of the game when it works. The atmosphere is somewhat lessened though by the constant shift and inconsistency in surroundings, as well as by the purposeful delays that were created through frustrating mazes and random landmark searching.
Rating: 6

Who wouldn't want to explore this?

Dialogue and Acting
Just as in Maniac Mansion, Zak does what it has to do from a dialogue point of view, without really having enough to draw praise or criticism. It is quite humorous at times, particularly when eccentric characters such as the Guru, the King and the witchdoctor are involved, but it doesn’t have the wit of a Leisure Suit Larry game, nor does it have the convincing language of a Police Quest game. Annie’s ability to translate language and symbols is a cool feature, but as mentioned before, it’s one that I completely underutilised and so really isn’t a pertinent part of the game. It was a 5 for Maniac Mansion, so it’s a 5 here.
Rating: 5

.lliks s'einnA desilaer I tnemom ehT

Add it all up and I get 37. Divide it by 60 and I get 0.6166, which is 61.66%. Rounded up is….62! Hang on a second…that’s exactly what I gave Maniac Mansion! Well, I now have my point that I can add or subtract. How do I feel about Zak McKracken and Maniac Mansion being equal leaders? I actually think that I enjoyed Zak a little bit more than Maniac Mansion, so it would feel wrong to remove a point just to make it come second. But then there’s the mazes, which I probably haven’t punished the game enough for, and I really should take into account how pioneering Maniac Mansion was too. You know what, I feel completely comfortable with 62, so 62 it is!

So who won the Quest for Glory collection???? I haven’t even looked at the list yet, so I’m going to go and do that right now…………….congratulations rotgrub! I don’t believe I have your email address, so if you just pop me an email to theadventuregamer@gmail.com, I’ll send you through your GOG code. Once again, thanks to Lars-Erik for being the legend sponsor that he is! Finally, thanks to everyone for being a little patient with me over the last month. Rest assured that this is about as busy as my work life gets, so this is likely to be as irregular as my posting will get too.

Companion Assist Points for Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
It’s time to dish out (and perhaps deduct) some points for those that predicted things and assisted me along the way.

54 CAPs for Chumazik
* Lifesaving Award - 20 CAPs - Reporting a bug in certain versions of SCUMMVM
* Minor Assistance Award - 10 CAPs - For answering my question about the Egypt puzzle
* Dylselxic Award - 10 CAPs - For correcting my unfortunate Melissa / Michelle naming issue
* Clairvoyant Award - 9 CAPs - For correctly predicting the score I would give the game
* Matrix Award - 5 CAPs - For bending spoon, and then selling them

45 CAPs for Lars-Erik
* Major Assitance Award - 20 CAPs - For helping me find the missing device piece in an ideal format
* Sponsor Award - 20 CAPs - For sponsoring the blog with free games!
* George Lucas Award - 5 CAPs - For finding the THX 1138 reference

35 CAPs for Alfred n the Fettuc
* Legend Award - 20 CAPs - For playing along with me, and completing the game without a walkthrough!
* Sob Story Award - 10 CAPs - I almost cried...no, I really did!
* Poop Award - 5 CAPs - Poop!

30 CAPs for TBD
* Charity Award - 10 CAPs - Who will he give them to? Stay tuned to find out?
* Companion Award - 10 CAPs - For playing along with me and completing the game
* Minor Assistance Award - 10 CAPs - For helping me find the missing device piece...a different way.

25 CAPs for Andy_Panthro
* Dr Evil Award - 10 CAPs - I'm dying to know what this secret project is. Don't make me regret it!
* Companion Award - 10 CAPs - For playing along and completing the game
* Better Late Than Never Award - 5 CAPs - For being too late, but doing a fine job nonetheless

25 CAPs for Canageek
* Marketing Award - 10 CAPs - For linking to the blog from Metafilter
* Genre Support Award - 5 CAPs - For commenting about a new adventure game sale on GOG
* Genre Support Award - 5 CAPs - For commenting about a new adventure game release on Steam
* Useless General Knowledge Award - 5 CAPs - for talking about James Doohan for no apparent reason

20 CAPs for Jarikith
* Obsessive Award - 10 CAPs - For becoming the world expert on door slot dead-ending
* Mission Impossible Award - 5 CAPs - For getting down the hole in the bedroom without making any noise
* Words of Power Award - 5 CAPs - For drawing my attention to the fact the Word actually means something in reverse

15 CAPs for Bleaghhhh
* Blackmail Award - 10 CAPs - Keep it to yourself mate! ;)
* Sherlock Holmes Award - 5 CAPs - For finding the hole in the floor in the bedroom

10 CAPs for Charles
* Bribery Award - 10 CAPs - For a very convincing case that left me with no choice

10 CAPs for Tk
* Wingman Award - 10 CAPs - For all his moral support

10 CAPs for Zenic
* Dedication Award - 10 CAPs - For leaving his own blog behind for mine...that's dedication people!

10 CAPs for rotgrub
* Clairvoyant Award - 10 CAPs - For predicting the score I would give the game

5 CAPs for bunyip
* Minor Assistance Award - 5 CAPs - For helping me find the missing device piece in an unideal format

5 CAPs for Ilmari
* Charity Award - 10 CAPs - Because he wants to give it all away!
* Enlightenment Award - 5 CAPs - For answering unimural's question about karma
* Gambling Fail Award - (-10) CAPs - For incorrectly betting against me

5 CAPs to shankao
* Sarcasm Award - 5 CAPs - For pointing out how wrong I can be

-10 CAPs to Cedric
* Spoiler Award - (-10) CAPs - For breaking the rules, but I forgive him

Did I miss anything?

Game 23: Zak McKracken - Won!

Zak McKracken Journal Entry 8: “We did it!!!! After the witchdoctor in Zaire taught me how to use the yellow crystal to teleport myself, I made my way to Mars and found the power crystal! With all three crystals in my possession, I then teleported back to Annie in Egypt, and set about trying to piece the device together that would stop the Caponian plot. We soon realised we were missing a vital piece, but I followed a tip-off from a good friend and eventually found it on the ocean floor in the Bermuda Triangle. With the device complete, we started it up, and successfully thwarted The King’s plan for world domination! I’m so incredibly happy, and plan to write a book about the whole experience. I think I’m falling for Annie too...”

Two crystals down, one to go.

I finished! I wish I could say I finished without requiring any assistance, but unfortunately I faltered at the very last hurdle. I also can’t ignore the spoiler I received two thirds of the way through, although I have no idea whether I would have required it had it not been thrust upon me. As has been the case with all of these Zak McKracken posts, there’s a lot to get through here, so let’s get started. At the end of my last post I’d finally fused the two crystal shards together at Stonehenge to form the yellow crystal I needed. The most obvious thing to do next was to take it to the witchdoctor in Zaire, as he instructed me to do during an earlier visit. Since I already had control of Annie, and it was she that had the crystal, it seemed most efficient for her to make that trip. It wasn’t!

Can't you just give me a message to pass along?

After a fairly indirect flight to Zaire, I rushed to the witchdoctor, only for him to tell me that “The Teleport Crystal will not work for you. Give it to Zak and send him here.” Well, at least I now knew that the yellow crystal had something to do with teleportation, but I was forced to restore back to London, then make Annie go all the way to San Francisco to give the crystal to Zak, then finally put him on a flight to Zaire in her place. The end result was that the witchdoctor taught me how to use the crystal, along with the map I’d drawn on the wallpaper, to teleport myself to certain destinations. I was pretty keen to see how it worked, so I “used” the crystal, then selected one of the dots on the map, which was currently marked “???”.

You couldn't just tell Annie that?

I disappeared from Zaire, and then reappeared in a room I’d never seen before. It contained some sort of platform, and three levers on the walls. If I switched one of the levers on the back wall to the up position, nothing happened, but if I moved away from it, it would go back to the downward position. I immediately assumed that I would need to get Annie into the room at the same time as Zak, so both of them could use the switches simultaneously, but I didn’t know where I was or how I could get Annie there. I pulled the lever on the left hand wall, and a staircase opened up in the floor Following it down, I found myself somewhere familiar...the tomb that I discovered in the pyramid in Egypt!

I got the lever fever baby!

Now that I knew where I was, I switched to Annie and put her on a flight to Egypt. I brought her to the tomb and up the stairs to the room with the levers, eager to see what would happen. Unfortunately the result wasn’t as exciting as I’d hoped for. When both levers were switched up, the lights next to the platform started lighting up, but nothing else happened. I tried using pretty much every item I had on the “base”, but nothing worked. Clearly whatever I needed to do here relied on something I didn’t yet know or have. There were quite a few other destinations on my map, so I moved onto one of the others marked “???”. I noticed the first one I’d travelled to now said “Teleport to Egyptian Pyramid”.

As opposed to to what other type of pyramid?

The second destination I teleported myself to was inside the right eye of the “huge carving” in Peru, and by now I understood that the yellow crystal allowed me to teleport myself to the numerous platforms I’d seen previously. Once I was there, I was able to pick up the candelabra that I hadn’t been able to collect when controlling the bird. Everything was starting to come together, but I couldn’t think of what I might be able to do with the candelabra. I teleported myself to the two destinations to the left hand side of the map, and found that they were the platforms next to the statues in Seattle and Mexico City. That left only the central destination, plus the pyramid and face on Mars.

The complexity of the game is pretty impressive really

I used the yellow crystal again, and this time I clicked on the dot in the middle of the map. Rather surprisingly, nothing happened. I remained exactly where I was when I tried using the crystal. Slightly bemused, I wondered whether I could only teleport myself to places that I’d already been, but then I’d been to every destination available from every airport. I tested my theory by clicking on the pyramid on Mars, which I’d never been to, and found that I also couldn’t visit there. Well that seemed to be the answer to that question, and left only one destination on the map to visit. I clicked on the face on Mars, thinking I would be transported to a room I’d visited previously with either Melissa or Leslie. I wasn’t!

Oh...which door to take???

I found myself in a room I’d never seen before, with three doors leading off the rear wall. No matter which door I chose, I ended up in complete darkness, with no torches available. I only had the lighter, so I had no choice but to wander around from room to room until I somehow found myself out of the maze and in...the great chamber! As soon as I realised where I was, I figured out that I’d just been making my way through the same maze that Melissa and Leslie had struggled through, albeit with no flashlight to assist. I was a bit confused as to why I hadn’t found the three doors during my earlier exploration, but didn’t feel it likely I was supposed to do anything else in the maze now that Zak was on Mars.

It turned out to make no difference at all

Obviously Zak could breath because of the air controlling machine I’d turned on earlier, but I was a little confused as to what benefit having Zak on Mars might actually bring. The only area that I felt needed solving up there was the locked door to the pyramid and since Zak didn’t have the key for it, I was a little stumped as to what I was going to do. I said a quick hello to Melissa and Leslie and set about trying to form a spacesuit out of the bits and pieces I had in my inventory. I’d been assuming for a while that the fishbowl, the oxygen tank and the wetsuit would play a role, but there was one major hurdle to my plan of trying those items out. I’d never got rid of Sushi the fish from my fishbowl!

Anyone care for Sushi? No...I don't mean like that!

As soon as I tried to put the fishbowl on, I was told that I couldn’t do that while Sushi was still in there. I was forced to restore back to Earth, travel to Zak’s apartment, and then put Sushi in the sink (don’t worry Ilmari, I didn’t turn the compressor on!). I’d always assumed that I would come across a more suitable place to let the little guy go, but hadn’t come across any bodies of water anywhere in the game. Oh well, I’m sure he’d be fine in the sink until I got back, so i teleported myself back to Mars and this time used the map I’d made earlier to escape the maze. I was then able to put on the wetsuit, the oxygen tank and the fishbowl, but despite looking somewhat like a spaceman, I was informed that air was leaking out of my makeshift helmet.

Never mind that my hands are exposed

They say duct tape can fix anything and I proved that to be true here, taping up the bottom of the fishbowl to make a seal before putting it back on. I was now able to leave the chamber into the outside world of Mars, but I still didn’t know what I was going to do. I decided to take Zak, Melissa and Leslie to the pyramid, just to see if a solution to the locked door miraculously revealed itself. All three characters bought two tokens at the monolith in case we needed to come back, and on arrival Leslie used the alien broom to sweep away the sand, as I’d done in an earlier game. I opened up my inventory and looked through it for anything I might be able to use on the huge lock. It’s safe to say that I’ve been a little bit stupid at times during some of the games I’ve played on the list, but this was a massive face palm moment! Of course I had an item to open a giant lock! A giant bobby pin!

Is that a huge bobby pin you have there or...

Why I didn’t see this earlier I can’t really explain. It was just an oversight, and I’m very thankful that I took Zak to the pyramid despite not really having any reason why I was going there. I unlocked the door, and entered the pyramid. Once again it was pitch black inside, so I had Leslie give the flashlight to Zak. Thankfully it wasn’t yet another maze as I’d expected, and the short passage led to a room with a sarcophagus in it, but nothing more. Interestingly the feet of the sarcophagus appeared to be able to be interacted with, so I tried opening them, picking them up, pulling them etc. It was only when I got to “push” that something happened, but due to the darkness, I couldn’t see what the grating noise had actually been caused by.

Tickle tickle....

I soon figured out that I needed to bring another character into the room (in my case it was Melissa) to push the feet, while Zak used the flashlight to find, and then ascend, a set of stairs in the wall. At the top of the stairs was a room containing a strange device and the power crystal I’d been looking for! There was also a box on the right hand side of the machine, with a keyhole in it. It was pretty clear that the solution was to use the golden key I got from the projector room in the great chamber in the box, which I hoped would release the crystal so I could pick it up. As sound as that reasoning was, putting it into practice turned out to be much more challenging. The main problem I had was that the staircase blocked my path to the other side of the room!

The damaged platform was the real reason why I couldn't teleport here!

That wasn’t my only problem though. I was constantly running out of oxygen and dying, forcing regular restores while I tried to figure out how I was even going to get to the keyhole, let alone unlock it. I can only think that it was the time limit that was causing my second face palm in just a few minutes, but I reckon I wasted at least ten minutes trying to get past the stairs (or to use items at long range), only to suddenly realise that the solution was incredibly obvious! I switched to Melissa, got her to walk away from the sarcophagus feet, making the staircase close up again. I was then able to walk straight across and unlock the box, revealing a button on the inside. Was I the only one that struggled with the staircase? Tell me I wasn’t! I feel pretty stupid about that one.

Face...palm!!!

As expected, pressing the button released the crystal, but unfortunately I had to keep holding the button in or else the device would clamp down on it again. In the end I had to bring Leslie up the stairs alongside Zak, get Melissa to step away from the feet, get Zak to press the button, and then get Leslie to grab the crystal. I had to do all of this within the smallest time frame due to Zak’s oxygen levels, and I then had to give Zak the power crystal and use the yellow crystal to teleport him to Egypt before the oxygen ran out. I assume I would have been able to get to the room with much more oxygen had I known about the limits, but I made it without restoring back to the great chamber.

Don't just stand there. Grab that crystal Leslie?! I'm running out of air here!

Right, I had Zak and Annie in the room in Egypt with the two levers and the platform, but before I tried anything there, I thought I better get Melissa and Leslie to safety. I got them to the spacekombi, closed the door and used the controls to send them back out into space on a two month journey to Earth. Now all I had to do was put the device together and finish the game...right?! I’d just put the candelabra onto the base, and then put the three crystals onto each arm, and then finally get Annie and Zak to pull both levers simultaneously. Easy right?! I’m afraid not! I wasn’t able to use the candelabra on the base, and a quick look at the screenshots I had of the device (from Annie’s apartment and from my dream) suggested something very terrifying indeed. Despite feeling like I’d completed everything I could at every destination, I was missing a part of the device!!!!

I recorded over their only music cassette too!

There was a piece of the device that I needed to put on the base before using the candelabra on it, but I’d not seen anything like it anywhere in the game. I looked through every screenshot in great detail, but still couldn’t find it. After about twenty minutes wracking my brain for where it could be, I finally had to accept that I was going to have to request assistance. It was either that, or systematically go through every location from scratch, trying to find anything of interest that I hadn’t noticed earlier. I decided to ask you guys for help, and it was Lars-Erik that responded first. His first hint was “I’m guessing there’s a place you haven’t been yet.” Really?! So it wasn’t just a matter of missing something in a location I’d been to?! I was shocked...and intrigued.

This dream was becoming a bit of a nightmare!

His second clue was “how do you feel about Star Trek?” Um...well...I’ve seen the most recent movie, but never watched the TV show. Thought about doing so at some stage, but then I’d have to start from episode one of the original series and work through from there (but you knew that). That’s quite an investment and one you guys probably don’t want me to make! What could Lars-Erik mean by that? The King’s spaceship? Was there something else I was supposed to do up there apart from get the winning lotto numbers? Hmmmm...only one way to find out! I used the yellow crystal to travel to Seattle, and then got a plane to Miami before finally getting one to the Bermuda Triangle. This time I paid close attention to everything that happened on the biplane, and then watched as the pilot used the coloured buttons to teleport himself back to Earth.

That's a good question my friend!

After he’d gone, I thought I would try doing exactly what he’d done, although I figured that would simply teleport me back into mid-air without the biplane being there. Suddenly I knew that was exactly what was supposed to happen, and that the parachute the pilot had given me did have a purpose after all! I quickly put the same code that the pilot had used into the panel (I’d used the one given to me by the aliens the first time around, which had teleported me to my apartment) and stood in anticipation. Just as I thought, I was teleported back to Earth, but found myself falling out of the sky. I used the parachute and floated gently down into the ocean, where I bobbed up and down, catching my breath. What now!? I tried going underwater, but I wasn’t able to hold my breath long enough to go deep enough. It looked like I was going to have to use my spacesuit as a scuba diving suit!

At least I had one hour to figure out this puzzle.

There was one major problem of course. After putting on my wetsuit, oxygen tank and fishbowl helmet, I was informed that I couldn’t breathe. I’d used all of my oxygen up on Mars! Was I supposed to complete this part of the game before going to Mars, and would then be able to refill my oxygen tank in the kombi? Surely not! I had more trust in Lucasarts than that, so I set about trying to find another solution to my problem. I could see a shark (or was it a dolphin) swimming around madly in the distance, and remembered something I’d read in the National Inquisitor. The article talked about how dolphins were saving gondoliers that had fallen out of their boats, but only if they sang!

This article was too strange not to have something to do with the game

I certainly didn’t have a “sing” verb, so I turned to my inventory. The guitar? No! The kazoo! That was it! Using the kazoo made the dolphin swim over to me, and I was then able to use the blue crystal to take control of it. I imagine this puzzle would have stumped many a player, particularly those that didn’t have the National Inquisitor to receive clues. Once I had control of the dolphin, I swam beneath the surface, and looked behind bunches of seaweed until I found what I was looking for...the piece of the device! Once Zak had the piece, I used the yellow crystal to teleport myself back to Egypt, where I quickly put the device together and used the levers.

Are we supposed to think that the aliens hid all the device parts all over the world 50000 years ago in preparation?

There you have it! After 13 hours of playing and no less than 9 posts (soon to be 10), I’d completed Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders. The stupidity machine in the phone company was destroyed by my device and The King left Earth for good! Apparently the co-ed girls made a smash hit movie based on their experience, Zak won a Nobel Peace prize for his efforts and a Pulitzer for his book about them, and finally he and Annie fell in love, giving the overall experience a very satisfying conclusion. I do wish I’d been able to complete the game without that last minute request for assistance, but I also feel pretty happy with my efforts. This was a tough game, and one that I played through during a pretty tough time in my professional career. I’ll save any further ponderings for the final rating post.

Given how rampant pseudoscience and bizarre religious practices are across the world, I'm not sure we're saved just yet!

Session Time: 3 hours 00 minutes

Total Time: 11 hours 00 minutes

Game 23: Zak McKracken - Elvis Made Me Do It

Zak McKracken Journal Entry 7: “Annie and I have managed to fuse the two yellow crystal shards together, which means there’s only one crystal left to be found from the aliens’ device plans. Not only that, I think I’ve figured out exactly where it is, as a map inside the Sphinx suggested there’s something important inside the pyramid on Mars. As if all this wasn’t excitement enough, I’m still struggling to believe what I’m about to write next. I won $10000 in the Lotto! It wasn’t exactly luck mind you, as I found out what the winning numbers were going to be during an alien abduction incident that occurred while I was flying over the Bermuda Triangle. This is all probably starting to sound crazy, but it’s really happening! I can hardly wait to see where all of this leads!”

You mean the key that just fell apart in my hand? Damn it!

Buckle up folks cause this ride’s about to get bumpy. My most recent session of Zak McKracken saw me travelling to just about every single destination in the game, tying up stacks of loose ends on the way. I still haven’t completed the game, but I’m making very steady and exciting progress. My last post described my movements through the great chamber on Mars, which resulted in me finding the two symbols I needed back on Earth, plus it also revealed an important part of the plot, with a message from the Skolarian race of beings being projected for my viewing pleasure. That session ended with me discovering the purpose of the blue crystal (through unfortunate means), and I walked away from the game with quite a few obvious paths ahead of me.

Melissa and Leslie will have to wait here again while Zak and Annie get to work

When I cranked up the game this time, I was a little bit indecisive about which of these paths I should take first. I could go to Mexico City to get the yellow crystal, or to Egypt to enter the Sphinx, or back to Peru to try using the blue crystal on the bird. I chose the first option, and after making my way through the jungle and temple mazes, found myself standing in the statue room containing the piece of crystal. I quickly drew the symbol I’d found on the identical (albeit bigger) statue I came across in the great chamber on Mars, and soon enough had the piece in my possession. I had always assumed that I’d be able to join the two yellow pieces together on the altar at Stonehenge, but I put that to the back of my mind for now. It was time to go to Egypt!

You want me to do what for the crystal? No way man!

Once I was standing in front of the Sphinx, I once again drew the required symbol, with this one being the swirl I’d come across in the map room (also in the great chamber on Mars). Doing so caused a doorway to open up in the Sphinx’s leg, which I eagerly moved through. You’ll never guess what was inside! Actually I’m sure you will, because this game is filled with mazes. This particular maze though was a bitch! At first I tried not mapping it, as I’d been able to get through the majority of mazes without doing so, but I continually found myself back at the beginning again. Eventually I figured out that the symbols above the doors were the key, and after carefully plotting my way so I didn’t keep circling back to my start position, I managed to find the room of interest.

Oh...another maze...joy!

The focus of the room was three buttons surrounded by hieroglyphics. I had horrible flashbacks to the three button puzzle on Mars, and wondered if I was yet again supposed to find the correct combination elsewhere, but a quick attempt made me realise this one was going to be easily solved by trial and error. Unlike on Mars, if I pressed a button here, it stayed pushed in. After I pressed all three buttons in random order, the floor opened up and I was dumped into a dark room with an unseen but deadly creature. I restored, and since a puzzle like this can only have six possible combinations, I set about trying each of them, getting it right on the third attempt. I’d be interested to know if the combination is found anywhere in the game or whether trial and error is the only way?

Uh oh, I think I'm restoring!

Pushing the buttons in the right order opened the wall up, revealing a map of sorts. Zak then commented that the right section was a map of the Martian Face, and that “I should draw a map of this”. Draw of map? I went through my inventory to see what I might be able to draw with and on, and all I could come up with was the yellow crayon and the book or torn wallpaper. I tried to use the crayon on the wallpaper, and was fairly stoked when it worked. What was odd though was that Zak not only drew the Mars map, he also drew his “dream map” beside it. What dream map?! Was there a map in Zak’s dream in the intro the game? I saved my game and started a new one to see if I’d missed something all those days ago.

No map is perfect man. Trust me!

The answer of course is that there is a map in the intro, and it’s the exact map that I found in the great chamber map room, and the one Zak drew with the crayon on the wallpaper. Of course there’s no way that I could have known that the map was important and that I was suppose to draw it, at least there wouldn’t have been if Zak hadn’t told me to as the very first thing he says in the game proper. That’s right, as soon as Zak appeared in his bedroom after the intro he said “I should make a drawing of that map I saw.” You’re probably wondering something along the lines of “Are you a complete idiot Tricky!? How could you not have seen that and drawn the map in the first instance?” Well, I think this is a simple case of what I’m now going to call the “blogger’s curse”.

You really should make sure you have people's attention before you start speaking Zak!

The blogger’s curse occurs because I’m often so focussed on capturing screenshots that I miss, or ignore, what’s actually happening on screen. It’s not normally a big problem for me, because adventure games normally stand still and wait for me to do something. There’s rarely a time when I have to do something quickly while simultaneously needing to capture screenshots for the blog. However, the blogger’s curse really seems to come into play during Zak McKracken for one simple reason. Cut-scenes! I’m sure I could solve the problem if I played around with SCUMMVM settings, but the cut-scenes seem to play through really quickly, giving me very short periods of time to read dialogue, let alone take screenshots.

This map looks just like the one I found in the map room on Mars. Hmmm...

I’ve been forced to replay cut-scenes multiple times just to get the shots I want, and then I’ve got into the habit of reading the screenshots rather than playing through the cut-scene once again. I used this same process to capture the intro of the game and in doing so, I actually didn’t realise that Zak said anything at all after the intro’s completion. I’m putting my lapse of concentration during the blue crystal training down to the blogger’s curse as well, and it makes me wonder what other minor but important detail I may have missed. I’ve now promised myself that I’ll watch the cut-scene all the way through before I even attempt to start getting screenshots. Anyway, now I had a map! What the hell was it for though?

Another day, another strange marking

I spent some time investigating the map on the wall, and found that I could interact with the pyramid, the face, and another set of “strange markings”! The markings had a dotted line to the great chamber, suggesting the place I would need to draw the symbol would be somewhere in there. I “read” the markings and was shown a temple shaped symbol, which I took a screenshot of for later. When I “read” the pyramid (there’s no look verb), I was told that it “looks like there’s a special object inside the Martian Pyramid.” I already figured that was the case, given that the large key that disintegrated would have given me access. Perhaps the third and final crystal is in there!? I couldn’t do anything with the face, so I took my new symbol and went back to the airport.

There better bloody be. I've spent weeks trying to get in there!

While the airport destination did have London on the list, where I intended to take the two crystal pieces, I knew that I was going to need Annie to achieve anything there, as she was the only one that could give the guard the whiskey. The other destination where I thought I could achieve something was Peru, but that wasn’t on the list. Looking at my screenshots, I knew I could get there from San Francisco, so I decided to travel there via Miami. Once in Miami though, I couldn’t help trying to visit the Bermuda Triangle again, just hoping that the plane might now be available for me to get on. Totally unexpectedly, it was!!! It wasn’t a standard type of plane though, as I found myself on a biplane!

If you're going to dare the Bermuda Triangle, make sure you do it in a really old plane.

After a short pilot commentated flight, the plane suddenly disappeared, apparently the latest victim of the Triangle. Next thing I knew the plane, with me on it, was being drawn onto a spaceship! You read that right! It soon became clear that this was a regular occurrence for the pilot, who quickly pressed the correct combination on a panel of coloured squares, then hopped back in his plane to be beamed back down to Earth. I wrote down the combination in case I needed it, and then pressed the button next to the only door out of the room. It opened, and a Caponian came to collect me, and then led me to The King. I immediately remembered that I had my The King Fan Club card in my inventory, and waited to see what was going to happen.

That's one cool spaceship! Kind of retro yet futuristic at the same time!

The King, as you might expect, was a Caponian dressed as Elvis Presley, and he quickly began trying to come up with a suitable chore for his new captive to get to work on. While he was doing so, I noticed the word LOTTO on some sort of metal panel to the right of screen. The King seemed to be coming to a decision about what to do with me, so I gave him the fan club card. Given I was obviously a big fan, he decided to let me go, and sent me away to be transferred back to Earth. That clearly wasn't all I could achieve though, so I restored, and focussed all my attention on the Lotto area while The King made his choice. Opening the panel revealed...tomorrow’s winning lotto numbers!!!

Because The King knows everything

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders just keeps surprising! I took a screenshot of the numbers, then gave The King my fan club card, eager to get back to San Francisco and purchase a Lotto ticket. I did exactly that, entering 2560 when asked to choose my numbers at Lou’s Loan Shop. I figured I’d have to let some time pass before going back to claim my prize, so I set out for Peru. On arrival, I made my way through the maze to the bird, and laid out the bread crumbs. As soon as it settled down to feed, I used the blue crystal on the bird, gaining control of it in the process. Everything was going to plan, and I used the “Fly to” action to move the bird off to the right of screen. In the distance I could see a “huge carving” in the side of the mountain, so I flew towards it.

The Google Map Anomalies clan would go nuts over this!

I found myself at the head of the carving, with the option of entering either eye. I decided on the right one, within which there was a platform and a candelabra. I didn’t seem to be able to do anything with either, at least not as the bird, with the candelabra being too heavy to pick up and no way of interacting with the platform. I had to restore at this point, as a Caponian came to collect me (Zak), after being alerted to my position through my use of the crystal. Eventually I entered the left eye, where I discovered and picked up a scroll, which I then took back and gave to Zak. Switching to Zak, I quickly left the screen so the alien couldn’t get me, and went back to San Francisco. I had to hope that I would somehow be able to do something with the candelabra later, as I was convinced I could do nothing at this point.

I...can...fly!!!

Once in San Francisco, I took the quickest path back to Lou’s Loan Shop, where I was informed of my $10000 lotto win! I should point out that at this stage I was running pretty low on funds. I’d always assumed that I would eventually have to restart and play through more efficiently, but winning the lotto made it entirely possible that I could finish the game without having to do so. For now though, it was time to switch to Annie, and to see whether my intuition about fusing the crystal pieces together at Stonehenge was correct. I gave Annie the whiskey, wire cutters and the two pieces of crystal, and then went to the airport and onto London. I quickly gave the guard the bottle of whiskey, turned off the electricity, used the wire cutters on the fence, and then put the two crystal parts on the altar. Nothing happened!

Awesome! Now I can afford the sewing machine I've always wanted!

I tried “using” the crystal pieces and the altar itself, but I just couldn’t get anything to happen. I’d been so certain that this was the right place to try to do this, and the fact I could put both pieces on the altar in the first almost certainly meant that was correct in some way. I remembered that the witchdoctor in Zaire had asked me to return to him with the yellow crystal, and I suddenly wondered if returning to him with the two parts would be enough for whatever progression was to occur. I restored to a recent save game and took Zak to Zaire with the crystal pieces. When I tried to give them to him he said “First, make this shard whole again. Find the place and words of power.” Words of power!? The scroll!

No-one ever gives a straight answer in the world of adventure games

I restored back to San Francisco after I'd just won the Lotto, then gave Annie the two crystal shards, the wire cutters, the whiskey, and the scroll. When I gave Annie the scroll, she began deciphering the scroll and talked about “words of power”. Clearly this was going to work! Long story short, putting the shards on the altar and then using the scroll caused lightning to strike above the altar. However promising that was, the crystal still wasn’t fused together! At first I thought it was just a positioning thing, and I read the scroll from various screen locations, but eventually I was forced to accept that I needed something else. Suddenly I knew exactly what it would be! The flagpole would conduct the lightning!

That has got to hurt a little bit!

So it was that I restored once again to San Francisco and repeated the whole process, but this time I made Zak give the flagpole to Annie too. Once everything was in position at Stonehenge, I used the flagpole on the altar and felt great satisfaction when Annie stuck it into the slot in the stone. I then read the scroll again, and this time the lightning hit the flagpole, fusing the two crystal pieces together in the process. Job done! So I now have the blue crystal and the yellow crystal, and I have a fairly good idea where the white one will be found. I’m getting pretty excited about reaching the conclusion of this game, and am starting to believe that I can get there without any requests for assistance. Now...it’s time to take the yellow crystal to the witchdoctor in Zaire, to see why he’s so interested in the thing. Wish me luck!

I assume you were wearing rubber soles!

Session Time: 2 hours 00 minutes

Total Time: 10 hours 00 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've recently written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks! 

Game 23: Zak McKracken - A Message from Beyond

Zak McKracken Journal Entry 6: “Today I had a deserved rest after all of my travels. I now understand what that National Inquisitor was on about when discussing the negative effects of jetlag. Despite my day off, it has still been a very successful day when it comes to solving the mystery of the alien invasion. Firstly, I was pondering over what the Guru had told me earlier and suddenly, out of nowhere, realised what the real purpose of the blue crystal is. It’s supposed to be used to take control of animals, which should allow me to make use of the bird I befriended in Peru. Secondly, as Annie suggested earlier, Melissa and Leslie have been communicating to me through my dreams. They’ve found the symbols I need to progress in Mexico City and Egypt, and have telepathically transmitted what they look like. It seems I need to pack my bags again. The adventure continues!”

Where we left off: It's always important to be Karmically clean

At the end of last post, I was just about to switch back to Melissa and Leslie on Mars, confident that I now knew how to open one of the doors that had previously barred my way. I did exactly that, and it wasn’t long before I had Melissa and Leslie pressing the 3 – 1 – 2 combination on the door with the buttons on it. The door opened, leaving me with a real sense of satisfaction! The chamber inside was massive! I walked the length of it to see what there was to look at before trying anything in particular, and found three “massive doors” and two “huge statues”. It struck me immediately that the two statues were of the same being as the statue I’d found previously in Mexico City.

"Should we be doing this? I think someone's watching us!"

I had a strong feeling I was about to solve the mystery of the unknown symbol, and that feeling was vindicated when I found yellow markings at the base of one of the statues. The symbol was there, and it was nothing like any of the ones I’d attempted. I was so thrilled in having discovered it that I was tempted to switch back to Zak right there and then so I could go and get that damn crystal piece, but decided the more efficient thing to do was to see what else the chamber on Mars had to offer. Who knows, I might come across another piece of useful info or a puzzle that needs solving back on Earth.

Hmmmm...I've seen that statue before!

With that done, it was time to focus on the doors. Each of them had a face on it, and they also had a pedestal just to the left of them. Further investigations made me aware that two out of the three pedestals had blue crystal spheres at their peak, whereas the other one didn’t. That had to mean something! I positioned myself in front of the first door and tried to get the blue crystal, only to be told I couldn’t reach it. I placed the ladder in front of it and tried again. Touching it caused a wacky electronic tune to play, which in turn caused the door to open. Another small but significant victory! I walked inside to find myself in complete darkness.

Herenow noizbop! It's waycool earstuff!

I remembered that Melissa had a flashlight in her inventory, which I’d found in the hostel locker, so I moved her into the dark room and switched it on. It allowed me to see, but I had to move the light around the room to get a full picture of my surroundings. It soon became very apparent that I was in yet another maze, and I can’t say I was very happy about it. Given the darkness, and that there was no real sense of space apart from estimations, I once again struggled to form a map. As soon as I was able to map out the square perimeter, I was much more confident. I’m very glad I managed to do it this time, as unlike every other maze I’ve made it through in Zak McKracken so far, this one had two rooms of interest!

Maybe if I close my eyes, the maze won't be there anymore!

At least I assume they’re both of interest. The first one I came across had a large machine in it (which scaredy-cat Melissa wouldn’t go near, so I had to get Leslie), with levers that control temperature and air pressure. If I switched both levers to the up position, the machine whirred into action, and I was informed that “the temperature is quite nice, and the air pressure is comfortable.” I had no idea why I might have done this, or whether or not there was any reason I might want to make things cold or uncomfortable, so I decided to leave it with both switched on. Actually, while I’m writing this post, I’ve suddenly realised that the whole purpose of the machine is to make the great chamber have breathable air! I can’t believe that didn’t cross my mind earlier!

Only martian technology could create an air conditioner that was just the right temperature

The second room of interest was a room with a large map. The map had five yellow markers on it, but I didn’t seem to be able to interact with it in any way. I didn’t recognise the landmass either, but that’s likely to be my geographical retardation coming to the fore once again. The carving just to the right of the map sure looked familiar though! It was the sphinx, and just below it was the symbol I needed to progress in Egypt. Happy days! Figuring out how to get into the chamber on Mars had resulted in me discovering both symbols, which was exactly what I was hoping would come to pass. I couldn’t make my map make exact structural sense, but I was fairly happy that I’d found what I needed to find. I moved onto door number two!

Oh God! Please don't make this a geography test!

This was the door where the pedestal didn’t have a blue crystal atop it, which meant I wasn’t going to be able to open the door the way I had with the first one. When I’d used the crystal to open the first door, the game had made a real point of describing the “music” that had been emitted at the time, making me think this could finally be the puzzle that required recording with the boom box. I took both Leslie and Melissa to the first pedestal, and then set the boom box to record in Melissa’s possession while Leslie used the crystal. I then took the boom box to the empty pedestal, played back the recording, and watched the door open with a smug grin on my face. Puzzle solved, but I really hoped there wasn’t another maze awaiting me inside!

Yeah you love this shit don't ya!

While it initially looked like there would be another maze, I was delighted to find that the second door led to a single pitch black hall which in turn led onto a chamber. In the chamber was another statue, with this one having a small ankh sitting above its right hand. Unlike the crystals, I simply walked up to the statue and picked up the ankh, which came as a bit of a surprise. There was nothing else in the chamber, so I walked out the way I entered and moved onto door number three. I played the recorded tune again to open this door as well, but looking at my screenshots, there’s every chance I would have just been able to use the ladder and the crystal. Either way, I soon found myself in yet another dark hallway followed by yet another chamber. This one was far more interesting though!

You're just going to let me walk up and take it? What's the catch here?!

Within it was some sort of machine that kind of looked like the chair containing the dead alien in the original Alien movie! In front of it was a glass tube that looked capable of holding a man, and on the wall were two keys of differing sizes. Between me and all of the above was a dividing wall, but just next to the wall was a panel with the shape of an ankh on it. Well, I just so happened to have an ankh, so I used it on the panel and the wall moved aside. A little bit of pixel hunting revealed a small button on the back of the machine and after pressing it, I realised it wasn’t a chair at all. It was a projector! An image of an alien (the same alien from my dream) appeared in the tube, and this is what he had to say:

What this room needs is a really oversized key...oh look!

“Greetings! Our race departed this dimension fifty millennia ago. We, the Skolarians, were your guardians. We knew of the corrupt Caponians and took steps to protect you. They will subvert the Earth with their deadly machines. We sent you dreams to lead you here. You must construct our device to neutralize the Caponian menace. Use these keys to obtain the Power Crystal. Hurry, before they stop you.” Right, so the device that Annie and I are trying to piece together will somehow stop the Caponians from making all of humanity stupider. I take it the power crystal is the third crystal I need, and I also assume that it will be found somewhere in the pyramid on Mars. I grabbed the two keys, hoping that one of them would open the pyramid door, but the larger one crumbled at my touch!

So...you left fifty millenia ago...but before you did, you built a machine that would communicate with beings that hadn't even been created yet...on another planet altogether. I see!

Damn it! I knew instinctually that the big key was going to be the one I needed to open the pyramid door, and a quick visit to the pyramid confirmed that to be the case. I had no choice but to take the small key and move Melissa and Leslie back to the hostel while I used Zak and Annie to collect the second piece of the yellow crystal from Mexico City, and then draw the second symbol in Egypt to enter the Sphinx. At least, that’s what I was going to do before I checked the comments on my last post. A reader, who will go unnamed as they’ve already received suitable punishment for their indiscretion, had left me a little message that I’m certain hadn’t intended to be a spoiler...but it was!

Great...an oversized keyhole!

I won’t repeat exactly what was said, but it was basically along the lines of “So the Guru taught you that you need to be in contact with the Earth for the blue crystal to work. Are you sure he didn’t teach you anything else?” Well, I just had to know what that comment meant, so I restored back to Nepal and went through the whole scene over again. After informing me that he would teach me about the crystal’s use, he casually said “It will put you into a state of deep rapport with any animal. Simply focus...” I’d initially thought this was just the Guru talking spiritual enlightenment nonsense before getting down to the real teaching, but now I realised this was the actual purpose of the crystal!

It appears I wasn't very good at the focussing bit

I have no idea whether I would have figured this out for myself. I’d like to think that I might have paid the Guru another visit later on while trying to take the most monetarily efficient path around the world landmarks, but I guess we’ll never know. Either way, after trying the blue crystal on the yak outside the Guru’s temple, I found I was able to take control of him for a short period. I expect I might have had control for longer, but using the crystal still invited the attention of the Caponians, and one of them would come for me not long after its use. The only action I had available to me while controlling the yak was to “chew”, but I knew of another animal elsewhere that would be the most likely target for such an ability. The bird in Peru!

"Chew........chew chew......chew.......chew...."

So it was that my sixth Zak McKracken session came to an end. This game has some serious volume! I may have only been playing it for eight hours, but I’ve hardly been stuck at all. It’s been eight hours of solid adventure gaming, and I’ve still got numerous ideas about what I can try next. I can go to Peru and take control of the bird, I can go to Mexico City to get the second piece of the yellow crystal and then try to find out how to join them together, or I can go straight to Egypt to enter the Sphinx and beyond. Hmmm...I just now had a thought that maybe the pyramid in Egypt that appears empty is where I come out from my trip into the Sphinx. At least that would explain why it appears entirely useless at this point. Even if I do get really stuck, I can always re-read the National Inquisitor articles to see if there are any clues. Exciting times!

Time to go back to Earth, at least for a while

Session Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time: 8 hours 00 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've recently written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!