PopCapâs Masterpiece: Plants vs. Zombies by Game House
âPlants vs. Zombiesâ is perhaps one of the most unique games to come out of PopCap. The trial version allowed featured an adorable little sunflower voiced by Laura Shigihara and a significant squad of zombies. While not as flashy as some of the offerings of the bigger studios, it did do an excellent job promoting the game.
At its core, the game is a simple combination of the time management and tower defense genres that dominate the casual gaming scene outside of the console wars, but it has a number of details and aspects that give the sum of its parts a fresh coat of paint.
Your main objective as a home-owner is to survive a zombie attack. While it sounds too simple, itâs portrayed in an exaggerated and cartoonish way. The zombies are not your usual video game zombies; you can find them in suits and football gear, and they hope around on pogo stick and jump with poles. When they close in on your home, you have your backyard to serve as your defense. You have to grow different plants, which are not your typical plants as well because they are armored. They defend your brains from being eaten by the hungry monsters.
You have to defend five lanes against the attacking zombies who are coming from the right side of the screen and slowly shambles towards your home on the left. At the start of the level, you have to choose six kinds of plants from your arsenal and then plant them in a strategic manner on the lawn. They then attack the incoming zombies who counterattack by munching on the plants that come in their way. As the game progresses, you will be able to unlock a huge array of plants (about 50). Most of them are stationary and shoot peas or watermelons or whatever projectile is available. Thereâs the Wall-Nut that protects others, the Cherry Bomb that explodes and others with their own specific functions. There are specific types of plants that work best against specific zombies, and vice versa.
You need a particular amount of sunlight to be able to make each plant. Globes of sunlight will regularly fall to the ground and you must be able to collect enough of them to create your army of plants. Your staple crop is the sunflower which also creates globes of sunlight that you can use to power your arsenal.
When youâre finished with the main storyline, you still have a lot that you can do. You can play in Survival Mode which is a longer version of a regular level, or you can opt for the Puzzle Mode which hides some opponents in vases or making you a zombie that has to go against an army of plants. What makes the game really enjoyable are the Mini-Games, which results from the hybrid of the main them of the game with PopCapâs other games like like Bejeweled (here titled Beghouled) and Hammer Heads.
Once you start playing Plants vs. Zombies you just canât seem to stop. Try playing the game and see for yourself what everyoneâs been raving about.
Article Source: http://www.earticlesonline.com/Article/PopCap---s-Masterpiece--Plants-vs--Zombies/1005673
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Plants vs. Zombies: Game of the Year Edition $8.99 Get ready to soil your pants with a special edition of the award-winning PopCap game!Stem a zombie attack in this Game of the Year Edition of the zombie-zapping phenomenon! Zombies are invading your home and the only defense is your arsenal of plants! Bonus content includes the Zombatar to make your own fun-dead creations and a bevy of in-game achievements. With five game modes to dig into the fun... |
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Defense Grid: The Awakening $9.99 Defense Grid: The Awakening is a unique spin on tower defense gameplay that will appeal to players of all skill levels. A horde of enemies is invading, and it's up to the player to stop them by strategically building fortification towers around their base. Beautiful environments, spectacular effects, and a dynamic, engaging soundtrack bring the world to life. The controls are intuitive and the gameplay is deep - the special attacks and properties of each tower work together to provide many ways to succeed. In the far future, humanity struggles against a relentless enemy with weak tactics, but seemingly infinite troops. On one small planet, they were successful in driving the invaders off by using advanced technology to protect the power cores that the aliens were desperate to have. One of the generals in the war volunteered to have himself uploaded into the computer to assist the colony should the aliens ever return. A thousand years later, the aliens are back. The player manages to make it to one of the ancient bases, and awakens the artificial intelligence construct of the general who was placed there in the previous war. The general understands how the bases operate, and can assist the player when needed, all while facing his own memories and losses from the previous engagement. Excellent Game Balance, Pace and Progression. Initially the path of the enemies is clearly defined, and the player chooses which towers to spend their resources on to optimally overcome the enemy forces. The player gains access to a wide variety of towers, each with a unique effect, and can divert the enemies by using the towers as obstacles. In the later levels, there are multiple power core sites to protect and entrance points to defend against, and how the player reroutes the enemy invasion can be critical to success. High Replayabiliity There are approximately 8 hours of gameplay in the main storyline, and many hours of play in challenge modes that give players unique starting conditions and objectives. Each game level is very replayable, and can be solved in many different ways, with increasing rewards for improved efficiency. Wide Variety of Enemies. Over the course of the game, players battle 15 different enemy types that become increasingly stronger, and employ a variety of strategies in an attempt to bypass the player’s defenses. Some enemies come in large groups, or are individually strong. As the levels progress, the enemies become tougher and more difficult to defeat. 20 Unique Levels. Defense Grid: The Awakening has 20 unique environments, each with a different placement of roads, tower build locations, and open areas to plan a strategy around. Each level encourages a different strategy, such as trying to find an optimal path to redirect enemies, making the best use of limited space, and breaking up individual enemy waves to avoid being overwhelmed, all while planning ahead for future waves. |
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Garden Defense $19.99 The sleepy suburb of Lindencroft is under attack, and the Smith Family is the town's only hope! Allen and Laurel Smith have teamed up with their daughter, Charlotte, to investigate the swarms of ravenous critters eating the town's flowers, and stop the pests before it's too late. Help the Smiths by deploying a wild arsenal of lawn ornaments, bug-fighting plants and other oddball inventions to stop the threat in the Smith's backyard and beyond. Place your items around the garden, then watch them fight the enemy. With the money you earn for defeating the pests, you can add more defenses, or upgrade the ones you have to be bigger, better, stronger, and weirder. Research new, more effective ways to protect your flowerbeds. With each garden that you rid of enemies, you draw closer to unraveling the mystery of the hungry bugs. Do you have the nerves to withstand an onslaught of ferocious fruit flies, aggressive ants, and slimy slugs? Can you plant a spitting sunflower without losing an eye? Do you have the right screwdriver to attach a rocket launcher to a garden gnome? Then join the battle, and master Garden Defense! |
