By Ben / 2009-05-14 17:51:14Contrary to what you might have heard, gamers are an easy bunch to please. All you have to do is pick a genre, then find some way to cram some zombies in there. Using that logic it was only a matter of time until digital distributions favourite genre had its turn at battling the undead hordes
The principle of the gameplay is quite simple, using flowers and plants you must defend your garden/home from various types of zombies. You have a limited amount of space, and as you progress different types of terrain to plant your flowers in, these changes also affect what you can grow (e.g. the fungi wont grow in the day). To plant flowers you effectively have to buy them using suns, during the day stages this comes from the sky, but can also be earned by planting sunflowers.
Initially the tactical element to the game comes from trying to balance earning some sun and building your defences. Earning enough sun to plant a few attacking plants using only what comes from the sky will take you an age. However, plant a couple of sunflowers and you’ll be left short handed. As the action heats up so does the pace, these type of management decisions must be made whilst picking up items, rebuilding defences, and selecting the best means of attack.
Occasionally money will be dropped, and depending on your performance awarded after each round. Eventually you’ll be able to buy special types of flowers, peripheral items (such as items for your zen garden), and if you’re willing to save for long enough, an extra item slot to take into battle.
As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, all the best games are deceptively simple. While I’m not sure how true that statement is, it certainly does apply to Plants vs. Zombies. We’ve covered the basics of the gameplay so I wont labour the point, but it’s certainly conceivable that a ‘casual’ gamer (yeah I know) could get to grips with the game reasonably quickly. That being said however, I’m not sure my mum, for example, would be willing to even attempt it, especially if she saw the pace of the later levels.
While the game does start out easy enough, spoon feeding you information, and never throwing at you more than you can handle later on the difficulty does rise. Thanks to your initially restricted arsenal you’re never overpowered, but the pace and frenetic nature of the later levels means things stay interesting for even seasoned gamers. I did find the game to be a little without climax, there’s a final boss, but other than relying on my lawn mower/roof cleaners on a handful of occasions, I never failed a level.
The downside to the constant tutorials, new items, and terrain changes is that you’re never really left to just play the game. It’s true that nothing outstays its welcome, but then you’re never left to experiment, as soon as you adjust to things a new tougher enemy will appear.
It’s terrifyingly easy for one quick go to keep you playing past your bedtime, trying out new flowers and seeing what the computer is going to throw at you next is always going to add an addictiveness to proceedings. There’s also quite a lot of content to the game. The main game alone will take you a handful of hours alone, but there’s also the survival, puzzle and zen garden modes to try out. The main adventure mode also ramps up the difficulty once beaten, so there’s reason to go back, even if it’s just to keep your bank account topped up.
It’s perhaps unrealistic to expect Plants vs. Zombies to hold your attention for months on end, but it could easily manage a week or so. The £7 price tag on Steam is quite a reasonable one for what’s there, and that’s not taking into account how much fun you’ll have. Perhaps not perfect, but certainly worth your time.
The principle of the gameplay is quite simple, using flowers and plants you must defend your garden/home from various types of zombies. You have a limited amount of space, and as you progress different types of terrain to plant your flowers in, these changes also affect what you can grow (e.g. the fungi wont grow in the day). To plant flowers you effectively have to buy them using suns, during the day stages this comes from the sky, but can also be earned by planting sunflowers.
Initially the tactical element to the game comes from trying to balance earning some sun and building your defences. Earning enough sun to plant a few attacking plants using only what comes from the sky will take you an age. However, plant a couple of sunflowers and you’ll be left short handed. As the action heats up so does the pace, these type of management decisions must be made whilst picking up items, rebuilding defences, and selecting the best means of attack.
Occasionally money will be dropped, and depending on your performance awarded after each round. Eventually you’ll be able to buy special types of flowers, peripheral items (such as items for your zen garden), and if you’re willing to save for long enough, an extra item slot to take into battle.
As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, all the best games are deceptively simple. While I’m not sure how true that statement is, it certainly does apply to Plants vs. Zombies. We’ve covered the basics of the gameplay so I wont labour the point, but it’s certainly conceivable that a ‘casual’ gamer (yeah I know) could get to grips with the game reasonably quickly. That being said however, I’m not sure my mum, for example, would be willing to even attempt it, especially if she saw the pace of the later levels.
While the game does start out easy enough, spoon feeding you information, and never throwing at you more than you can handle later on the difficulty does rise. Thanks to your initially restricted arsenal you’re never overpowered, but the pace and frenetic nature of the later levels means things stay interesting for even seasoned gamers. I did find the game to be a little without climax, there’s a final boss, but other than relying on my lawn mower/roof cleaners on a handful of occasions, I never failed a level.
The downside to the constant tutorials, new items, and terrain changes is that you’re never really left to just play the game. It’s true that nothing outstays its welcome, but then you’re never left to experiment, as soon as you adjust to things a new tougher enemy will appear.
It’s terrifyingly easy for one quick go to keep you playing past your bedtime, trying out new flowers and seeing what the computer is going to throw at you next is always going to add an addictiveness to proceedings. There’s also quite a lot of content to the game. The main game alone will take you a handful of hours alone, but there’s also the survival, puzzle and zen garden modes to try out. The main adventure mode also ramps up the difficulty once beaten, so there’s reason to go back, even if it’s just to keep your bank account topped up.
It’s perhaps unrealistic to expect Plants vs. Zombies to hold your attention for months on end, but it could easily manage a week or so. The £7 price tag on Steam is quite a reasonable one for what’s there, and that’s not taking into account how much fun you’ll have. Perhaps not perfect, but certainly worth your time.
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