Zak McKracken and the Alien Mind Benders is the sequel to the Zak McKracken game by LucasFilm Games. It has the same fantastic humour and appeal as other Lucas Film games (also wonderful classics) such as Maniac Mansion and the Secret of Monkey Island. Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders is a brilliant classic that will never ever die!
In the game, you are Zak McKracken - an unenthusiastic journalist working for a sleazy tabloid who is assigned the task of interviewing an anti-social two-headed squirrel who lives in a cave in Mount Rainier.
Whilst there Zak is also required to write a retrospective on the first modern UFO sighting 50 years ago in the same area. The night before Zak is due to leave, he has an incredible dream outlaying a map, Mars, a girl and many people with strange hats and nose glasses. As he prepares to leave on his flight to interview the squirrel, he realises that aspects of his dream are actually reality. The girl in his dream exists and there are aliens disguised in hats and nose glasses who are trying to take over the world by making humans stupid. Zak realises it is up to him to stop them! As Zak, you will travel the world (and Mars) working
out problems and trying to uncover the alien plot.
The down side to this game can be that you often get stuck with some of the problems. As Zak can never die, you can roam around unaware that you have mucked up a crucial step earlier in the game and never find out why a problem can't be solved. Even if you don't mess something up, some of the problems can still be quite hard to solve (this is where the good old LucasFilm hint book with red cellophane to show the answers can come in handy). Don't let this turn you off though!
The graphics are quite ancient compared to today’s standards, but were quite good for the 80's when the game was originally made. The controls are easy to understand and use. Pretty much you just click the verb / action you wish to use from the list at the bottom of the screen and then click on the object (e.g. pick up kazoo).
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders is a brilliant Lucas Film classic that is a must for all adventure and humour loving 80's game fans. You will just love playing it!
