Addictive, fun and good value. (Plants vs Zombies (PC))

Member Name: Surprising_Ape

Product:	Plants vs Zombies (PC)
Date:	12/06/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to pick up. Plenty of content. Good learning curve. Genuinely funny in places.

Disadvantages: Can be repetitive - once you're burnt out on the game you'll be reluctant to return.

Plants vs Zombies is a cheerfully animated game by Popcap in which you attempt to protect your house from hordes of the restless dead. By gardening at them.

At first glance the bulk of the game is Adventure Mode: 50 levels of increasing difficulty across three different environments, including natural conditions such as night-time and fog.

When in this mode you use plants such as the sunflower to literally generate pieces of sun which you collect and use to buy other plants. You then deposit your new plants on the left of the screen; the zombies appear from the right and shamble toward your array of deadly greenery until dispatched.

The wide variety of plants available and the steady learning curve mean that Popcap has released yet another well-balanced, addictive game. The game isn't without its flaws, and experienced gamers may find Adventure Mode a little too easy, but it's generally both fun and strangely compelling - I found myself playing a little more at times simply because I knew I could finish the next level in a few minutes and be guaranteed a little reward in the form of a new plant or additional item.

Adventure Mode should take around seven or eight hours to complete. However, this is not the end - as you progress through Adventure Mode, several minigames are unlocked. Furthermore, after you finish Adventure Mode a large number of other puzzles and minigames are then made available, theoretically giving you hours of further play time.

The balance here seemed a little off to me, though - I was expecting from other reviews to receive a steady stream of unlockable content as I played, but instead unlocked very little until I had completed Adventure Mode - so if you don't think you'll be able to manage 50 levels of essentially the same three locations over and over, you may not get your money's worth.

(You can also play through Adventure Mode again, the game this time restricting the plants you can use for each level for an additional challenge. I can't see myself ever doing this, but it is a welcome option for somebody who just cannot get enough plant/zombie action.)

Earlier I said PvS 'theoretically' gives you hours of additional play - I say this because the majority of these games are not interesting enough to stand by themselves for very long, but they certainly add value when considered as part of the overall package (some of them are simplified clones of other Popcap games - Beghouled being a variant of Bejewelled, for instance).

I have to admit that I would not pay the full £15 price the official Popcap site charges for this game. However, if you happen to use Valve's Steam service, Plants vs Zombies is available for £6.99. This seems more than reasonable for more gameplay than you'll find in most big-budget titles these days.

Summary: Excellent value overall - worth a try even if you haven't liked Popcap's other efforts.