Plants Vs. Zombies - The Game Journal Review

Title: Plants Vs. Zombies

Developed By: Pop Cap Games

Published By: Pop Cap Games

Plants Vs. Zombies is an incredibly charming, well balanced and deep "Flower Defense" game from Pop Cap Games, makers of the incredibly popular Bejeweled and Peggle.

The premise is simple. Zombies are trying to invade your house and eat your brain. Standing between you and this onslaught of the undead is your lawn. You need to plant various plants on your lawn in order to defend your house against the zombies. Each plant has its own strengths and weaknesses, the same goes for the zombies. Over the course of the single player story mode's 50 levels, you'll earn new plants for your lawn. You'll need them, as new zombie types start popping up as you progress as well. Your lawn is set up as a rigid grid and the zombies stay on a set path as they work their way across your lawn.

Though the Plants Vs. Zombies has released on many different platforms before making its way to the Xbox 360, Pop Cap has added enough extras to make this version seem like more than just a retread. In addition to the excellent, and lengthy, single player campaign, there is now cooperative play, as well as a competitive multiplayer mode that puts one player in control of the plants and the other in control of the zombies. Also in the mix are 21 mini-games, adding even more value to the package.

The big concern with this version of the game was with the controls. While there were no gripes about the controls on PC, the game's controls on the Ipod, Iphone and Ipad were celebrated, and people worried that there would be issues once the controls were mapped to an Xbox 360 controller. I'm happy to say that the concern was unwarranted. The game controls very well, with the bumpers cycling through your plant types and the control stick selecting where on the map you'd like to plant or dig. It all feels very intuitive.

The game is hilarious, and the humor is well infused with the gameplay. The best example of this is in the almanac which not only provides you with helpful information, such as the strengths and weaknesses of both the plants and zombies, but also includes some really funny descriptions of them as well.

As you'd come to expect if you're familiar with Pop Cap games, Plants Vs. Zombies is very approachable and easy to jump into, yet it does offer a challenge for more advanced players as well. I felt the difficulty curve was near perfect and much more accessible than most Tower Defense games. It also provides an excellent tutorial and the game does an excellent job of adding new variations and wrinkles on the gameplay with additions of new zombies and plant-types. 

I love this game. The artwork, the music, the gameplay, the humor, the difficulty and, well, everything come together so well. It all feels very polished and well thought out. Each little wrinkle added as you progress through the story opens up the gameplay more and more. Like Peggle before it, Plants Vs. Zombies challenges the notion that casual games can't be rewarding for the core audience while being accessible to all. It is, hands down, my favorite variation on the Tower Defense genre.

*I'd also like to note that in addition to the XBLA version of Plants Vs. Zombies, Pop Cap is releasing a disc-based version of the game at retail which contains Plants Vs. Zombies, as well as Peggle and Zuma. This package will retail for $19.99. For those who have yet to experience it, Peggle is a must-play.