"Plants vs. Zombies" is perhaps one of the most unique games to come out of PopCap. The trial version allowed featured an adorable little sunflower voiced by Laura Shigihara and a significant squad of zombies. While not as flashy as some of the offerings of the bigger studios, it did do an excellent job promoting the game.
The game simply utilizes time-management skills and tower defense, but its bright and bubbly elements give the players a whole different kind of gaming experience.
Your main objective as a home-owner is to survive a zombie attack. While it sounds too simple, it’s portrayed in an exaggerated and cartoonish way. The zombies are not your usual video game zombies; you can find them in suits and football gear, and they hope around on pogo stick and jump with poles. When they close in on your home, you have your backyard to serve as your defense. You have to grow different plants, which are not your typical plants as well because they are armored. They defend your brains from being eaten by the hungry monsters.
You have to defend five lanes against the zombies who attack from the right side of the screen and slowly draw near your hone on the left. At the beginning of the level, your task is to select six different kinds of plants from your arsenal and plant them on the lawn strategically. They will attack zombies who counterattack by munching on the plants that come in their what. As the game progresses, you will be able to unlock a wide variety of plant species. Most of them are stationary, shoot peas and watermelons. There’s also the Wall-Nut that can protect others and Cherry Bomb that explodes among others. Each has its own specific function, and this is where your tactics come in. There are specific types of plants that work best against specific types of zombies, and vice versa.
As with most games of this sort, there is a resource that limits how many plants can be used at any given time. In this game, sunlight is that magic substance. It regularly falls to the ground or is generated by sunflowers, which the player must collect to afford the army of plants. This means that, like any RTS, people will quickly learn to put their sunflowers far away from the frontline.
You can still do a lot of things with the game even if you’ve completed the main storyline already. You can play in Survival Mode, which is quite longer than the regular level. You also have the option to play in Puzzle Mode, which hides some opponents in vases or makes you a zombie who will fight against the plants. But what make the game really fun are the Mini-Games that pop out.
Plants vs. Zombies is definitely enjoyable for players of all ages. Once you start, you’ll find it hard to stop. It’s THAT addicting. So what are you waiting for? Jump on the bandwagon, and see for yourself what the fuss is all about.
