How can PopCap games follow up the incredibly simple, hour destroying, sleep losing, and peg destroying Peggle? Easy, just have some zombies start invading you front and back yard, while trying to defend it with plants, surprised?
Plants vs Zombies is an action strategy game, which ads humor to the formula, I mean come on, what is not funny about plants fighting zombies, throw Crazy Dave in the mix with the occasional Thriller-esque and you have an instant hit. The player goes up against zombie hordes bent on making their way into your house, and you must defeat them by purchasing plants to keep your home and family safe.
Praise: Everything, no really, this game targets EVERYONE! I admit I have dabbled in a number of PopCap’s titles and with each release come a new level of addiction. Amidst trying to play through the game so that I can complete this review, my computer was taken over by my wife and child twice. The gameplay is very smooth allowing you to quickly throw plants in your yard once you have enough sunlight to purchase them, and the plants start doing their job of zombie slaying as soon as they are placed. The graphics are very bright and fluid accompanied by a fitting horror movie soundtrack which intensity rises the huge packs of zombies storm your yard. After a few levels are out of the way, new modes and mini games thrown at the player such as bowling and whack-a-zombie. New items are also rewarded to help complete future levels, with 40 plus plants and tool, makes for numerous ways to move on to the next wave of invading undead. Additional game modes eliminate the feeling of monotony and add a sufficient amount of replay value.
Gripes: One of the main things that stuck out in my mind is the speed of zombies and sunlight to accumulate. In the beginning of each level you must wait for sunlight to fall from the sky or have be produced by your plants or sit staring at the screen waiting for one lonesome zombie to cross the screen close enough for your plants to unleash their fury. Luckily, you don’t spend too much time waiting before you are franticly throwing down plants. The only other thing is that some of the levels get pretty lengthy for a casual player, not a big deal, just makes it more difficult to bang out a few levels if you have a couple minutes to kill.
Overall: As I said before, PopCap did what they do best, provided yet another highly addictive and comically fun title to their library. You turn this on to kill some time waiting to go to work or play for a little bit before bed and the next thing you know you are late for work, or realize it is 2 in the morning. Yeah, I fell victim to this last night and this morning.
Plants vs. Zombies is available now from PopCap.com on the PC and Apple for $19.95. A free trial is also available from their site if you are skeptical, but not needed, you won’t be let down.
Mashbuttons.com gives Plants vs. Zombies a 9.5 out of 10
Note: It's only $10 if you buy it on steam.
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