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Parents' Guide to

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure

By Jinny Gudmundsen, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 8+

Quirky adventure is a puzzle-playing treasure.

Game Nintendo Wii 2007
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

Community Reviews

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age 9+

Based on 1 parent review

Corey Evans
Corey Evans Adult
June 29, 2015
age 9+

Love This

I played this game as a young, impressionable kid. I absolutely loved it. The puzzles aren't too difficult and there isn't gore or language. However,*SPOILER ALERT* the ending killed me for weeks. Maybe i was too into it or something, but when one of the true main characters got sucked into a black hole, my heart exploded. Also Barboros and the Barboros' Castle stages scared me. The Castle was based on haunted things and ghosts, and I've always been terrified of ghosts. There are ghosts, iron maidens, a statue that cries red, and a piano that plays on it's own. But this game is fantastic and i highly recommend it. It has a wide range of stage types and enemies and the characters are funny. Especially Johnny. You can travel from forests, to the icy palace, to the fiery home of a great wyrm and its adorable baby, even to the center of the earth. Great game. This review does it little justice. A real winner.
See all 1 parent review

What’s It About?

The premise of ZACK & WIKI: QUEST FOR BARBAROS' TREASURE is simple: Zack needs your help finding treasure so he can become the greatest pirate in the world. The goal in most of the game's 24 environmental puzzles is for Zack to get to the treasure. Standing in your way will be a variety of goons or monsters, mysterious objects, and physical barriers. Helping you is Wiki, a magical creature with a tail that can spin like a helicopter, who hovers near Zack and has the magical power to turn ordinary items into useful tools.

Each puzzle starts with a flyover, giving you a bird's-eye view of the landscape and the location of the treasure. The key to solving the puzzles is to figure out what you can manipulate in the environment, and in which order you must do things. You solve each puzzle by using the Wii remote in a variety of creative ways. To move Zack, you point and click; clicking on things around you will reveal money and hidden objects. As you work your way through the game's progressively harder puzzles, you will use the remote to twist open doors, cast a fishing rod, play the piccolo, shake animals to morph them into tools or weapons, and so much more.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (1 ):

Every once in a while, a video game developer does everything right. What makes Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure so special is that it combines a quirky cartoon adventure featuring a young pirate boy and his whirly-gig sidekick with outstanding environmental puzzles that get your creative juices flowing. Plus, to keep kids from getting frustrated, the game builds in a hint system and the ability to redo fatal mistakes. And, as icing on this video game cake, the game is loaded with hilarious dialogue.

With over 30 hours of gameplay, the puzzles can be played slowly over time. There are also Mini games to explore. Plus, the game allows others to get involved as advisors who can draw circles around areas to investigate. This is a fun way for a parent and child to play together.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what makes this such a good game. It is the puzzles? The characters? The silliness of the dialogue? How often did you use the hint system? Zack and Wiki are the rare characters with no movies, TV shows, or long-running game series under their belt -- did you like playing with new characters? Why do you think they make more games featuring characters you already know?

Game Details

  • Platform: Nintendo Wii
  • Available online?: Not available online
  • Publisher: Capcom
  • Release date: October 25, 2007
  • Genre: Puzzle
  • ESRB rating: E for Mild Cartoon Violence
  • Last updated: November 4, 2015

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