Plants vs. Zombies Video Game Review
July 11, 2009 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Gardening
The other day I posted about the newest PopCap video game sensation – Plants vs. Zombies. To learn basic facts about this game read Can Your Garden Handle Killer Zombies?
Today I’ve got a full review for you…
Product: Plants vs. Zombies – a plants vs. zombie video game available for download on PC or Mac.
Cost: $19.95
Watch the video promo:
Reviewers: To get a wider range of perspectives, I got three reviewers for the game. Me (30-ish female); Cedar (eight-year-old son); Dave (30-ish male).
The basics:
This is a totally family friendly game, safe for kids to play alone, although if you’ve got a child who is not reading completely yet, you’ll have to help a little (but not much). This action-strategy game includes a bunch of cute plants with varying abilities who fight off a mob of growing and fun-loving zombies. The trick is to keep the zombies from invading your home. You get to use weapons like peashooters, wall-nuts, cherry bombs and more to take on the wave of zombie invaders.
As you can see above there are various levels and options at start-up. You get to play mini games and puzzles when you play enough of the main adventure to unlock them. There’s nothing too violent about this game for little kids. The Zombies, who are super fun by the way, do walk around saying, “Brrrrrrainssss” but even if they get ahold of a plant they don’t do anything graphic to them. For example, if a zombie gets a hold of a wall-nut, he munches on the wall-nut’s head, but it’s kind of funny and cute NOT blood or gore.
There are 50 levels in all and fun in-between stuff too. Like “Crazy Dave” who pops up at odd moments to give you tips, or letters from the zombies which are totally adorable such as…
What we all thought:
Me: I played the least of any of us, but I liked it a lot. I though the whole game was cute, but fun and still challenging plus it was relaxing. The music is not annoying (if it is you can turn it off) but sort of soothing and it makes for a great break in your day. I thought all the zombie characters (there are different types) were hilarious, and especially like when Crazy Dave pops up. I love that this game manages to be simple but so funny and that it’s great for the entire family.
Cedar: My son is OBSESSED with this game. Since installing, all he does is say over and over, “Can I use your laptop now! ARE YOU DONE working so I can play.” I asked him to tell me about it and he said…
- This is the best game ever with cool weapons.
- It’s about medium hard – not too hard and not too easy.
- I love Crazy Dave.
- I like how the zombies walk really slow like real zombies (as if he runs into zombies daily?)
- I told all my friends at camp that they should get this game.
Dave: Dave, I should point out, really likes zombies; zombie movies, zombie books, etc., so I figured he’d be a hard sell. When I first told him about the game, he said something like, “It sounds lame – zombies vs. a garden?” Ok. Here’s what happened – Dave played a lot and got so engrossed, I’d say, “Hey can you come here?” and nothing, he didn’t even hear me. When asked if he’d recommend this game, Dave said, “Let me put it this way, don’t play it at work because not only will you not get anything done all day, but you’ll end up with four hours of overtime” and “This is a fun and addictive game overall.”
Overall score:
Five out of five juicy brains!
Three thumbs up and no cons noted. None of us came up with any negatives other then now we’ve got three people fighting over one laptop. We’d all highly suggest you give Plants vs. Zombies a try (a free trial is available before you buy). If you don’t believe our opinions, see what others are saying:
And more. A quick check around Google will show you that most folks are on board with this game. Check it out at PopCap.
Plants and zombies rocks! I like the way you rate…LOL
The graphics make this game and the simple design.
I’m glad you like the game – I’ve actually heard from other folks who really like it too.