Video games - Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

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	Video games - Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders is a graphical adventure game, originally released in 1988, published by LucasArts (known at the time as Lucasfilm Games). It was the second game to use the SCUMM engine, after Maniac Mansion
. The project was led by David Fox and co-designed and co-programmed by Matthew Kane.

Originally released on the Commodore 64, it was later ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, and PC with EGA graphics. A version was later ported to the Japanese FM Towns system, this one with VGA graphics and CD music.

Storyline

The plot follows Zak, a writer for the National Inquisitor, a tabloid newspaper; Annie Larris, a freelance scientist; and Melissa China and Leslie Bennett, two Yale University coed students, in their attempt to prevent nefarious aliens, the Caponians (that have infiltrated society in the guise of a phone company) from slowly reducing the intelligence of everybody on Earth with dial tones.

Luckily, the Skolarians, another ancient alien race, have left a defense mechanism hanging around to repulse the Caponians, which just needs a quick reassembly and start-up. Unfortunately, the parts are spread all over the Earth ... and Mars.

The game was heavily inspired by the many popular theories about aliens, ancient astronauts and mysterious civilizations. The many places visited in the game are common hot-spots of relevant literature, like the pyramids of Egypt and Mexico, Lima, Stonehenge, Atlantis, a space cadillac with Elvis (really an alien) and eventually the Face on Mars. The general New Age feeling is very obvious since players will meet also gurus and a shaman who hold secret knowledge of everything, as well as help convert an airport-housed bum to become a Hare Krishna.

All this is no accident. David Fox, the lead designer and programmer, intended to make a more serious game. While designing the game, he spent some days with David Spangler, noted New Age writer, before Ron Gilbert persuaded Fox to increase the comedy angle.

Trivia

In Maniac Mansion
you could find a chainsaw but no fuel; in this game you can find chainsaw fuel but no chainsaw. Also, there is a wanted poster for the Purple Meteor of Maniac Mansion
inside the Friendly Hostel on Mars.

The three girls in the game are named after the programmers' other halves. For example, Annie Larris was David Fox's wife's maiden name and the appearance of the game character is also inspired by her looks. Similarly, Leslie Edwards was Matthew Kane's girlfriend. During the game production she worked as a major playtester and is listed in the credits.

One of the the shapes made by the yellow crayon is the initials DF (David Fox).

The 'words of power' (Gni Sisi Vle) that mend the crystal in Stonehenge are an anagram of 'Elvis is king'

Fan sequels

In the absence of an official sequel (and a very low likelihood of one ever appearing), numerous Zak McKracken fans have turned to designing their own sequels to the cult game. The first one to reach completion was The New Adventures of Zak McKracken by "LucasFan Games", containing graphics from the Japanese FM Towns 256 color version, country-specific backgrounds from King of Fighters and some original art. The original release was notorious for containing a somewhat perverse ending (concerning the main characters and group sex). However, the ending was soon changed. That sequel is very short and fairly limited, compared to what the two other fan sequels in production promise to be; Zak McKracken Between Time And Space is due for release at the end of 2005, and Zak McKracken and the Alien Rockstars will hopefully be released sometime in 2007. At least one other fan sequel is said to be in production, but those are the major ones.

Zak McKracken Theme

The Zak McKracken Theme originally composed by Matthew Alan Kane is! a popular object of remixes and reinterpretations. Among the artists who have made cover versions of it are The Dead Guys, Puffy64, DJ Lizard, Razor and the Scumettes and German Gothic metal band Glückswald.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders ]

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