There have been a lot of tower defence games in the past couple years available on the iPhone and PC. PopCap, one of the best casual developers around, has delivered Plants vs. Zombies, its first tower defence game. Plants vs. Zombies uses the basic mechanics of most tower defence games but it boasts charm, personality and lots game play variety. The result is another addictive experience that will appeal to anyone who plays video games.
The objective is simple, Zombies are trying to eat your brains and your garden is your last line of defence against them. There are some pretty useful plants at your disposal, including pea shooters that spit balls of ice towards your enemies, slowing them down and causing damage, Venus zombie traps that eat zombies whole and cherry bombs that will blow up multiple enemies. By planting seeds in strategic locations on your lawn you may be able to hold off the zombie onslaught.
The yard you are trying to defend is divided into six lanes and zombies shuffle down trying to enter the house. Zombies won't cross over into other lanes but there may be more than one zombie coming down a single lane. The real draw is the incredible variety of plants and zombies. There are 48 kinds of plants with and 26 different zombies. Completing each level will unlock a new plant or item you can use to add to your arsenal. At the beginning of each round you need to pick which plants to take into battle. You only have a limited amount of slots in your inventory and such an assortment of plants, you need to be wise is in picking effective plants.
Some levels take place during the day and some at night, which has a large effect on what plants are available to you. You may also lose the ability to select plants and instead have to use pre selected ones. There are only two game modes in the iPhone version, the two modes are adventure mode and quick play, quick play can not be chosen until the adventure mode is finished and the game does not contain the puzzle mode, the survivor mode or the mini games found in the PC version.
The controls are very simple in Plants vs. Zombies, you use your finger as if it was a mouse, tapping to select what plant you want to use, then tapping again on the location where you want to plant it. This version comes with vibration options while playing the game, but only on the iPhone, not the iPod. The game sometimes suffers from some slowdown, but it won’t be enough to ruin the experience and is only visible when the screen is full.
Plants vs. Zombies is a really fantastic game and stands right up there with PopCap's other hits like Peggle and Bejewelled, with great game play and easy to use controls. If you've never played a tower defence game before, you should try this. If you have, this one's going to hook you right back in.
