[Note: The following article might contain a bit of what some may call “ZOMG SPOILERS” If you do not want any of the following game to be “spoiled” for you please hold your hands to your ears, start yelling “LA LA LA LA LA LA LA I CANT HEAR YOU”, then pick up your computer and throw it into a bottomless cavern. Now that you cannot access the internet, rip out your phone cords and get rid of all human contact. Now that you have done that, you will not be spoiled about any movie/book/game ever.

PS. Dr. Jackal is Mr. Hyde. ]


This Christmas season ( Or Q4 or “Wintertime holidays”,or whatever you kids call it these days) you may be thinking of getting a couple games. Maybe you’re going to get COD4:MW2, or maybe some other game. I say the game on the top of your buying/wish list shouldn’t be COD4:MW2, but Plants vs Zombies.


It’s original

Now I know Jim Sterling thinks that zombies are overused and boring. I may have to agree that they have been used a lot; however, this isn’t a typical zombie game. Have you ever seen a game featuring zombies AND plants. Sure in games such as dead rising they had plants and zombies, but it was featuring zombies and it kind of had plants. This is featuring both plants and zombies. Not only this, but it is a tower defense game. Even thougg it is classified as a “Tower defense game”, it is not a traditional boring tower defense game. It makes its on variation of the genre, keeping the game fresh and enjoyable. In this time when you see so much rip-offs for games, its nice to see something original.

Retro game-esque synopsis

Since when have you heard of such a ridiculous game synopsis? Probably in the NES/SNES era(or Earth Defense 2012). Yes the name of the game is telling the truth, it is about PLANTS


Fighting Zombies

How ridiculous is that? Imagine how they brought up that game concept in a staff meeting.

Game Designer: So we were thinking of making a game about zombies…

Popcap executive: And…

Game Designer: It’s kind of weird let’s just say………The man puts plants in his yard to protect him from the zombies.

Popcap executive: Brilliant...


It’s challenging

The game is challenging, but rewarding game. Level by level it gets more and more factors get added in. Anthony Burch praised this game for both its difficulty curve, and the interesting way it handles difficulty. Some of the extra maps are exceptionally challenging, requiring you to think in different ways then you thought in the main campaign. When I finished the last mini-game map I felt really really good, even though it was my first run of the map, But I felt like I was close to dying so many times.


Charm

Just looking at the screenshots you should be able to tell this game has an incredible amount of charm to it. The plants and zombies alike have this wonderful graphical flair to them. Sure it may not be in “ZOMG 1080p”, but the only people who will care are graphics whores (you filthy filthy whores).

Every character was obviously made with an extreme amount of polish. They even have a almanac of all the plants and zombies to keep track of them. I would actually recommend everyone who plays this game read all the almanac entries, because each entry is so full of charm and humor.

The rest of the game is also filled with charm and humor. This game has some of the funniest dialog in games. The games help screen is so funny, and there is a konami code reference. The zombies also send you notes periodically, and those are always funny.



Variety

This game is not just a lot of the same thing. Every so often they mix it up a bit so it almost never feels like you are playing the exact same thing twice. Even in just the campaign you go through about 3 different environment, day and night. At the end of almost every level you get a new plant to play around with, and a new zombie to take care of. Even after the main campaign is over, you have a lot of extra missions to do, and a lot of stuff to buy. If you only played through the campaign, you would be really missing out. One mode involves taking bowling for zombies with walnuts, another involves taking down zombies with plants for heads, and in a strange twist you control the zombies for a level.

Heroin-laced goodness.

Anyone who has played peggle should know that popcap does a good job at making addictive games. Plants vs Zombies is defiantly one of these games. You will be playing this game hour after hours, until you realize you have been playing the game till 3AM. This game is that addictive. I actually spent 2 entire days just playing plants vs zombies. I enjoyed every second of it.

Best end game song since portal

Now I know a lot of people hate the song “Still alive” in portal. Well you know what, you are lame, Very very very lame. Well plants vs zombies pulls a portal and has a song to end out this amazing game. It involves plants, and zombies singing. For those of you who don’t care about spoilers, the video will be posted below. Trust me when I say once you hear this song, it will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.