Month of Horrors: Plants vs. Zombies

So, here begins part two of today's three reviews. Once more, we discuss another game involving zombies. However, this time, the game is a bit less... dramatic.

Popcap's Plants Vs. Zombies was released on May 5th, 2009 for PCs and Macs and has been ported many, many times since. In it, you play as a person whose home is being attacked by zombies. Instead of using a gun or some other reasonable weapon, though, you choose to use various species of plants to combat the zombie horde. You have Peashooters, which, well, shoot peas at the zombies, Wallnuts, which block the zombies from advancing, Sunflowers, which provide sunlight to let you grow other plants, and many which you gain over the course of the game.

So, this plays like most other tower defense games. There are zombies on your lawn, and you don't want zombies on your lawn. So, you set up your plants in each of 5 rows of your lawn, and use them to keep the zombies from reaching your house. If ever the zombies get through your defenses, there is a lawnmower at the end of each row that will kill all of the zombies in that row once a zombie reaches it, but that only works once. If another zombie gets to the end of that row, you lose.

Graphically, musically, this game is okay. It isn't anything spectacular, but it isn't anything terrible either. It's cute*, but nothing in the game sticks out as particularly memorable.

Now, let me preface everything I'm about to say with this: I enjoy this game. It's a fun, lighthearted zombie tower defense game. I don't have any problems with its 'cutesy' graphics, the music isn't bad, the gameplay isn't too easy or too hard, I genuinely like this game.

However, I don't recommend buying it.

See, this is kind of what I don't get about Popcap in general. They put out games, free to play, online, and then offer, for want of a better term, better versions of the games to download for a fee. And, honestly, I just can't wrap my brain around how this works. Obviously it does work, Popcap has been fairly successful, but I just don't get it. Because I see two outcomes of using this system: Either a) the online version is enjoyable, in which case, why get the full version**; or b) the online version is not enjoyable, in which case, why would you want the full version? Now, obviously there's some third option I just don't understand, but for the life of me I can't figure out what it is.

So, ultimately, I recommend playing this game on Popcap's website, it is fun, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it if I were you.

Sorry this review is so short, this one was kind of spur-of-the-moment. But, be sure to stop by later today for the (not-so-)epic finale to this three-review day!

*You know, cutesy for zombies.
**I say this having bought the full version. Shut up, it was on sale.

Note: Yes, I am indeed counting this for Month of Horrors, even if it isn't scary. There are zombies in it, therefore it counts.