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Storyline The story is set in 1997, which means about 10 years after its production. In the game's 'future', all transactions are made via debit card (named cashcards in the inventory) and TVs while have the size of modern real-life home theaters, they are bulky and have large infrared sensors. Digital Audio Tapes are still a medium of music recording. 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 the nefarious, alien Caponians (who have infiltrated society in the guise of a phone company) from slowly reducing the intelligence of everybody on Earth using 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 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. 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 was 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 song for 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 the German band Glückswald. See also | ||||||||||
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