This is another massively entertaining game by PopCap, the developers that brought you Peggle. Plants Vs Zombies is in essence a twist on the classic Tower Defence genre, a free demo is available from Steam that allows you to play 60 minutes of the full game (requires Steam install).
The PopCap strategy here is faultless, thet give you 60 minutes of the full game confident that you'll be reeled in by the addictive gameplay (any half decent tower defence game gets insanely addictive), after your 60 minutes are up they give you the option to unlock and continue from where you left off by purchasing the game for a mere £6.99 - so when I was given that option I took it - and you will too :D
The basis of the game is simple, Zombies are out for your brains, they will assault your house in an effort to get their teeth sunk into them. Your only defence against the zombie horde is your vast array of garden plants, each of which has a different function in the fight against the Zoms.
If you've played a tower defence game before you'll be able to draw parallels between many of the plants available and the types of defence tower typically available in tower defence games - basic attack units and upgrades, units that slow down the invaders, barriers the invaders need to destroy or have special properties to get past, aerial specific units, trap units and mass damage units. But PvZ is no ordinary tower defence game, because it's all about the plants and the zombies!
The game switches the basic gameplay around by throwing new classes of zombies, new classes of plant, changing the battlefield and modifying it. Ok, so the battlefield is a house, so far I have fought the zombies on the front garden, the back garden (with pool!) and the roof in both day and night. The significance of the time of day reflects on what plants are available to you - you need "sun power" to grow new plants, however with no sun at night you're reliant on special plants that can create sun, as such you have less sun power available for growing your defences, but that's ok as the mushroom classes of plant are optimised for night scenarios, the really low powered ones can even be grown for free.
Which part of the house also plays a part, the front garden is just a flat grassy plane, although in later attacks it'll develop grave stones toward the zombie end that take up planting room (though these can be destroyed with a special plant) the back garden is the same but with a pool taking up the middle 2 lanes (of 6), you need to plant a lily pad in the pool before you can plant any land plants and there are some water-specific plants available. additionally the back garden can become misty and the mist grows deeper as the rounds wear on obscuring your view of the oncoming zombies and limiting your effectiveness against them although again there is a special plant that can temporarily blow back the mist. The roof is vastly different, 1st off there's no grass so you need plant pots to grow anything - and the zombies can eat your plant pots as well as they can eat your plants so that adds another dimension to your defence. The roof is also sloped so you need special arc-shooters to actually hit the zombies as they come across the flat top of the roof - you can buy more plant pots to put on the flat of the roof and built straight shooters though. There may be other scenarios, I've yet to come across any though.
The regular attack stages are punctuated by special rounds consisting of stages like "walnut bowling" which requires you to defeat waves of zombies by the sole use of bowling walnuts and exploding walnuts at them, there's another round where the field consists a multitude of breakable urns, some urns contain plants to use in defence, others contain zombies that attack your house. Another sends hoards of zombies at you while presenting you with a limited choice of plants which roll along a conveyor belt at the top of the screen, it's then up to you to choose the best way to use them.
There are various other puzzles and challenges available out-with the main game, some of them are versions of the in-game special rounds, others are completely new, such as one that puts you in the roll of the zombies where eating sunflowers gives you the sun power to create more zombies.
All in all Plants Vs Zombies is enormous fun for all - particularly tower defence fans, there's literally days of entertainment here - check it out, remember - the first hour is free .
freedoms_stain, out.
Tuesday 19 May 2009
Gaming: Plants Vs Zombies
This is another massively entertaining game by PopCap, the developers that brought you Peggle. Plants Vs Zombies is in essence a twist on the classic Tower Defence genre, a free demo is available from Steam that allows you to play 60 minutes of the full game (requires Steam install).
The PopCap strategy here is faultless, thet give you 60 minutes of the full game confident that you'll be reeled in by the addictive gameplay (any half decent tower defence game gets insanely addictive), after your 60 minutes are up they give you the option to unlock and continue from where you left off by purchasing the game for a mere £6.99 - so when I was given that option I took it - and you will too :D
The basis of the game is simple, Zombies are out for your brains, they will assault your house in an effort to get their teeth sunk into them. Your only defence against the zombie horde is your vast array of garden plants, each of which has a different function in the fight against the Zoms.
If you've played a tower defence game before you'll be able to draw parallels between many of the plants available and the types of defence tower typically available in tower defence games - basic attack units and upgrades, units that slow down the invaders, barriers the invaders need to destroy or have special properties to get past, aerial specific units, trap units and mass damage units. But PvZ is no ordinary tower defence game, because it's all about the plants and the zombies!
The game switches the basic gameplay around by throwing new classes of zombies, new classes of plant, changing the battlefield and modifying it. Ok, so the battlefield is a house, so far I have fought the zombies on the front garden, the back garden (with pool!) and the roof in both day and night. The significance of the time of day reflects on what plants are available to you - you need "sun power" to grow new plants, however with no sun at night you're reliant on special plants that can create sun, as such you have less sun power available for growing your defences, but that's ok as the mushroom classes of plant are optimised for night scenarios, the really low powered ones can even be grown for free.
Which part of the house also plays a part, the front garden is just a flat grassy plane, although in later attacks it'll develop grave stones toward the zombie end that take up planting room (though these can be destroyed with a special plant) the back garden is the same but with a pool taking up the middle 2 lanes (of 6), you need to plant a lily pad in the pool before you can plant any land plants and there are some water-specific plants available. additionally the back garden can become misty and the mist grows deeper as the rounds wear on obscuring your view of the oncoming zombies and limiting your effectiveness against them although again there is a special plant that can temporarily blow back the mist. The roof is vastly different, 1st off there's no grass so you need plant pots to grow anything - and the zombies can eat your plant pots as well as they can eat your plants so that adds another dimension to your defence. The roof is also sloped so you need special arc-shooters to actually hit the zombies as they come across the flat top of the roof - you can buy more plant pots to put on the flat of the roof and built straight shooters though. There may be other scenarios, I've yet to come across any though.
The regular attack stages are punctuated by special rounds consisting of stages like "walnut bowling" which requires you to defeat waves of zombies by the sole use of bowling walnuts and exploding walnuts at them, there's another round where the field consists a multitude of breakable urns, some urns contain plants to use in defence, others contain zombies that attack your house. Another sends hoards of zombies at you while presenting you with a limited choice of plants which roll along a conveyor belt at the top of the screen, it's then up to you to choose the best way to use them.
There are various other puzzles and challenges available out-with the main game, some of them are versions of the in-game special rounds, others are completely new, such as one that puts you in the roll of the zombies where eating sunflowers gives you the sun power to create more zombies.
All in all Plants Vs Zombies is enormous fun for all - particularly tower defence fans, there's literally days of entertainment here - check it out, remember - the first hour is free .
freedoms_stain, out.
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