Plants Vs. Zombies 3.1

Overview

It’s time for something that will awake the gaming spirit inside you! Plants vs. Zombies is an entertaining action game where your home is invaded by zombies and you have to stop them by planting special anti-zombie plants on your lawn. It does not exactly resemble a next-gen game, but it has this highly addicting gameplay that you rarely find in recent games.

Installation

The installation will complete in a jiffy, right after going through a small series of steps where you will be asked to choose installation directory, start menu entry name, etc. You know, the usual stuff. Don’t worry about any malware or additional softies, because it is 100% clean.  Don’t waste time, launch the game as soon as installation finishes and start playing.

You won’t have any compatibility issues if you’re using Windows XP, Vista or 7.

Interface

When you launch the game you will see the loading screen and afterwards you will go to the main menu and be asked to enter a name to use for your profile (you can create multiple profiles for different players). The huge gravestone you see has some choices on it: Start Adventure, Mini Games, Puzzle and Survival. In the main menu you can also find Options, Help, Quit and Achievements.

While playing, your home is on the left side, and the zombies are attacking from the right. You place your plants in any of the squares in the yard by using seed packets and collecting suns in order to use the seed packets again. This is the basic environment during gameplay. You don’t need the keyboard to play since everything is controlled with the mouse.

Pros

Let’s take a look at the different game modes:

Adventure mode

There are 5 stages in this mode, and each one consists of 10 levels: Day, Night, Pool, Fog and Roof. Throughout gameplay you will meet allies (Crazy Dave) and come across obstacles (e.g. gravestones). By collecting coins you can buy useful items.

From Adventure mode you can unlock the rest of the modes.

Mini-games

There are 20 mini-games, and new ones are unlocked every time you finish previous ones. The names of the mini games are: ZomBotany, Wall-nut Bowling, Slot Machine, It's Raining Seeds, Beghouled, Invisi-ghoul, Seeing Stars, Zombiquarium, Beghouled Twist, Big Trouble Little Zombie, Portal Combat, Column Like You See 'Em, Bobsled Bonanza, Zombie Nimble Zombie Quick, Whack a Zombie, Last Stand, ZomBotany 2, Wall-nut Bowling 2, Pogo Party, and Dr. Zomboss's Revenge.

Puzzle

There are two puzzle types; Vasebreaker and I, Zombie. In Vasebreaker you have to break the vases placed in your lawn to reveal zombies or plants and then attack the zombies with the plants. In I, Zombie the roles are reversed; you are using the zombies to destroy the cardboard plants.

Survival

This mode is probably the most difficult one, as it puts your zombie-killing skills to test. You must fight the never-ending zombie hordes for as long as you can.

Zen Garden

Zen Garden is a mode different than the rest. There is no fighting taking place here, just take care of your plants by watering them, fertilizing them, spraying them for bugs and playing music for them. It’s a very relaxing way to spend your time, really.

Cons

What cons?

Alternatives

Hmm... nope, this game is irreplaceable.

Conclusion

If you want a game with the graphics, music, gameplay and scenario of a modern game, then you’re in the wrong place. There are plenty of them in stores. Our gaming standards are not low at all, yet this one - without having any of those features - managed to make us love it. You will love it too.