PopCap Games have brought three of their successful causal gaming titles to retail this month: Amazing Adventures: The Caribbean Secret, Bejeweled Blitz and this, perhaps one of the most talked about casual titles of the last year, Plants Vs. Zombies. However, this disc-based version of the game isn’t the same as that which is available as a downloadable purchase, as Plants Vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition offers a number of new features.
The basic premise of Plants Vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition is that of a simple Tower Defence game. Players have their house on the left of the screen and zombies march towards it from the right. The zombies move in a straight line across five rows, and the player must construct defences in each of the rows in order to keep them at bay. Should
the zombies make contact with any of the items a player places on the field, they will attempt to destroy them, and a last ditch effort is available in each row in the form of a single-use lawnmower that activates upon zombie contact. As with all the best PopCap Games titles, the basic idea behind Plants Vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition is a fairly simple one, but is undeniably addictive.
A player’s army for fighting against the zombie hordes, as you might have guessed from the title, is comprised of a variety of types of flora. From Peashooters of various types, to Walnuts which delay the zombies significantly, to explosive cherries and so on, the player must wisely manage their defences by balancing the repelling of oncoming zombies against the production of sun points. Sun points are essentially your currency, allowing you to purchase new additions to place on the battlefield, and are of course more plentiful during daytime levels.
Plants Vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition maintains a careful balance of difficulty and introducing new elements, and it does it in an astounding fashion. Divided into chapters and levels therein, every completed stage
offers that ‘just one more go’ factor, whilst revealing a new zombie or plant is just as exciting as progressing beyond an entire set. Without ever pushing the player too far or leaving them without reward for too long, the Adventure game mode of Plants Vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition is one of the finest examples of balanced game production in recent times.
One of the new additions is that of the Zombatar, an option that allows you to create zombie avatars for use on forums or as your profile picture on social networking sites, amongst other things. A nice addition though it is, the Zombatar does appear to have issues: not every item you choose will be viewable in the avatar preview window, including the costume selected.
Another addition comes in the form of begin the ‘deluxe’ version, which according to PopCap Games and publisher Mastertronic means that the game in available to install and play without ever needing an internet connection. What’s more, there’s no limit to the amount of systems that the game can be installed on, and in fact you don’t even need the disc in the drive to play the game. Plants Vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition is quite literally DRM free: the way PC games used to be.
Plants Vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition is a charming game, both in that of it’s playability and it’s appearance. The unique visual style is only enhanced in motion, with the light bobbing of mushrooms, rhythmic sway
of sunflowers and the often ill-fated determination of the zombie hordes. Many of PopCap Games’ titles exude a personality all of their own, but few come close to the captivatingly unique presentation that is Plants Vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition.
Plants Vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition would be a worthwhile purchase with just that discussed above, but in addition comes a number of alternative gameplay modes that enhance the longevity of the title greatly. A selection of mini-games that appear in the Adventure mode (including a Whack-a-Mole style game) become unlocked with progress, as do Puzzle and Survival modes. Quite simply, for the pocket money asking price of the Plants Vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition retail release, there are few competing titles that offer such a comprehensive package, and few that offer such reliably entertaining content.
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