Plants vs. Zombies HD Review (iOS)

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AFTER PLAYING PVZ, ZOMBIES WILL NEVER LOOK THE SAME AGAIN

Genre: Tower Defense

Developer: PopCap

Version: 1.9.5

Modes: Single Player Only

In-App Purchases: In-Game Currency (Coins)

Price: USD0.99

GAME DESCRIPTION

Plants vs. Zombies HD is a single player tower defense game with you playing the role of a home owner trying to protect your home (and brains) from invading hordes of Zombies. You'll have to plant Plants that act as towers to stop the Zombies from reaching your home. If they reach your home, you'll have to restart the level (without any penalties). The game takes you through many levels with different stages, from day to night, from your front yard to your backyard and even the roof.

To complete a level, you'll need to survive all the waves of Zombies by preventing them from getting to your home. Your home is on the left and Zombies attack from the right, they move straight down the lane they spawned in and move towards your home. Unless of course, you force them to change lanes. The play area in the middle is where you'll place your Plants to defend your home. If a Zombie manages to amble/dance/charge right up to a Plant, it will try to eat it (apparently Zombies do eat vegetables). The only way to stop a Zombie from successfully eating it's way through your defenses is to kill it.

The types of Zombies that invade your home either change each level or new Zombies are added to the ones that invaded your home in the previous level. You'll be able to see which Zombies are going to take their turn at your home at the start of each match. You'll also be able to pick which Plants you'll take with you to defend your turf. Seed slots (slots for your Plants) are limited and you won't be able to bring all your Plants to battle.

As the game progresses, tougher Zombies will join the invasion, however, this is balanced by new Plants with different abilities being introduced, and new special items and extra seed slots being unlocked in the shop.

The game might seem really easy at early levels, however, in later levels the game gets pretty frantic with insane numbers of Zombies ready to exploit any holes in your defenses.

There's a large variety of Plants to choose from, all with different strengths, fiddling around with different combinations, you'll quickly find something that suits your individual playing style. From your standard basic Peashooter to more advanced Snow Peas and Melon-pults , PvZ has managed to make each individual Plant in it's extensive selection unique, giving players lots of freedom in exploring creative ways to protect their homes and their brains from the ravenous Zombies.

The adorable Zombies come in many forms and sizes, from "your regular garden-variety Zombie" to Dancing Zombies and even a huge Hulk-like Zombie with a tiny Zombie on his back. These Zombies each have their own personalities and unique tactics to destroying the Plants on your lawn and getting your brain. The huge variety of Zombies provide for hours of fun with Plants vs. Zombies HD.

Plants are grown using Sun as your resource, which falls randomly from the sky and also from Sun generating Plants like Sunflowers and Sun-shrooms, you collect them by tapping them. If Sun from Plants is left on the ground for too long they disappear, however, they do last pretty long and you won't have to be super fast to collect them.

Coins are used to unlock things like mini-games, special items and seed slots, these fall to the ground occasionally when a Zombie is killed and you'll even get some at the end of each level. Similar to Sun, if Coins are left on the ground for too long, they disappear. Coins are also collected by a simple intuitive tap.

The shop, run by Crazy Dave and also known as Crazy Dave's twiddydinkies, contains a range of special items, seed slots and Game Packs which unlock more fun ways to play Plants vs. Zombies HD. In-Game Coins can also be bought in the shop with real cash.

Other than the standard single player campaign, which already allows for hours of fun, Plants vs. Zombies also offers "more ways to play". You'll find puzzles and mini games here that can be purchased with Coins. One of the many mini games, "I, Zombie" - which is our favorite - even allows you to play as the Zombies against cardboard plants. They may be cardboard but they're just as deadly to your undead minions as the real things. You will have to use your Zombies to eat your way through all the cardboard plants and to the tasty brains left at the edge of the house, you win the level when your Zombies get to all the brains. A red line dictates where you can place your Zombies. You'll be able to drop your Zombie horde anywhere on the play area right up to the red line. Similar to growing Plants, you'll need to collect Sun to spawn Zombies.

GRAPHICS & AUDIO

Plants vs. Zombies  HD has managed to make fearsome brain hungry Zombies really cute. Well not just the Zombies, everything in the game is pretty adorable. The music and the Zombies' moans suit the theme of the game well and make for a very memorable experience. After playing Plants vs. Zombies HD, zombies will never look the same again.

REPLAYABILITY

With the variety of strategies that can be employed, Plants vs. Zombies has a high replayability level.

CONTROLS

Controls are intuitive, smooth and precise.

STABILITY

The game did not crash a single time while we were playing, neither was it laggy or choppy.

IN-APP PURCHASES

600,000 Coins for USD3.99
250,000 Coins for USD1.99
100,000 Coins for USD0.99

Items in the shop cost from 200 Coins to 150,000 Coins. We like that you'll be able to enjoy the standard campaign in Plants vs. Zombies HD without spending any money (other than the initial purchase). You'll be able to earn enough Coins during the game to buy the items you like for the standard campaign. Mini games are generally decently priced, the most expensive costing 150,000 Coins.

SHOULD I GET THIS?

You'll probably love Plants vs. Zombies  HD if you enjoy light hearted games with humour. You need not be a fan of Tower Defense games or Zombies to enjoy this. This game is suited to gamers of different skill levels. If you're looking for a multiplayer game, this is definitely not the game for you.

DISCLAIMER
The product(s) featured in this review were purchased/obtained by ice cream when the sky is grey.