Plants Vs. Zombies - PopCap's Hilarious Puzzle Game

Known for its entertaining online and cross-platform games, PopCap is one of the most popular providers of puzzle game software. Plants vs. Zombies is no exception. What a fun game for anyone 8 and up!

The premise of Plants vs. Zombies is deceptively simple. The zombies are coming! You must protect your home and family from these hideous creatures. The object of the game is to prevent the zombies from crossing the screen and reaching your house. The basic playing area is your yard, a grassy grid. Later levels include water and your rooftop. On these spaces you must place special plants, each with a particular ability to either help you or repel the zombies.

At the beginning of each level, you get a minute or so to get started on your planting before the zombies start coming your way. This is important, because in most cases you need to start by planting flowers. The flowers spit out sunshines, which you collect like tokens in order to purchase more plants. In some levels, the occasional sunshine will also fall randomly from the sky. You have to collect these fairly quickly or they disappear. This is a great system; it adds just enough challenge once things start to get chaotic.

With sunshines gathered, you must now set out various plants to combat the enemy. At first, your choices are few, but as time goes on you get more options. The simplest plants are the peashooters - little green fellows who blow peas at the slowly approaching zombies. Later you will have the chance to use a whole variety of offensive and defensive flora. Many plants toss projectiles, such as watermelons or cactus spines. There is a satisfying array of explosive choices. Protect your home with plants that block zombies, protect other plants from above, or even swallow the enemy whole. My personal favorite is a corncob that alternately tosses corn kernels and big pats of butter. The butter lands on your zombie enemy with a splat, slowing him down and making him vulnerable.

A wide variety of zombie types add to the fun. You have your basic zombie, and then there are those who are protected by traffic cones, metal buckets, and football helmets. There are zombies that bungee-jump down from above, some that arrive on lawnmowers, some that can pole vault over your plants, and one that digs underground to the end of the row and sneaks up on your plants from behind.

The game is rounded out very nicely by a large number of unlockable mini-games. Particularly fun is a bowling mini-game and "I, Zombie," in which you switch roles to become the zombies and try to withstand the plants. There's also a coin-collecting system that allows you to "shop" for various plants and bonuses. There is more than enough here to keep a person entertained for a long time.

At about $20 for the Mac/PC version, the game is a very good value! A shortened version is available for the iPhone as well. Plants vs. Zombies is a fantastic game that has become an obsession for millions of people - and for good reason. Winning requires just the right balance of skill and luck, the graphics are colorful, the sound effects humorous, and the price is a bargain. Just be careful. This game is seriously addictive.