WP7 Game Review: Plants vs. Zombies

Okay, so this review is a little late, occurring on the eve of the next “must have” release, but since I had no prior experience with Plants vs. Zombies, I needed a little extra time to wrap my head around it. This is a supremely bizarre game, but it is kind of fun.

Game Play

This is basically another tower defense game, but it takes on a bit of a classic 8-bit Nintendo feel to it. As far as I can tell, the object of the game is to plant malicious vegetation in your yard that will fend off waves of zombies.

In the trial version, you get to play the first 6 levels of the game. By the end of the first 6 levels, you have access to the following plants:

1. Pea-shooter – shoots peas at the zombies, killing them after a few shots
2. Sunflower – helps produce extra sunbeams (which are basically the currency you use to buy the plants)
3. Cherry bomb – explodes shortly after you set it down, and kills any zombies in its path immediately
4. Wall-nut – acts as an obstacle to the zombies, slowing them down so that your peashooters have more time to kill them
5. Potato mine – kills a zombie (most of them, at least) as soon as the step on it; but they take a long time to arm themselves
6. Snow pea – does the same amount of damage as the pea shooter, but it also slows zombies down at the same time

Pros

• It’s a really interesting concept, which translates to a little bit of fun.
• The game is really well-polished. The graphics, while being very cartoony, are really nicely done.

Cons

• In the trial version, the game is kind of slow (not in a “we need better hardware” way; but in a “not much is happening right now” kind of way). I would imagine, though, that it gets quite a bit more hectic as the game goes on.
• I think this game takes longer to initially load than any other game I’ve played on this platform.
• The regular price for the full version is $4.99, which seems a bit high for this type of game. This is probably due, in large part, to the fact that it’s a Pop Cap game, but it still feels a little expensive (though, seeing as how Bejeweled Live dropped from $6.99 to $4.99 recently, I’m guessing we’re supposed to see this as a bargain).

Should You Buy It?

I can’t tell you what to do, but I’m fairly certain I’ll be passing this one up. It just doesn’t grab and hold my attention the way I might want it to. Personally, I’d rather play Bejeweled or geoDefense. Plus, I have to save my money so I can buy Angry Birds tomorrow. 🙂 All that said, you should definitely play the trial version of the game to see if this game appeals to you.