The Love Show!

So, I downloaded a goofy Tower Defense-style game called Plants vs. Zombies. Now, I'm not huge on the whole "zombies are so hilariously, ironically cool" craze that just won't seem to (wait for it) die...

...but, this video sucked me in.



Sample of the Lyrics You'll Find in That Music Video:

"I know your type: tall, dark, and dead
You want to bite all the petals off of my head
And then eat the brains of
the one who planted me here
I'm just a sunflower but see
me power an entire infantry"

And so on. The zombies sing, too.

So, cute. I'm in. Advertising...WIN!

The game itself is available for purchase in its full form for $19.95 at this site. I downloaded the free trial version for Mac, and there's plenty to do...but it's obvious there's so much more to this title than one can access via the one play mode available - Adventure.



Every play a Tower Defense game? I hadn't either, until Protect Your Castle hit WiiWare. I also tooled around with one at Joe's house during a Game Night, a while back. It's repetitive, simplistic, addictive gameplay. There are small tweaks every so often that add new twists to...well, the same thing, over and over.

It's not as dull as I'm making it sound, though. Things can get pretty tense, and it's so mindless that you can easily get stuck playing for a good, long while before realizing how much time has passed.

Here's a screengrab summary of my initial play session:





Easy enough. Although, I'd later learn that placing my "attack" plants further back is a better idea.



Because it's the first level and the number/speed of zombies is pretty low, my poorly-placed plants survive...blowing up zombies as I click on little, falling drops of sunshine to refill the "plant" option and add another spitting, killer plant to my growing guardian garden.



After a "FINAL WAVE" of zombies (again, it's the first level...so, that pretty much means "two"), I gain a new plant and proceed to the next stage.



These sunflowers generate meter-charging sunshine, in addition to the pieces falling from above. This allows you to generate more plants, faster.



Now we're talking! Because this is the "FINAL WAVE" of round 1-2, the lead zombie has a little "brains" flag. Heh. There's more cute stuff like that to come.



Like zombies with protective headgear (bent road cones)...



...and zombies with pole vaulting abilities. Yikes. Tricky buggers.



Luckily, you get more and more plants with which you can outsmart and destroy the invaders.



Look how the exploding cherry bomb leaves little piles of zombie ash behind. Ha!



The zombies are all trying to get to your house, by the way.



Oh! And, at one point, a neighbor showed up between levels. Wacky banter ensued. (Actual, enjoyable wacky banter.)



After performing a quick, lawn-clearing task for him using my newly-acquired shovel, he let me go lawn bowling...



...for zombies. The "ball" is in the process of bouncing off of one zombie and smacking into another. Combo shots!



There are a few exploding wall-nuts in the mix. Heh.

So, yeah. It's a blast. Things get quicker and more challenging naturally, and I never lost interest...I just wanted to stop playing to type up this entry and to ensure that I didn't get hooked too hard and end up playing all night. I'm on very little sleep, as it is. Felt like a zombie this morning, f'realz.

Tony Says: Highly recommended! Good stuff, here! Quirky and fun...and I hope the full version finds its way to WiiWare, at some point. I'd buy it, there.