Plants Vs Zombies

 
Developer: PopCap Games
Steam Release: May 2009
Hours Played: ~30.0 (Not played on Steam version)
Similar To: Battle Ranch / Winged Sakura / Zombie Pirates / Zombo Buster Advance 
Rating: 5/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY
PvZ could either be the best introduction to the tower defense genre because it's a cracking game or the worst as it's not strictly a classic tower defense game. Either way, there are tower defense elements and it's one hell of a cracking game. Adventure mode is where the initial fun is to be had and where you'll spend the bulk of your time. You pick a team from your roster of plants which are then lined up as cards at the top of the screen. These cost sunshine points accumulated by clicking on little glowing suns or by planting sunflowers (best planted on the far left). At the start the lawn is empty giving you the chance to gather some sunshine but then various types of zombies enter from the right and walk in a straight line in an effort to get to the other side of the lawn - your house! It is your job to protect and defend your house by placing those plants!

BALANCE & PACE
Plants come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and experimenting with what works well and what doesn't is all part of the fun. Some fire short range missiles and some fire long; some have massive hit-points and sacrifice themselves by being eaten while some explode. Others sit in wait and eat the zombies as they approach. It is this wide variety plus the flavours and abilities of the zombies, that gradually get stronger and more fierce, which really gives the game its character. There is, of course, much more to the game than this but the way that it introduces each extra mechanic in easy-to-digest / bitesize chunks, again, just adds to the overall quality and fun that is to be had in this game. It really is just one of those games that makes you want to keep playing to see what little delight it will throw up next.

PRESENTATION & DESIGN
PvZ has a tinkling soundtrack to reflect the peaceful innocence of the plants and this contrasts with the growls and shrieks of the undead hell-bent on eating brains. A good touch is that when you start adventure mode, a hand reaches out from the ground to the sound of an evil laugh. Despite the fact that most plants make the same noise when firing, sound-effects are well done. Zombies, for example, have a protective layer donning traffic cones or buckets that make satisfying clunks as missiles ricochet off. Clicking Adventure takes you straight to whichever level you had got to previously; the Mini-Games button takes you to a select-screen of the 20 available games; Puzzle takes you to a select-screen with 18 puzzles and the Survival button takes you to a screen with the 10 survival games. 

PROGRESS SYSTEM
What I like about these screens is that there is no scrolling through levels. Everything you've completed and are yet to complete is there on one concise, easy-to-read page. Adventure mode has 50 levels altogether but you are not informed of this during the game. There is just an acknowledgement of the latest level that you have completed displayed on the gravestone at the start-screen. Fortunately, the player is more well-informed in the other three modes. For the Mini-Games, Puzzle and Survival mode, clicking on their button brings you a select screen that shows all available levels you can play along with each square showing a gold trophy to indicate that the level has been done. Sure, many are locked until you work your way through the main adventure mode but this is no biggie and at least you are kept informed.
 

CONCLUSION

Apart from the minor issue of the adventure mode not having its own level-select screen, PvZ ticks all the boxes. A hit-point meter on the enemies and a fast-forward function may have been the icing on this delicious cake but these omissions don't harm the game. In fact, if you want the tower defense game-type to be a positive introduction for the beginner you can't do much better than throw them into the beginning of a Plants Vs Zombies adventure. Furthermore, the different mechanics of the various plants' attacks and the zombies' defenses are used to superb effect in the other three modes - which I've hardly scratched the surface of in this review. All is also very well documented in the game's almanac. The variety of challenges and tasks on offer are astounding here and will keep the player absorbed and busy for a long time.