Plants Vs. Zombies is at heart a Tower Defence game, but it is a unique twist on a genre which before this game did not hold much appeal for me. I had played similar games before, but I soon grew bored of samey medieval enemies attacking boring castles. PVZ is a tower defence game for people who don't like tower defence games.
The premise of the game is simple; you are a human, and you're defending your house from the hordes of the zombie apocalypse. Conventional weapons have failed, and your last line of defence is an arsenal of imaginatively designed super-plants. You gather resources in the form of sunlight, which is periodically drops into your garden in the form of handy, clickable globs of pure energy.
You spend this harvest on a variety of offensive and defensive plants, or sunflowers which will generate more sun (speeding up production of new plants). The plants themselves are militarised versions of your average garden variety; cabbage-pults, peashooters, wall-nuts and cherry bombs are all at your disposal.
An arsenal of plants is your only defence against the zombie hordes
You'll need all the help you can get! There are hordes of hungry zombies ready to invade your home, and your plants are all that stand between them and your delicious brains. The zombies range from your basic, weak shambler to screen-door carriers and teams of bobsled zombies. Each zombie is rated for strength and speed, and the player is given a preview of what's on the way so that a plan can be devised regarding how best to defend against the next onslaught.
The game progresses in Levels, each of which is comprised of 10 stages. Each stage sees you hold off wave after wave of zombies, culminating in a finale, extra difficult stage 10 at the end of each. As the game progresses, each level introduces a new aspect of gameplay to keep things fresh. You move to the back garden, where a swimming pool allows play of aquatic plants and sees new varieties of swimming zombies launching their attack. Night-time stages see sun-dependant plants become all but useless, and introduces an arsenal of nocturnal mushrooms in their place. The levels and stages are perfectly paced to ensure that new gameplay aspects are introduced just as the player is mastering the old ones, but before anything becomes stale.
Graphically, the game adopts a very lush, cartoony art style. This perfectly suits the tongue-in-cheek humour which is spread throughout the game; the zombies are designed to amuse rather than terrify, and it's this comedic approach which lends the game the warmth and personality missing from so many similar games.
Thriller zombie is an example of the game's unique humour
Once the main campaign is completed, the game's longevity is extended through unlockable plants and a series of challenges including zombie bowling, matchmaking, and even an opportunity to play as the zombies themselves. The minigames, menus and challenges all follow the same theme and canon of the main game, another feature which enhances immersion in the game's world.
If any criticism was to be levelled at PVZ, it would be that the casual gameplay and accessible presentation may deter hardcore gamers looking for a real challenge. While it is not uncommon to be overcome in a harder level, there is no penalty for failing and an unlimited number of chances at completing a level eliminates any perception of actual difficulty. There is nothing more jarring than failing a level and having your brains eaten only to click retry and face the exact same wave again, totally unscathed and fresh for another go. These are minor complaints, but those looking for a tricky, difficult strategy game won't find much to quench their thirst for a real challenge here.
If any criticism was to be levelled at PVZ, it would be that the casual gameplay and accessible presentation may deter hardcore gamers looking for a real challenge. While it is not uncommon to be overcome in a harder level, there is no penalty for failing and an unlimited number of chances at completing a level eliminates any perception of actual difficulty. There is nothing more jarring than failing a level and having your brains eaten only to click retry and face the exact same wave again, totally unscathed and fresh for another go. These are minor complaints, but those looking for a tricky, difficult strategy game won't find much to quench their thirst for a real challenge here.
Overall, PVZ is a unique, brilliant game which combines aspects of role playing, strategy and arcade games to great effect. This game is highly recommended to anybody looking for a fun, challenging game casual game that will take more than a single afternoon to complete.
Plants Vs. Zombies is available now on PC via Steam, XBOX LIVE, and the iPhone/iPad platform.
No comments:
Post a Comment