Tiny little packages, they seem all alike to me

January 9, 2008 1:07 PM

What Wii game is most like Zork?

I know zero about video games. I am looking for a game for my mom, who just bought herself a Wii. I think what I am looking for is:
- first-person
- adventure
- problem solving
- if you die it's okay, if you have to kill a lot of other people, not so much
- No guns or gun-like play

She enjoyed the Zork games and also the King's Quest Games, but she hasn't played any games in a long, long time. Thank you for your help.

posted by Eringatang to sports, hobbies, & recreation (11 comments total)

Why, Zack & Wiki, of course! It meets all of your criteria except for the first-person part. It's still all in 3d and looks pretty darn good. It makes great use of the Wiimote, too.
posted by zsazsa at 1:11 PM on January 9, 2008

Seconding Zack & Wiki. It's probably the best 3rd party Wii game out there and total fits the type of game you're looking for.
posted by Nelsormensch at 1:15 PM on January 9, 2008

This looks great!!!
posted by Eringatang at 1:16 PM on January 9, 2008

I wish I could play Zack & Wiki again for the first time. I'm hoping I'll forget the solutions with time.
posted by yeti at 1:38 PM on January 9, 2008

I think Zack & Wiki is the closest you're going to get to filling your requirements but you might also consider Elebits.

It kind of strains your 'no-gun' requirement in that it uses a 'gun' that captures sucks in little creatures and also fires a kind of gravity-field beam that can pick things up, but it's all very non-violent and cutesy. It's a first-person adventure, and nothing dies. The problem-solving is kind of rudimentary and definitely not on the level of some of the devious stuff in, say, Return to Zork, but it's engaging enough: you seek out little blobs to suck up with your capture gun, which in turn gives you energy you can use to turn things on and power to pick up heavier objects to look for more little creatures underneath them (and, eventually, to fling cars and building around, woooo!)

I mention this mostly because my non-gamer mom puts hours into this game whenever she visits.

Mercury Meltdown is another one that comes to mind purely for the problem-solving bullet point. You move a blob of mercury around on a playing-field you tilt with the wiimote, and must split and rejoin the blob and color it in various ways to pass obstacles. It gets quite involved in the latter part of the game. It's got a lot of gameplay in it with 150 levels and can be had for $15 or so.
posted by moift at 2:25 PM on January 9, 2008

Zack and Wiki looks really good. But as a backup, you can try Super Paper Mario. It also fulfills all of your criteria except the first-person one.
posted by ignignokt at 2:28 PM on January 9, 2008

Zack and Wiki is the right answer here, but she might also like Super Mario Galaxy (which is generally charming throughout, and has a series of short puzzles and reflex-based tasks that range from dead simple to heinously difficult).
posted by Prospero at 3:31 PM on January 9, 2008

I sure liked Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but the bow+arrow and swordsmanship against nasties may be too close to gunplay for you.

Also, Pikmin, which is a GameCube game, will play on your Wii. It's kind of a precursor to Elebits, with a little different slant on things. Very fun puzzles, lots of thinking about how to feed/nurture/properly use a team.

Seconding Super Mario Galaxy, but there is a little shooting bad guys in that one as well.

I liked Super Paper Mario too, probably a little more than Galaxy. Still bad guys in this one, but it's more of a stomping game than a shooter.

Last thing: It's hard to go wrong with Lego Star Wars. Star Wars has some violence, yes, but it's very cartoony in LSW, and it's a great game to play with a friend, as it's all co-op. It's the only game my wife will play with me.

Have fun!
posted by SlyBevel at 4:25 PM on January 9, 2008

I'll second Elebits as a game that the so-called non-serious gamers get into very quickly. And speaking as a more serious gamer myself, I find it lots of fun. I thought it looked good when it first came out, but just received it this Christmas. It hasn't left our Wii in weeks!

I wouldn't call it Zork-like, but you may want to consider it down the road for your Mom when she gets hooked on the Wii and wants a slight change of pace from Puzzle games.
posted by mikepop at 5:40 AM on January 10, 2008

Thanks for this list, everyone. Plenty of good ideas here.
posted by Eringatang at 8:32 AM on January 10, 2008

Follow-up: I gave Zack and Wiki game to my mom, who was very grateful but never really played it. She complained that it loaded too slowly. I have it now and I'm really enjoying it. Next year I think I may ask this question again...
posted by Eringatang at 12:35 PM on July 16, 2008