Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense game where you use plants to defend your house against invading hordes of zombies. It is a simple concept, and tower defense games are a dime-a-dozen these days, but Plants vs. Zombies utilizes a great sense of humor, perfect controls, amazing depth, and a surprising amount of content to really stand out from the crowd. It is 1200 MSP ($15), but you are getting a ton of content, which makes it a lot easier to swallow. Find out all of the details in our mini-review.
PvZ is (usually) played on a 6x9 grid where the zombies shuffle towards your house from right to left. To protect your house, you have a selection of 48 plants to choose from that all do different things. Some will shoot peas to kill the zombies, walnuts block the zombies from advancing, chili peppers kill a whole row at once, etc., and everything is fueled by sunshine provided by sunflowers. There are two main levels - the front yard and back yard (with a pool) - and each can be played in daytime as well as at night. The pool provides unique problems because you have to use different plants in the pool (or plant lily pads to place normal plants on) than you do on solid ground. Likewise, during nighttime levels you can use mushrooms as well as normal plants, which give the nighttime levels a very different feel than daytime levels. Later on, you'll play on the rooftop, which adds a whole new set of challenges and strategies.
Before most levels you have to select a handful of plants to use, and you only have a limited number of slots. Choosing the right plants to use for a given level (the game warns you when new zombies you haven't seen before are coming) and then strategically placing them around your yard is vital. And it is surprisingly, amazingly fun and addictive. There really are an infinite number of strategies to beat each level, and it is fun to think outside the box and come up with something radical that proves successful.
In addition to the normal gameplay, there are mini-games available as well. Bowling has you rolling walnuts at zombies. Slot machine gives you random plants to place. Some levels give you random plants that slowly roll out on a conveyor belt. You can play "Whack-A-Zombie" and smack zombies with a hammer. Another mode places clay pots in the yard that have either plants or zombies in them, so you have to (hopefully) smash the ones containing plants first so you can place them in your yard before you break the others and set the zombies loose. There is also a survival mode and a puzzle mode as well as much more. There is just a ton to do in this game.
I have to admit, I'm not really a fan of tower defense games, but I love Plants vs. Zombies. It is a perfect combination of great controls, humor (the notes the zombies send you are hilarious and your crazy mumbling neighbor is awesome), zombies (I loves me some zombies), and a huge amount of surprisingly varied content that just "clicked" for me. Try the demo, and if you enjoy that little sample don't hesitate to buy it. You'll definitely get your $15 worth.
Plants vs. Zombies Xbox.com page.
Image © PopCap Games
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