Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
| Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders | |
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Cover art by Steve Purcell
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| Developer(s) | Lucasfilm Games |
| Publisher(s) | Lucasfilm Games |
| Director(s) | David Fox |
| Designer(s) | David Fox Matthew Alan Kane David Spangler Ron Gilbert |
| Artist(s) | Martin Cameron Gary Winnick Enhanced versions: Mark Ferrari Basilo Amaro |
| Writer(s) | David Fox Matthew Alan Kane |
| Composer(s) | Matthew Alan Kane Chris Grigg (C64) |
| Engine | SCUMM |
| Platform(s) | Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, FM Towns |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Graphic adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders is a 1988 graphic adventure game by Lucasfilm Games. It was the second game to use the SCUMM engine, after Maniac Mansion. The project was led by David Fox, with Matthew Alan Kane as the co-designer and co-programmer.
Like Maniac Mansion, it was developed for the Commodore 64 and later released in 1988 for that system and IBM PC (MS-DOS). An Apple II version was apparently planned, but never released. The following year in 1989, the game was ported to the Amiga and Atari ST.
The story is set in 1997, 10 years after the game's production. The plot follows Zak (full name Francis Zachary McKracken), a writer for the National Inquisitor, a tabloid newspaper (the name is a thinly veiled allusion to the National Enquirer); Annie Larris, a freelance scientist; along with Melissa China and Leslie Bennett, two Yale University coed students, in their attempt to prevent the nefarious alien Caponians (who have taken over "The Phone Company", an amalgamation of various telecommunication companies around the world) from slowly reducing the intelligence of everybody on Earth by emitting a 60 Hz "hum" from their "Mind Bending Machine". The Skolarians, another ancient alien race, have left a defense mechanism hanging around to repulse the Caponians (the "Skolarian Device"), which needs reassembly and start-up. Unfortunately, the parts are spread all over Earth and Mars.
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders was developed and published by Lucasfilm Games. It was the second game to use the SCUMM engine, after Maniac Mansion. Like Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken was initially developed for the Commodore 64 and ported later to other systems. The project was led by David Fox, with Matthew Alan Kane as the co-designer and co-programmer. Fox consulted with New Age writer David Spangler for the game materials. The game was originally meant to be more serious, resembling the Indiana Jones series, but Ron Gilbert persuaded David Fox to increase the humorous aspects of the game. The game was consequently heavily inspired by many popular theories about aliens, ancient astronauts, and mysterious civilizations. The many places visited in the game are common hotspots for these ideas, such as the pyramids of Egypt and Mexico, Lima, Stonehenge, the Bermuda Triangle, and the Face on Mars. The Skolarians are based on the Greys alien, while the Caponians (a name derived from "Al Capone") are primarily based on the Men in Black, with their Cadillac-shaped spaceship and Elvis-themed leader (nicknamed "The King"). The Caponians also have heads shaped like Easter Island's Moai statues.
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