Cartoon violence: As the title suggests, Zack and Wiki are on a quest for treasure. So, they set off in their plane to travel ultimately to Treasure Island. They soon meet Barbaros, who has been cursed and turned into a large, floating golden skull. He says if Zack and Wiki will help restore his body and break the curse, he will reward them greatly. And so the journey begins...

The violence in this game is as tame as it gets, and in fact, is quite a bit more mild and kid-friendly than even your average Saturday morning cartoon. The combat (if you can call it that) involves Wiki (Zack's companion, a golden monkey), who turns into a bell and rings until the enemy disappears into a purple puff of smoke. But, Wiki really doesn't destroy enemies, she transforms them into the items you use to complete the puzzles. You can also use Wiki to turn the "items" back into their former selves. So, you could say there is actually no combat, just puzzle solving. There are also many scenes of silly/cartoony antics involving all of the characters, but beyond this, there's nothing to worry about. Very mild stuff.

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Content-wise: As I said, content-wise this game is suitable for all ages. Any kid 6- can watch the entirety of this game, no problem. However, other than a few cute sounds, the characters do not speak, and the whole story is done through text. So, you'll have to read to them as if it's a book. But it's no problem because you can take your time reading, and then press the A button to continue. If they want to play, it is quite possible, and though the interface is pretty simple, you'll probably need to guide them through it the whole way.

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Difficulty-wise: This game is in the style of the old point & click adventures, which now seem to be a rarity. The control is done entirely with the Wiimote (no nunchuck) and is quite simple and straightforward. You point the Wiimote at the screen and move the cursor to a desired object; Zack (main playable character) will move to the item, and depending on what it is, he will examine it, pick it up, or activate it. You can look around the area by holding the B button and moving the Wiimote around, and you can also manually move Zack by pressing and holding the A button, and then drag the cursor to the desired location.

One of the other main game mechanics involves you interacting with almost every item, lever or device you come across. For instance, if you see a lever and press the A button, Zack will go over to it and then the screen will zoom into the lever. You then take the Wiimote, hold it like a lever, pull, and voila, the door opens. Another example is when you need to cut down a tree with a saw: you take the Wiimote, hold it like a saw, and then quickly shove it back and forth until you cut the tree. It's all done simply but brilliantly. All these things listed above are taught to you in a fun but detailed way at the beginning of the game.

Difficulty-wise, about half of the game is kid 7+ friendly. But, a little more than halfway through, most of the puzzles (starting with a certain mirror puzzle) will stump even the most able adults, let alone kids (sometimes for good). So, for the later puzzles I recommend going to a site like gamefaqs (linked in the upper part of this page) for walkthroughs if you get stuck.

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Fun for: This is a great example of a game that can be fun for anyone. It's simple but deep, and pretty long at about 15 hours. There is also some good replay value, where you can go back to the game's levels and get better scores by completing the area faster and more accurately.

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Closing comment: This is a great game and is worth owning. Unfortunately it didn't do well in sales, and not too many people know about it, which is a shame, as it's one of the better adventure games to come out in a long time. It uses the Wiimote perfectly, the graphics are sharp and colorful, and it's a lengthy game. The only problem I could find is, what there is of the characters' voices are sometimes a bit grating. The game is very kid friendly overall, and other than the later puzzles, kids 7+ won't have too many problems difficulty-wise. However, you will have to help with gameplay and read the dialog out loud to kids 6-. I recommend this game (overall) for ages 7+.