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My friend raved to me about this game and said it's probably one of the most frustrating yet best games out on the market.

Right now I'm being swept away by de Blob still, so I haven't put too much time into this one... but this one is one of those games that flew under the radar. My co-worker seems to think it's because the name "Zack and Wiki" resembles to close to that Disney show "Zack and Cody" so people write it off immediately.

Anyway, this game goes for about $20 at your local GameStop and it's worth it. It's also a major bonus that it's about half the cost of a regular game.

Incredibly cute storyline of a little boy, Zack, who longs to be a pirate and find the lost treasure, while guided by his flying monkey, Wiki. You solve painstaking mind boggling puzzles to get to a treasure chest, where you get a piece of the pirate who was cursed, who will help you retrieve his treasures, when you put him back together again. Make a wrong move and you die. You can either choose to start from the beginning or continue with a life.

Now here's the catch... You have to buy lives, and each time you buy them they get exponentially more expensive.

This game is probably the best use of the Wii-mote. You have to use the Wii-mote realistically. How do you go about using the controller to open a Wii-mote? With a real umbrealla you press a button to open it. On the Wii, you press "1".

I'm really impressed with the incredible detailed use you get out of the Wii-mote.

Get the game before it ends up like Ikaruga, where you'll end up getting it for double the price it is now.

Let's start with a little History lesson:
de Blob was originally developed as a free downloadable game for Windows by eight students studying Game Design and one student studying Game and Media Technology in the Netherlands. THQ noticed the game and was very impressed with the team's work, and acquired the rights to the game. THQ handed over the game to Blue Tongue Entertainment and Helixe and the companies each developed their own versions for different consoles.
- Wikipedia

Picked this one up this weekend. I did my research beforehand, and read the reviews, and was shocked to find the ratings were anywhere from an 8.5 (critic rating) to a 9.5 (user rating), considering I had not even seen so much as a commercial or ad campaign for this at all.

You play as this gelatinous blob that is going around restoring color to the worlds. I.N.K.T. has taken over everything. The people are spend mindlessly wandering around in a black and white society with no fun, parties, activities, etc. You go around collecting paint to put the color back and defeat the I.N.K.T. agency.

The upside:

• The graphics are phenomenal. They're intensely clean, bright and just really great on screen.
  
• Overall storyline - Reminds me of the perfect blend of Mario Sunshine with Jet Grind Radio.
• Soundtrack - I only have 3 songs, but I love them. Can't wait to find the rest of them.
• Insanely cute characters. Think Pikmin with Animal Crossing talk. ;-)
• Uncomplicated missions - Sometimes it's a nice break to do some games where you don't have to find a feather to give to the old lady who will then give you a bowl who you have to take to the merchant just to get a gem to get a power so you can move a rock.
  

The downside:

• Inconvenient save points. Unless you can dedicate a full hour to this game then don't bother starting it. You can't save the game until after you have defeated an entire town sector. It's not a ridiculously insanely hard game to get through but it does get kind of annoying if you have two jobs and you want to put 20 minutes here and there.... Okay that might be just me then.
• The jumps - I haven't quite gotten the hang of the jumping thing. When I jump it's hard to control (for me anyway) where I want to jump and land. Also the jumping distance is inconsistent. Sometimes I can jump really high, otherwise I'll end up stuck to the wall and have to slowly drip down.
  
• Movement - It does get dizzying after awhile. x_x Again it might be because I haven't put much time into it, but as you "walk" through you leave trails of paint behind you. I'm thinking the trails of paint effect your position in the game. You can't stand still. You end up drifting and moving around where the blobs of paint are, which does get annoying if you need to stand still for a moment, and you keep falling off buildings.
• Challenges - I'm hoping the challenge levels pick up a bit, otherwise it's going to be redundant. How many times can you paint buildings a certain color and NOT get bored with it?
  

I would still definitely recommend this game. If you want a more in-depth review, try this one. He seems to know what he's talking about.