It’s one of the most established facts in gaming: Zombies make great enemies. Shambling, lifeless, a danger to everything within its vicinity, zombies have been one of the most satisfying enemies to dispatch, especially when their defeat results in a gruesomely pleasant demise. And as games like Dead Rising have proven, zombies are a treat to fight no matter what weapon the player is wielding, be it chainsaw, shotgun, or turkey leg.
Despite that, pitting plants against zombies is quite bizarre. After all, your garden variety zombie is clearly carnivorous, while plants lack the pollen punch to combat the undead. Yet PopCap Games’ original creation not only introduces this confrontation to the gaming populace, but succeeds in making it a gaming rivalry for the ages.
The premise of Plants Vs Zombies is simple: there’s a horde of zombies surrounding your house, slowly making their way past your lawn so that they may feast on your tasty brains within. But instead of making like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino and dispatching with the undead trespassers with a shotgun, players must enlist in their plants and flowers to stave off the hungry horde. The game is similarly structured to a Tower Defense game, although in this case the tower is your lawn. Players must set up a perimeter of pollen to take out all approaching zombies. Each plant carries a specific role to the backyard army; Peashooters, for example, act as basic gun encampments, firing off seeds at every intruder within their line of sight; Sunflowers provide sun energy, which is required to call forth more plants into the fray; Wall Nuts act as stationary force fields, momentarily impeding the zombies while giving players more time to set up their army. And Chompers introduces a venus fly trap abomination that feasts on zombies. Not even Romero would have ever conjured up a scenario where the most famous predators become hungry targets themselves.
One tutorial level is all that’s needed for players to get into the zombie busting groove, but just because you can quickly understand the game doesn’t mean you’ll master it right away; Every level unlocks a new plant to add to your arsenal, but added obstacles such as an outdoor pool or patches of dirt require a change in strategy as well as a sufficient combination of plants in order to survive the increasing wave of zombies. Certain levels also take place entirely at night, forcing players to use an exclusive set of nocturnal plants that can supply sunlight as well as some funky ‘shrooms that probably hail from the owner’s “hidden patch”.
But don’t think the zombies won’t try a few tricks of their own; as your plant life expands their arsenal, so too will the zombies scrounge up whatever they can find to reach their tasty goal. In addition to wearing buckets and cones to strengthen their defenses, the zombies will also use ice machines, football tactics, scuba gear, pole vaults and even some sweat dancing moves to give your “buds” the slip. The frequent upgrades, additions, and structural changes guarantee an experience that won’t grow stale and rotten for a long while.
In addition, there are unlockable minigames and puzzles that further extend the already robust playtime, including gaming mainstays (survival, puzzle) and some new and unique challenges (zombie bowling, slot machines, and even a slight role reversal where the zombie heads are replaced with plant heads). And that’s not even mentioning Crazy Dave’s shop, which features more items and plants that can be purchased, as well as several other goodies and Steam-specific achievements.
The visuals and music also add to the entertaining gameplay, offering a colorful and humorous atmosphere to the battle for lawn supremacy; the only minor quibble is the lack of a widescreen option or customizable resolutions, but this does not deter from what is ultimately the cutest zombie apocalypse you’ll ever witness.
What more can be said? At such a low price, you’d have to be a brainless, unappetizing morsel to ignore this masterpiece of botanical warfare.
