Plants Vs. Zombies
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In many ways, Plants Vs. Zombies was meant for the Vita. The touchscreen offers the most intuitive way to play, the widescreen format is perfect for spotting approaching zombies, and collecting sunlight by simply tilting the system allows you to focus on the real threat. It’s the same game that has made its way to countless platforms, and no matter how many times I play it, I find myself getting excited over a new release.
As in most tower defense games, you choose and place different towers in strategic positions, hoping to eliminate waves of enemies efficiently. All the standard tower types are incorporated in clever ways in the plants that you set up on the field. There are projectile towers in the form of peashooters, bombs in the form of jalapeño peppers and cherries, and defensive walnut towers and ice-peashooters. You’ll choose from upwards of forty unique plants for maximum zombie braining. The huge variety of strategies gives the game nearly endless replay value.
As in most tower defense games, you choose and place different towers in strategic positions, hoping to eliminate waves of enemies efficiently. All the standard tower types are incorporated in clever ways in the plants that you set up on the field. There are projectile towers in the form of peashooters, bombs in the form of jalapeño peppers and cherries, and defensive walnut towers and ice-peashooters. You’ll choose from upwards of forty unique plants for maximum zombie braining. The huge variety of strategies gives the game nearly endless replay value.
This isn’t a list of a few distinct plants, re-skinned to death either. Each plant is unique and has a use. I found myself falling back on a trusty lineup of four plants for nearly every battle with the remaining two or three choices depending on the zombies, stage and conditions. While I had my staple choices, I could easily see how a different combination of plants would be equally effective. It all comes down to personal preference and it’s impressive that people can create their own strategies and plant lineups based on their play style. Some plants are better for certain situations, but there are always numerous ways to get the job done.
The stages in the game consist of the front yard, back yard and roof of your house. Throw night battles, a swimming pool and fog into the mix and this small number of arenas provides countless possibilities. There are fifty levels in the main adventure mode and the wide variety of zombies, plants and environment conditions go a long way to stretch these few stages as far as they can go.
Sprinkled across the adventure mode, you’ll find mini games that have you bowling zombies over with walnuts, smacking them with a hammer, or placing plants from a conveyor belt. These mini games spice up the action and provide a welcome break from the standard gameplay, and they can be accessed separately from the main menu once unlocked.
Unfortunately, the game does get slightly repetitive at some points. You’re likely to tire of certain environments before the game decides it’s time to move on. Luckily, this never becomes too much of a problem because you receive a new plant or item at the end of each level as motivation for pushing through the more tedious parts of the game.
The stages in the game consist of the front yard, back yard and roof of your house. Throw night battles, a swimming pool and fog into the mix and this small number of arenas provides countless possibilities. There are fifty levels in the main adventure mode and the wide variety of zombies, plants and environment conditions go a long way to stretch these few stages as far as they can go.
Sprinkled across the adventure mode, you’ll find mini games that have you bowling zombies over with walnuts, smacking them with a hammer, or placing plants from a conveyor belt. These mini games spice up the action and provide a welcome break from the standard gameplay, and they can be accessed separately from the main menu once unlocked.
Unfortunately, the game does get slightly repetitive at some points. You’re likely to tire of certain environments before the game decides it’s time to move on. Luckily, this never becomes too much of a problem because you receive a new plant or item at the end of each level as motivation for pushing through the more tedious parts of the game.
On the Vita, results of a stage are written to the leaderboard once you finish off the last zombie. The idea of tracking your progress against that of your friends is cool, but the update causes some lag and requires that you’re connected to the PSN. The PSN checks happen frequently if you put your Vita in sleep mode a lot, and they add an extra few seconds to the intro loading screen when booting the game. It’s a cool system that disrupts the game and should ideally be handled in the background.
The idea of fighting zombies with plants sounds bizarre at first and it is. Thankfully though, the developer spent a lot of time creating a world where this makes sense. The game is bright and colorful and the animations give each character a personality. The humor is baked right into characters with comical designs such as dolphin-riding zombies, butter-launching corn kernels and the game’s shop owner, Crazy Dave, who spouts gibberish and wears a saucepan on his head. The tone of the game is lighthearted and distinct and I had fun even as I sat back and just watched zombies finish themselves against an expertly constructed wall of plant life.
In an age crowded with zombie games and tower defense games, Plants Vs. Zombies manages to stand out by taking a completely unique approach. This is a humorous and addicting casual game, far from the tense and gory experience found in most zombie games. It’s great to see a fresh take on zombies and it’s obvious that Pop Cap went to great lengths to carve their path through the lore. Humorous characters, a huge variety of enemies and healthy dose of difficulty help to eliminate tedium and place Plants Vs. Zombies right up there with Bejeweled and Peggle.
The idea of fighting zombies with plants sounds bizarre at first and it is. Thankfully though, the developer spent a lot of time creating a world where this makes sense. The game is bright and colorful and the animations give each character a personality. The humor is baked right into characters with comical designs such as dolphin-riding zombies, butter-launching corn kernels and the game’s shop owner, Crazy Dave, who spouts gibberish and wears a saucepan on his head. The tone of the game is lighthearted and distinct and I had fun even as I sat back and just watched zombies finish themselves against an expertly constructed wall of plant life.
In an age crowded with zombie games and tower defense games, Plants Vs. Zombies manages to stand out by taking a completely unique approach. This is a humorous and addicting casual game, far from the tense and gory experience found in most zombie games. It’s great to see a fresh take on zombies and it’s obvious that Pop Cap went to great lengths to carve their path through the lore. Humorous characters, a huge variety of enemies and healthy dose of difficulty help to eliminate tedium and place Plants Vs. Zombies right up there with Bejeweled and Peggle.
