Zak McKracken - Between Time and Space
| Zak McKracken - Between Time and Space | |
|---|---|
| Studio | Artificial Hair Bros. |
| Publisher | Artificial Hair Bros. |
| Senior Developer | Thomas Dibke |
| composer | Andreas Max, Axel Eisenhard, Manuel Rülke |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
April 20, 2008 |
| platform | Linux , macOS , Microsoft Windows |
| Game engine | Visionaire |
| genre | Adventure |
| Game mode | Single player |
| control | Mouse and keyboard |
| medium | Download , DVD-ROM |
| language | German English French |
Zak McKracken - Between Time and Space is a 2008 published point-and-click - fanadventure . It is an unofficial sequel to the 1988 game Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders , but was not developed by LucasArts . Instead, this game is the result of a fan project and was developed for non-commercial purposes over a period of seven years.
action
As in the original game, the player takes on the role of Zak McKracken, a frustrated tabloid reporter from San Francisco . The story begins on the night of July 27, 2009: Zak is - apparently because of research into a new story - as a stowaway on board a Russian cargo plane on the flight from Memphis to Zurich . He wakes up when the plane is apparently held in the air by a UFO and boarded by aliens.
The next morning Zak wakes up in his bed in his apartment and thinks the events on board are an intensely lived dream. However, when he feels a bump on the back of his head, he realizes that what must have actually happened. Since he can no longer remember why he was on board this machine, he has to find out what brought him there. He travels around the world in the game, visiting places such as Paris , Mexico , Scotland , Honolulu , the North Pole , San Francisco and Zurich . It also ends up in the past and in the future as well as in a spaceship.
main characters
Zak McKracken
The eponymous reporter now works as editor-in-chief at the National Infiltrator and is the protagonist of the game. He's always on the hunt for a good story.
The Caponians
The aliens who made life difficult for Zak McKracken in the official predecessor are trying again to usurp world domination.
The king
The leader of the Caponians is an alien Elvis Presley with a matching wig and a pink Cadillac in the bedroom.
Annie Larris
Annie is Zak's long-time neighbor and has long been adored by him in vain. She first marries another man and has a good time in Waikiki.
Game principle and technology
The game uses the Visionaire - Engine , developed by team members of Artificial Hair Bros.. This platform enables game developers to create point-and-click adventures without much programming knowledge. The engine can process graphics, animations, film sequences and audio files and offers templates for action verbs and an inventory system (similar to SCUMM ).
The developers used the original version to control the game: the game character is moved through 2D environments using the verb interface and point-and-click controls and can interact with certain characters and objects. If the player tries to take an action that is not possible or particularly pointless, Zak makes a corresponding comment. Occasionally the plot of the game is narrated by means of 3D film sequences in which the player cannot intervene. The protagonist can die at certain points in the game. In such cases, an illustrated newspaper article about his death is displayed. The game automatically saves the game status beforehand so that the player can continue playing from this point. There are different solutions to some puzzles. The game also has two levels of difficulty. In the simple level of difficulty, some puzzles are omitted or their solution has been simplified.
Production notes
The game was released in 2008 in German for Microsoft Windows . The developers then worked on a director's cut , which was released in May 2015. Several bugs have been fixed in it, the story has been expanded and other improvements have been made. As part of this version, the game was also offered in English, with French subtitles and for OS X and Linux . There is no official license from LucasArts for the game. However, LucasArts has not yet taken any legal action against the developers, although the company has occasionally taken action against fan adventure sequels of other LucasArts adventures in the past.
speaker
| role | German speaker |
|---|---|
| Zak McKracken | Jeffrey Wipprecht |
| Insurance agent | Kim Hasper |
| Aircraft captain | Engelbert von Nordhausen |
| Deborah Dubinovski | Nicole Engeln |
| Cook, restaurant guest | Falk Puschmann |
| Stanislav, cabana boy, archaeologist | Klaus Götsch |
| angler | Ralf Pappers |
| stewardess | Gerlinde Jänicke |
| Caponiers, hackers, scouts | René Dawn-Claude |
| gardener | Marcus Henschel |
| Arabs | Mohamed El-Chartouni |
Easter eggs and cameos
The developers built some Easter eggs and cameos into the game. After Zak has arrived in Scotland, for example, a cutscene with the antagonists, the extraterrestrial Caponians, can be seen. In this sequence, David Fox (game developer and designer of Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders ) appears on a screen and tells the Caponians (in English, spoken by David Fox) that he dreamed about them. When Zak returned home, Al Lowe had meanwhile spoken on his answering machine, wishing him (in English, spoken by Al Lowe, the game developer and inventor of the Larry series) the best of luck on his adventure. After Zak made the Elvis wig at home, his television, which previously only showed advertisements, has a short circuit. If he now turns on the television, David Fox and Matthew Kane (composer of the Zak McKracken soundtrack) can be seen as guests on a talk show. They tell of benevolent aliens, the Scolarians, and a machine that Zak "if he really exists" is supposed to use to save the world. The presenter Camilla is set to music (also in English only) by David Fox's wife, the author Annie Fox .
Apart from that, there are allusions in the game to other adventure games, mostly from LucasArts. The hairdresser Stanislav is reminiscent of the sales-ready, talkative Stan from Monkey Island . His wig model, a talking skull named Murray, is an allusion to the skull of the same name from The Curse of Monkey Island . The secret number 1138 that Zak uses to open the terrorist's suitcase on the plane is a reference to THX 1138 , a science fiction film by George Lucas . When trying to lift the sewer cover in Paris, the protagonist replies that his name is not George Stobbart - an allusion to Baphomet's curse .
reception
According to GameStar , the game is considered one of the best freeware games. On Chip.de the game was named among the best 50 free games.
On Golem.de, Peter Steinlechner called the tasks of the game "cleverly structured and beautifully original". He criticized some of the puzzles that had hardly developed any further compared to the 20-year-old original game and he also criticized the graphics (“not quite up to date”). On the other hand, he praised the dialogues and voice actors, as well as the verb system of the user interface. He came to the conclusion "Between Time and Space is an exciting, funny and original game, for which you could ask genre fans money."
According to Timo Steinhaus from Gamona.de, the game “does not need to shy away from comparison with other professionally created adventure games.” In addition to the fun of the game and the attention to detail of the developers, he praises the music and the dialogues.
The Retro Gamer editorial team describes Zak McKracken - Between Time And Space in the Retro Gamer Special 2016 as “The highest quality and best fan adventure”.
Web links
- Official project page
- Zak McKracken - Between Time and Space at MobyGames (English)
- Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space - Director's Cut at MobyGames (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space . In: PC-Pr @ xis . April 2009, ISSN 0933-1476 , p. 176 .
- ↑ Stefan Köhler: Ten classics in the Definitive Edition - Top 10 fan remakes. In: Gamestar.de . December 30, 2014, p. 4 , accessed November 20, 2019 .
- ↑ The charm of 'Zak McKracken' took me away. on: spiegel.de , June 4, 2008.
- ^ Sebastian Klix: Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space . In: GameStar . June 2011, ISSN 1610-6547 , p. 92 .
- ↑ The 50 best free games of all time .
- ↑ Peter Steinlechner: Play test: Zak McKracken 2 - free adventure with charm. In: Golem.de . April 28, 2008, accessed April 26, 2011 .
- ↑ Timo Steinhaus: Fan project brings back the likeable reporter. In: Gamona.de. May 12, 2008, accessed April 26, 2011 .
- ↑ Retro Gamer Special 1/2016 , publisher: Heise Medien GmbH & Co. KG, 1/2016, page 109, ISBN 978-3957880680