Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders cover art

Game entry

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

1988 · Point-and-click, Adventure · PC, Mac, Linux, DOS, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amiga, FM Towns · Fujitsu Interactive

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders is ranked no. 4,400 among the best video games of all time by GameForever voters, with an ELO score of 1,385 and 27% of duels won.

World rank

no. 4,400

ELO score

1,385

Wins

27%

Duels played

44

About Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

Zak McKracken is a tabloid reporter (and not a very good one at that). After having a psychedelic dream one day, Zak realizes that something is wrong -- space aliens are dumbifying the general public through the telephone system. Zak must stop this, but he can't do it alone. After finding a strange crystal, Zak manages to get the help of the anthropologist Annie and her friends, Melissa and Leslie. The four unlikely heroes must now figure out a way to destroy the dumbifying devices and save the Earth.

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders is a third-person puzzle-solving adventure similar in gameplay to Lucasfilm's breakthrough title Maniac Mansion. The player chooses verb commands (Open, Pick Up, Give, etc.; there are no Look or Talk commands) to interact with the game world. The game features up to four controllable protagonists; it is possible to switch between them at any time after they have been introduced, and also exchange inventory items if the characters are in the same location. The game can be described as a "globe-trotting" adventure, since the heroes are required to travel to different exotic countries and even leave the Earth for a while in order to complete it. Some of the puzzles are optional or can be solved in different ways.

The FM Towns version has VGA graphics with 256 colors and higher-quality music and sound effects.

ELO progression

Score moved from 1,500 to 1,385 ELO points over the last 123 days.

Head-to-head

Direct record on the most played match-ups.

In the same genre

All Point-and-click games →
  1. 92 The Curse of Monkey Island1997 · Point-and-click 1,842
  2. 100 The Secret of Monkey Island1990 · Point-and-click 1,837
  3. 114 Grim Fandango Remastered2015 · Point-and-click 1,831
  4. 128 Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge1991 · Point-and-click 1,827
  5. 142 Day of the Tentacle1993 · Point-and-click 1,820

Keep exploring

Around this spot

The games Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders sits between in the world ranking.

  1. 4,397 Age of Wonders III 1,385
  2. 4,398 A Game About Digging A Hole 1,385
  3. 4,399 The Beast Inside 1,385
  4. 4,400 Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders 1,385
  5. 4,401 Pokémon Community Game 1,385
  6. 4,402 Valley 1,385
  7. 4,403 Wanted: Weapons of Fate 1,385

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