Zak McKracken & 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.

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 oddball Japanese FM Towns system, this one with VGA graphics and CD music. The was project led by David Fox and co-designed and programmed by Matthew Kane.

Storyline

The plot follows Zak, a writer for trash newspaper the National Inquisitor, and Annie Larris, Melissa China and Leslie Bennett, three Yale coed students, in their attempt to destroy a machine created by nefarious aliens that is slowly reducing the intelligence of everybody on Earth.

The game was heavily based on the popular theories about aliens, ancient astronauts and mysterious civilisations. The places visited in the game, are those very favourable of this kind of literature, like the pyramids of Egypt and Lima, Stonehenge, Atlantis, a space cadillac with Elvis 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 the secret knowledge of all these.

Trivia

In Maniac Mansion you could find a chainsaw but no fuel; in this game you can find chainsaw fuel but no chainsaw.

Annie Larris' looks and name are based on a real person, David Fox's wife.

LucasFan Games

A number of fans, named LucasFan Games, grouped together to create a free and graphically improved sequel of the game. The game was called The New Adventures of Zak McKracken but has failed to become popular with most fans, because of its limitations. As of January 2005, at least three other fan sequels are in varying stage of production.