Plants vs. Zombies Review: Shambling Silliness

App Name:	Plants vs. Zombies
Platforms:	iPhone, iPod Touch
Publisher(s):	Pop Cap
Genre(s):	tower defense
Release Date:	February 15, 2010
Price:	$2.99
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From gory actioners to wild shoot-em-ups to Tamagachi-style pets, zombie games have been slowly taking over the App Store. Some of these games are quite good; many more are just awful. One zombie game that rises to the top of the corpse pile is Plants vs. Zombies, from Pop Cap.

Plants vs. Zombies is also a tower defense game, a game type that has, itself, pretty well glutted the App Store.  In the case of Plants vs. Zombies, the base in need of defense is your home; the “towers” are various kinds of fruits, vegetables, flowers, mushrooms, and other vegetation; and the enemies are shambling hordes of zombies who do not come in clearly announced waves, but in staggered groups over the course of levels.

Bet you didn't know that zombies could swim.

Plants vs. Zombies features three main battlegrounds, including the front yard, the backyard (with pool) and the roof. Each comes with its own zombie types and strategic challenges, as certain plants only work on certain boards or against certain enemies. As you only have 6 plant slots available to you at any one time (though you can expand this to 7 or 8 slots as the game progresses), plant selection becomes a necessary strategy. Usually, losing a level has as much to do with bringing the wrong tools as it does the toughness of your enemies. There are also both day and night levels that complicate things, as sunlight (your plant-growing resource) is scarcer, and some plants are only available to you, at night.

This wide array of both plants and zombies is one way that Plants vs. Zombies distinguishes itself from both other tower defense game AND other zombie games. What could be a very repetitive game is kept novel through the sheer number of plants and zombies that appear.  There are a few core zombie types that appear in every level, but there’s far more that only come out for a short run of levels. My favorite is the Michael Jackson zombie, which struts out in full Thriller mode before summoning a group of dancers; it’s not only a great 80s reference, but it’s also slightly tasteless, which makes it funnier.

'Cuz it's a Thriilleerrr!

Variety is both a blessing and a curse for Plants vs. Zombies. It keeps the game fresh each level, but in later boards you’ll feel constrained by even 8 plant slots as, more and more, you must bring specialty plants to handle particular enemies that might only show up twice in an entire round. To the game’s credit, it lets you know ahead of time which zombie enemies will be appearing on a given level and even warns you when you’ve failed to take a plant that will allow you to deal with a certain type of enemy. You’ll feel constrained, but never caught off-guard.

Warning to casual gamers: while Plants vs. Zombies is a whole lot of fun, its final levels are quite difficult to master. The Roof boards (and even the last few foggy nighttime Backyard boards) require very careful and attentive game play to defeat. And since unlocking the game’s free play modes requires first completing the adventure portion, you must struggle through them if you want to keep playing the game.

Another thing that makes Plants vs. Zombies stand out from most of the other tower-defense and zombie games in the App Store is its production values. The graphics and animations are all crisp, clear, and pleasing to the eye. The plant designs are almost uniformly cute, while the zombies are often humorous (and always bloodless—this may be a zombie game, but these aren’t R-rated undead). The great visuals are complimented by suitably creepy soundtrack and sound effects.

As an aside, I do want to warn that Plants vs. Zombies is a very resource-intensive game. Lots of little graphical elements must task the processor quite a bit, because my battery power drained quickly when I played the for more than a few minutes at a time.

If you like tower defense games, you’ll love Plants vs. Zombies. If you’re like me and find tower defense games only mildly interesting, you should still try out Plants vs. Zombies; it’s truly one of the best expressions of the genre currently available. I give it a well-earned 4.5 out of 5.

You can join the struggle of Plants vs. Zombies for $2.99 in the App Store.

About the Author

Writer@Large Brian P. Hudson is an educator and freelance writer currently living in Dearborn, MI.

 

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