Short version: If you love casual iPhone games, tower defense and/or zombies then the low price of admission is totally worth it.
Game Rant’s Jon Lavallee reviews Plants vs. Zombies for the iPhone
My iPhone has become an unofficial appendage of mine. I use it daily for everything it offers – including the plethora of games the app store offers. I’m a sucker for them – usually a mere few bucks and way too attainable.
I also adore the zombie genre – fun, suspenseful and gory. Never gets old. So when you take these two subjects, combine them and put it at the top of the featured app page you can safely assume that it has become yet another irresistible app – at least for me.
Enter Plants vs. Zombies. You may have heard of this title from Pop Cap (the imaginative creators of Peggle) as it has been a popular Flash title of theirs for a bit. Due to the success of the web version, Pop Cap developed a port for the iPhone.
So what’s all the rage about? Basically, it’s a quirky and fun take on the tower defense genre. Your goal is to defend your house from hoards of zombies by strategically placing various plants with different talents in your yard – between your house and the zombies. Different plants cost a certain amount of sunlight which you receive by collecting direct sunlight, sunflowers or mushrooms. Each level progression introduces new plants, zombies and obstacles in your yard as well as ways to purchase other upgrades to survive the attacks.
The graphics look terrific on the iPhone. Each zombie character has great detail in their class: a zombie dressed in football pads, one driving a zamboni (or zomboni), and even a tribute to the late Michael Jackson as the Thriller zombie – complete with backup dancers. The plants are all clever as well, with different powers and upgrades it’s always tough to choose which ones you want for each level. I also enjoy the music – it never gets annoying or repetitive, it fits the game perfectly.
However, when it comes to iPhone games, the most important feature is whether or not the title is fun. Even with so many great games available at bargain prices, it’s still easy to recommend Plants vs. Zombies. I have to say, I am truly addicted. I find myself opening up the game during my lunch break at work, or any downtime at home.
Plants vs. Zombies never gets old and is actually a fairly lengthy game for the iPhone. My only criticism is that it might be a bit unbalanced, as some of the upgrades you can purchase before a level are extremely pricey. The zombies don’t drop much loot in the levels after the store opens and it’s a little frustrating when you can’t immediately purchase anything in the store for awhile.
That said, for just $2.99 you can have a blast saving your house from the zombie apocalypse anywhere. You won’t be disappointed.
Think you might pick up Plants vs. Zombies?
Our Rating:
4.5 out of 5
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Trust me when I say this is sooo much better on a nice big PC screen. It'd be welcome on a DS too, where the stylus functionality could be great, but the PC version is far preferable until said DS version exist, especially over crappy touch functionality on the iPhone.
Plants vs Zombies is such a great game. If I had an iPhone this would be an instant buy.
I actually think the touch controls work really intuitively on the iPhone version (and I've played the PC version).
I do miss the survival-style mode though. But the iPhone version's price can't be beat.
Super, super fun game on iPhone. I greatly prefer touching the sunlight to chasing it all over the screen with a mouse. Plus, this game has so much personality. You just can't miss this game for $3 bucks.
I agree with Ben… I wouldn't call the the touch functionality on the iPhone “crappy.” It's very responsive IMO, and works great with Plants vs Zombies.
The zombies don’t drop much loot in the levels after the store opens and it’s a little frustrating when you can’t immediately purchase anything in the store for awhile.I find myself opening up the game during my lunch break at work, or any downtime at home.