Download Contraption Zack

This is GameBringer once again, reporting from a small office deep in the bowels of Gadget Co., but I seem to be having some problems with the power, my computer, and everything else. I think I'll call for that new maintenance guy...

Contraption Zack! Contraption Zack is a puzzle game, using the same 3D isometric view that was made popular (was it really ever popular) by games like Populous and Treasure Trap. Treasure Trap is the best thing I know of to compare this game too.

It's Zack's first day here at Gadget Co., and I'm sure the losers in Maintenance are going to give him a hard time and do something juvenile like hide his tools. You control Zack and help him solve a series of puzzles to retrieve his tools and fix some machinery around the plant at the same time.

The game can be saved, but you will always start back at the beginning of an "area." Exactly what constitutes an "area" is not clear to me. Possibly the manual explained it. The result is that you will play the same level and puzzle over a few times, but an area is not so big as to be unbearable.

Another aggravation is that you can get "stuck" unable to continue, leaving you no other option but to restart or load a game. It is not a major deal, but it would seem like the game should notice that you messed up the level and prompt you automatically.

The graphics are fairly decent and representative of the time period. Puzzle games don't exactly rely on their graphics so the graphics in Contraption Zack more than fit the bill. The music (which played using VDMSOund, but not DOSBox) and sound effects are simple and did not distract.

Now for the monkey wrench to clog up the works, if I may mix metaphors, is that Contraption Zack just wasn't exciting. It was interesting - not too simple and not too hard, but there was no "oomph!" to it, in my opinion. Grab your hammer and get started... this game may be more work than play!