Comments on: The Plants Vs. Zombies Review

By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:21:11 +0000

So simple. So addictive. You want challenging? Try endless survival. The price of the specialty plants goes up each time you use one. I die around 26 flags. Red eyed gargantuans are TOUGH.

By: BooleanBob

BooleanBob — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:08:43 +0000

Am I really the only person to notice that PopCap put a joke about anal sex in their casual, family-friendly game?

I mean, I’d be a little bit appalled if I wasn’t so impressed that they’ve seemingly gotten away with it. A quick google search for “plants versus zombies” and “anal sex” (made with great trepidation, as I am familiar with the 34th rule) threw up a comments thread in the Escapist, but, amazingly, only because the two topics came up in the same conversation for unrelated reasons. My second thought was obviously to come here, because if there was anywhere on the internet that such ribald innuendo would be immediately recognised, and then subsequently discussed (and most assuredly celebrated), it would be he good ship Rock Paper Sex-o-filth.

But nothing! Maybe I just have an inordinately filthy and juvenile mind… but that can’t be right. I’m an insufferable snob when it comes to comedy (amongst other things).

Oh, and I love the game utterly, by the by. Lost my whole dang Saturday to it! Regretting that now.

By: peashooter

peashooter — Fri, 29 May 2009 01:55:48 +0000

Awesome in a box. I’m on 4-7 (I don’t play it 24/7). Really fun. Worth however much you pay. I hope Pop Cap has a Zombatar- insted you decorate plants. Can someone give me a link so I can contact them for that?

By: Daron

Daron — Fri, 22 May 2009 23:47:37 +0000

One more thing, and I know the rabid fanboys are going to attack me for saying this, but I don’t see any reason why the theme song isn’t as good or better than “Still Alive.” I mean, the singer also wrote all the lyrics and composed the music, which gets an automatic +5 from me. It’s catchy and addictive, and every single person I show it to thinks it’s hilarious whether or not they’ve played the game (basically, it’s standalone good; whereas my friends who didn’t play Portal didn’t find “Still Alive” amusing at all).

And if that’s not reason enough, check out the 1.5 year old on youtube who can’t pull himself away from it!

By: Daron

Daron — Fri, 22 May 2009 23:41:15 +0000

And if that’s not reason enough, I’ve never seen a kid flip out like this before over video game music… it’s like drugs, it’s THAT good:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2tn8U-Ph10

By: Daron

Daron — Fri, 22 May 2009 23:32:58 +0000

The game gets a lot more challenging later on; I especially enjoyed I-Zombie and the Survival Modes. There were so many things to try out after finishing adventure mode that it felt like you could have broken any of those parts off and made them into separate games since they have a completely different gameplay mechanic. I also have to comment that I love the art style; is anyone else reminded of Alien Hominid? It’s colorful and funny and just plain awesome.

And don’t even get me started on the music. I wasn’t sure what to expect with in-game music after seeing the music video… but I LOVED it. I’ve seriously been getting sick of all the completely forgettable ambient orchestral music that’s in games nowadays, so hearing game music this catchy and memorable is really refreshing. The music that plays during the last level of each stage is absolutely of the best music I’ve heard in a game in a LONG time. If anyone knows where I can get it, please let me know.

All in all, excellent game.

By: Gassalasca

Gassalasca — Sun, 10 May 2009 20:38:03 +0000

I’ve spent two whole days playing this… I hesitate to call it a game, it’s more like a synthetic drug. I’ve only got a couple of survivals left and I can’t stop.
I disagree with John regarding the music, and the artificiality of difficulty. However, I do wish it was a bit more challengin. Then again, it would take me a lot more than two days to finish it, and seeing how I’m terribly short on time I probably shouldn’t be complaining…

By: Sarajlija

Sarajlija — Sun, 10 May 2009 15:25:58 +0000

I very much disagree with the review. The game is cute looking and has a cool sense of humour. But it’s also terribly shallow and unchallenging. I played for five hours with the same tactics (two-three rows of sunflowers in the back, cabbage launchers and/or 3-pea shooters in the front, a mine to kill early zombies, some cherry and pepper grenades just in case), and had no problems whatsoever. Even casual players could be offended by this title and frankly I fail to see what all the hoopla is about. Oh, I can kill zombies with my plants! That is surely deserving a 9! LOL.

Oh yes, and I’ve played deep into the second campaing. Same stuff, and whichever tactics I employed that wasn’t totally nuts to begin with, I succeeded.

By: geldonyetich

geldonyetich — Sun, 10 May 2009 04:37:27 +0000

Personally, I don’t think it’s a “Then PopCap comes along and does it better, selling seventy trillion copies” thing.

It’s more like “Then PopCap comes along, does a capably-executed 640×480 resolution version that’s marketable to casual players, and uses their extensive publishing connections to pitch the game to seventy trillion potential players (the majority of them casual) and consequently sells seventy trillion copies.”

Quantity of players playing a game does not equal quality of the game – PopCap’s success has a lot more to do with them understanding their audience and being able to reach them.

PopCap games generally aren’t very deep. PopCap gets their moneybags from selling to the casual player, and the casual player fears really deep games.

That said, I enjoyed Plants versus Zombies. It’s true, it’s not hard, I had the gold statue before 2 days were out, but it was deeper than the usual PopCap offering and I enjoyed the journey if not the challenge.

Best $9.99 I ever spent on Steam. Heck, the cute music video alone was probably worth $2.50. It nearly approached a level of Portal’s “Still Alive” in unexpected awesome.

I probably wouldn’t have gone as high as $20, though, for two good reasons: 1. I’m not a casual player, not even close. (Though I am open-minded enough to try a casual game to see if it has anything redeemable about it.) 2. I’ve been caught jobless in a recession.

By: jk

jk — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:03:26 +0000

FUNNY, EASY AND WAY TO EASY.
I wish they would atleast have thoughed about some combo’s or strategic depth, now it’s just about planting a much sunflowers as possible.
My tactic, buy sunflowers until first zombie comes place mine, continue sunflowers, second zombie place walnut-mine, and from there you usually got enough advantage to win any level.
NOT WORTH THE MONEY

By: MD

MD — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:43:21 +0000

I should mention that my original post wasn’t actually meant as a complaint, as such. I was just pointing out that a) $20USD is a bit much for me at the moment, and b) I had hoped it would be less than that, based on past experience. They are welcome to charge whatever they like (I certainly don’t subscribe to the ‘I have a right to buy games at what I consider to be a reasonable price’ school of thought), and I’m sure that the game will be worth it for a lot of people — these things depend as much on the amount of disposable income we each have at any given time as they do on notions of what constitutes a ‘fair price’.

By: MD

MD — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:03:26 +0000

@ Ian and John: $19.99 USD is the Australian Steam price — the currency conversion is done at payment. Just checked the Popcap website, and it’s $19.95 there, in what I assume is US dollars. (Our exchange rate is all over the place, incidentally: 10 months ago the AUD was close to parity with the US dollar, peaking at about 98c, then it plummeted to the low 60s and sat there for a while, and now it’s back up to nearly 75c. So $20USD doesn’t actually equal $30AUD at the moment, but Paypal would probably see to that with its conversion rate.)

@ Wulf: Firstly, I’m right here! There’s no need to address me in the third person, nor to take such a smug tone. But basically all you have demonstrated is that new games are sold for ridiculous prices in Australia — not just in absolute terms, which is obviously a subjective issue, but relative to other countries. Equating $30AUD with 3-5 pounds is absurd, and your revised estimate of 7-9 pounds is still a long way off. The official exchange rate puts $30AUD at just under 15 pounds, i.e. ‘more than twice as much as seven pounds’. As Oddtwang pointed out though, the buying power of a given amount of money is probably more relevant than the official rate of exchange. $30AUD could buy me twenty-seven and a half loaves of bread at Woolworths.

So claiming that $30AUD is “pretty close to the UK price (which is £7)” is very silly, and the content of your post certainly doesn’t justify its tone.

Obviously $30 is still much less than ‘full price’ here, but that’s not really relevant to me as I don’t buy new games for full price. Plenty of great games end up in the $10 bin for those of us who are prepared to wait (and my rig is getting to the point where there are a lot of games it can’t even run, let alone with the graphics set to ‘better than games looked a few years ago’), and there are lots of big-name, relatively recent games available for decent prices online, especially if you wait for the sales. So no, my opinion on what constitutes a reasonable price isn’t based on straight-to-the-bargain-bin trivia games, or clouded by piracy. I certainly don’t put a $90 premium on getting something as soon as it comes out, though, and the fact that I can buy great games for $10 has more relevance than the fact that I could buy newer, equally good games for ten times that amount.