Plants vs. Zombies

Zombies: the cannon fodder of choice for gamers and publishers alike. If a zombie isn’t already cast as the main enemy in a game these days they can usually be found festering in a bonus level such as WW2 shooter Call of Duty.

With Plants vs. Zombies, the scenario is a little different. Essentially a tower-defence game, your goal is to halt the encroaching zombies and prevent them from reaching your base by using strategically placed towers or in this case, plants. Although Plants vs. Zombies may sound utterly silly (and it is), we think you will be completely hooked after playing it for five minutes.

You decide from a varied selection what offensive and defensive plants you will use to stop the undead in their tracks (such as pea-shooting pods or exploding cherry bombs). But you also need to regenerate your resources in the form of sunlight to keep your plant defences growing and save your brains from the hungry horde.

Different seeds have different growing times so you have to continually estimate what to plant and when, while contending with the Zombies themselves, which also come in a wide variety of guises and abilities. It is a case of forward planning as well as experimenting with your arsenal to find the best way of coping with the onslaught.

Despite the simple concept of Plants vs. Zombies, the strategic demands and learning curve are pitched just right and the effect is a very polished and crucially, fun experience. With an excellent sense of humour, well-balanced controls and catchy tunes, we felt smitten with what PopCap (producers of Peggle and Bejeweled) have created.

Mini games add to the longevity, as does the opportunity to buy a stack of new equipment once you have built up enough in-game credit. So while the waves of zombies never seem to end, there is also enough variety in the game play between levels to keep you interested as well as challenged.

Plants vs. Zombies gave us a welcome reminder that first and foremost a great game must be fun and this one does it in spades.

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