New From Capcom: Treasure Island Z

via ign

Capcom has an all new adventure title in the works for Wii, the latest Famitsu reports. Tentatively titled Treasure Island Z (Takarajima Z in Japanese), the game gives players control of a cute little pirate named Zack, who's out to solve puzzles and discover the legendary treasure that was hidden away on Treasure Island by the great pirate Barbaros.

The game is played primarily with the Wiimote. You move a pointer around on screen, pointing and clicking on places of interest. Zack moves to investigate. The pointer turns to a star shape when you're pointing at something worthwhile, like a lever or a tool that's been dropped to the floor.

Solving puzzles requires both finding items and coming up with different ways to use the Wiimote. Let's say you find your path blocked by a tree. Search the area, and you'll find a saw. Once you have this item, you'll have to hold and slice the Wiimote back and forth like you would a real saw. Figure out the correct means of operation, and you'll be able to chop down the tree.

Some of the items provide hints to their proper use. In one area, you'll recover an umbrella. Figuring out how to open the umbrella is one part of the puzzle. There's a button on the umbrella, which suggests that you should press the equivalent button on the Wiimote.

Puzzles start off simple but promise to get tougher as the game progresses. If you're having trouble, you can consult a friend for hints. The goal is to clear the stages without getting any hints. Prior to the start of a stage, the game shares with you the percentage of testers who were able to clear the stage on their own, so you can get a feel for the difficulty.

Treasure Island Z has a colorful, cartoon-style look that could remind some of Power Stone. In fact, the game's director is Eichiro Sasaki, known for his work on Power Stone 2 (as well as Resident Evil Outbreak). The producer is Hironobu Takeshita, who previously worked on the Breath of Fire series.

This original Wii adventure will hit Japan some time in 2007. A US release has yet to be announced.