Plants vs. Zombies

The “tower defense”-genre has become an unexpected leader in the casual games market mostly due to the success of the iPhone. Chances are that you’ve played one by now. You either thought the game was absolutely pointless or addictive to a fault. While Plants vs. Zombies isn’t a carbon-copy of any “Tower Defense” to come out thus far, it is still firmly rooted in the genre and it’s the first essential game to come out of it.

The premise is simple: zombies are on the loose and you need to keep them off your lawn with a bizarre arsenal of biologically modified plants. The game thankfully spares the player of a nonsense narrative, but still delivers subtle jokes and displays a penchant for the whimsical. You don’t need to look further then the hilarious zombie design; the game will throw everything from football zombies to zombies in a tractor at you. There isn’t too much dialogue but the few lines from Crazy Dave and the post-it notes left by zombies lend themselves to some much needed comic relief in-between the hectic levels.

The game is presented in isometric view not common in similar titles, but all the other conventions of the “tower defense”-genre are here. You start each round by setting up defenses, in hopes of surviving numerous waves of zombies. Each plant costs solar energy, so you usually start the round by filling the far end of the lawn with sunflowers, which resupply you with energy. Other plants include a variety of peapods that fire ammunition, mines, and melon catapults. There are many, many plants to choose from and I would imagine every player has their ideal setup with different variances. Most plants are given to you as you progress in the game, but some of them you have to buy with money you receive from defeating the more challenging zombies.

The game’s biggest problem is its length, although I am never one to fault a game for leaving me wanting more. Like Peggle, the last major entry in Popcap’s canon, there are many extra survival modes, mini-games, and puzzles to keep you playing. Even the 10 levels of the main campaign and extra modes won’t last you more than a weekend. Given how addictive clearing your lawn of obnoxious zombies can become, that weekend will more likely be the entirety of a Saturday night.

Popcap games have always pulled in a crowd due to their high production values — high for the casual game market, at least. Plants vs. Zombies is definitely the follow-up to Peggle and thus an improvement. The music is excellent, the graphics and art direction is distinct and welcoming, the controls and UI are uniformly solid, and the little sound touches will remain with you no matter how trivial they may seem. This is a perfect example of how a game can play to the casual gamer without looking like a budget title. It must be noted though that the game doesn’t adjust itself for widescreen so it can look pretty ugly when played in full screen on most monitors. This would be a huge knock against other games, but since PvZ is such a user-friendly experience and non-cinematic it doesn’t feel wrong to play it minimized on your desktop.

Popcap finally gave us a game as addictive as Peggle without leaving the player feeling like a brainless tool, after a 2-hour play session. After you get your gold trophy for beating all the content, there is little incentive to go back to the game yet the game is so fun and addictive you may play the entire campaign again just for the hell of it. Perhaps Popcap didn’t anticipate how vivacious peoples’ appetite for more content would be.