Discussions

If you’re not a gamer you’re about to become one.  Don’t have a gaming PC?  I’ll give you three words to run out and grab one: Plants vs. Zombies.  Seriously, stop what you’re doing and play this free demo. You’ll thank me soon enough.  The full game was just released for $20.  I guarantee your first five minutes will quickly turn into five hours.

So what’s it all about?  The goal of the game is simple:  defend your porch from incoming zombies by gardening tough plants on your lawn. Click and drag.  Point and click.  That’s all there is to it.  But there’s so much more.  The music is terrific and the game is genuinely funny. Actually, it’s tough to describe the exact brand of humor of this game, so I’ll just post an example from the plant almanac. Check out this guy’s bio.

Plants vs. Zombies takes the nerdy intensity out of traditional “Tower Defense” games and softens it into a leisurely afternoon activity packed with challenge and fun. The Adventure Mode holds your hand, revealing one new kind of plant and zombie type every few rounds.  There’s no wrong way to play: you have an open-ended grid to plant and different types of plants to choose from.  As you progress new environments and puzzle types present themselves, all leading to the ultimate “survival mode” where you’ll face endless waves of goons for bonus prizes and upgrades.  Here’s the backyard level where you’ll have to keep zombies out of your pool by planting on lily pads.

It’s rare to see such high production and replay value from such an affordable game, so it’s no wonder we gave it an Editor’s Choice Award.  It’s even more shocking to see “I can’t play this because I don’t have a PC” comments in our game review.  Seriously?  C’mon people.  Talk to your friendly neighborhood internet Asus outfitter.  Don’t miss this one, it’s just too good to pass up.