Plants vs Zombies Review

Plants vs Zombies

Release date: Out Now

Publisher: Microsoft

Developer: PopCap Games

Platform: Xbox 360

Genre: Strategy

No. Players: 1 - 2

Official link

It was inevitable that Popcap's Plants vs Zombies – a game that has sat firmly in the top 10 iTunes charts and sold nicely on the Nintendo DS – would eventually make its way onto the Live Marketplace. Much like the company's insanely addictive predecessor, Peggle, it's up to the consumer to decide whether the console upgrade is worth the extra investment, since purchasing it through XBLA is roughly 5 times more expensive than if you have already bought it for your phone or iPad.

For the uninitiated, Plants vs Zombies is, at its core, a classic tower defense strategy game. What separates it from the plethora of similar style games out there is that it's simply, cute and full of that noxious Popcap charm. Essentially, this is the perfect introduction to tower defense games.

The basic scenario is as follows: hordes of brain-hungry zombies are entering through bushes at the end of your backyard and must be stopped before they can get to your back patio and inside your house (where they can, and will, munch into your skull). Your lawn is a weapon and it's up to the player to plant and maintain a variety of botanical species to fend off the lumbering undead masses.

Things start off simple with basic pea-shooters and walnut blockades which help to slow down the zombie intrusion. With a total of 49 different plants available to unlock, it isn't long before some more effective weapons become available at your disposal, including corn-loaded catapults, Mario-style 'chomper' plants and hot chili peppers that send a trail of flames down one open path, incinerating all the undead in their wake.

As the difficultly ramps up, the grid becomes slightly larger and those pesky zombies start adapting to the environment. About halfway through the game your backyard has a lengthy water feature installed in the middle of it – which allows scuba-diving zombies to swim their way closer to the patio without being hit by regular plant missiles. And if that wasn't annoying enough, wait for the odd Olympian zombie that comes striding through the yard, high-jumping itself over obstacles to eat your most precious shrubs.

Building a defense grid garden doesn't come cheap, and players must plant non-weapon seeds such as Sunflowers to harness sunshine – which can in turn be spent on bigger, stronger vegetation. This is where the game's main strategy comes into play: do you spend the initial time in a new level planning as many Sunflowers as possible? Or is it safer to just plant a few and make sure there are some weaponry plants in place first? The game manages to keep players on their toes by introducing a night-time setting during one section which, of course, makes harnessing sun slightly difficult!

Visually, Plants vs Zombies has never looked as crisp, vibrant and gorgeous as it does in HD on consoles. A simple still-screen layout doesn't mean that this isn't one of the best looking XBLA games available, and this visual sheen is accompanied by an aptly pop-tastic soundtrack that remains slightly creepy in the background and never becomes distracting.

Once the core mode has been completed there are still large amounts of extra ways to continue enjoying Plants vs Zombies. A mini-game mode is made up of inventive tidbits such as playing one of the levels as a Bejeweled clone. And then there's 'Zombotany' – a mode which sees the zombies turning the tables and growing various types of the game's plants as heads. The mini-game section alone is huge and is a constant delight. As well as versus and co-op modes, there's also the addition of the 'Zen Garden' – a greenhouse where plants can be planted, nurtured and grown into valuable flowers and trees that can be sold for loads of moolahThe main 'Adventure' mode of the game is made up of around 50 levels, culminating in a boss battle that feels slightly cheap as it relies more on luck than any skill learned during the game's progress. The pay-off is worthwhile though as players are treated to a famous music video rendition by all of the title's characters during the credits.