Zombies… Ahh! What should we do, what should we kill them with? Bazooka? Chainsaw? Chain-Gun?!? A flower? Of course. We’ll use plants to defend our homes and kill the zombies. Plants vs. Zombies! Genious!
Plants vs. Zombies is pretty much a Tower Defense Game, though, unlike many other tower defense games, you don’t get time to set up your defenses beforehand. The basic game-play is quite simple; Zombies are attacking your yard so you need to set up your plants to defend your home. There are close to 50 different plants with different offensive and defensive capabilities that you will eventually unlock throughout the game’s some 40 or 50 campaign levels.
To purchase plants to place on the ground, you must first collect sunlight via a variety of methods such as placing sunflowers to produce it, or by simply waiting for it to fall from the sky. Certain plants can’t be placed on certain terrains, so you need to be wary of this as you plan your defenses in real time. There is also a wide variety of zombies, each of which you must use different tactics to kill.
It’s not too difficult to beat the campaign, but it is extremely fun to play the whole way through. Several times throughout each level a huge swarm of zombies will come out at once, so you better be prepared for that so you don’t get overwhelmed. You have some tools that can get you out of a tight squeeze like various bomb-type plants that can take out multiple zombies, but they are on a hefty cool-down timer, so you’ll have to use them only as a last resort.
For the $20 price tag, you actually get a lot of content. The primary campaign should take you roughly 10 to 15 hours to complete, but the entertainment doesn’t stop there. As you progress through the game, mini games, puzzle games, and various other activities such as growing a garden to unlock additional content become available for you to waste your time on.
Each level should take you between 5 and 10 minutes. There are a few different environments that you’ll play in that provide different challenges. The front yard is very basic, the back yard has a pool that certain plants can’t swim in, you must first build pots to hold your plants on the rooftop, and night time levels brings a fog of war and lack of sunlight to trip you up.
Throughout the campaign, you’ll also get to play some mini-game levels like zombie bowling, whack-a-mole, and even a fast paced game where the plants are given to you at random intervals. These mini-games are all just as fun as the rest of the game and are a nice treat to mix things up.
Finally, Plants vs. Zombies is really just a funny game. From the different types of hilarious zombies, to the letters that they write you between levels, to your neighbor and narrator Crazy Bob, you’ll be laughing throughout the whole game.
Like most PopCap games, Plants vs. Zombies is bright, colorful and cutesy. The games cartoony 2d animated sprites are very vibrant and lifelike. The music is very suiting for the game and varies from uplifting happy in the daytime to eerie and scary in the evening. Each plant has different sound effects for their abilities, but the zombies take the cake for the best sound effects. Every now and then you’ll hear them moaning for brains, or even busting out a Michael Jackson thriller dance!
Plants vs. Zombies is not a game that you would sit and play for hours on end to complete it, but it makes a great supplemental addition to your arsenal for when you need to take a break from your other daily activities and play a level or two and just enjoy all of the cutesy comedic entertainment that it provides. There is nothing in Plants vs. Zombies that you haven’t seen before in other games, but everything is perfectly designed and executed and all around very fun to play. The graphics are bright and vibrant, the zombies are hilarious and there is a ton of content for the price tag. If you are looking for a nice fun game to waste some of your time here and there, check out Plants vs. Zombies.
