The GadgetHigh App Store Pick of the Week is a weekly series of posts where we talk about an app for iDevices that we just can’t put down. This weeks app is a game that I first picked up when it was available for OSX. It’s developed by Popcap Games and is in my opinion, their best title.
The game is a variation of a Tower Defense but it has much more to offer than meets the eye. The storyline is straightforward. You are protecting your house from brain hungry zombies with plants as your weapons. Plant defenses range from the simple pea shooter to a cabbage catapult. All in all there are over 50 types of plants that each have their own abilities. Once unlocked, plants can be used whenever you want throughout the game but in any given level you must choose either 7, 8, or 9 types of plants to defend your house depending on how many slots you have unlocked. Plants have recharge times that vary based on the plant. For instance a puff shroom takes only seconds to recharge while a cherry bomb takes a large chunk of time.
The zombies in the game vary just as much as the plants do. There are the regular run of the mill zombies which are seen on every level, but every once in a while we run into a pop sensation(Michael Jackson) zombie who will break out into a thriller dance and summon four back up dancing zombies to help or even a zomboni who of course lays down the ice so that the zombie bobsled team can attempt to penetrate your stronghold.
Instead of the usual currency of dollars in tower defense games, Plants versus Zombies uses a unique method of sunlight to purchase plants. Plants can range from 25 to 325 sun. Sun isn’t gained from killing zombies like most other games. Instead during daytime levels sun will spontaneously fall from the sky, or sunflowers can be purchased and they will produce sunlight over time. During nighttime levels you must plant sun producing plants otherwise you won’t receive any sun. Money is also given every once in a while but is used to purchase bonus plants and defenses.
Zombies travel in a straight line, of which there are five or six depending on the environment and won’t veer off of their path(unless off course they run into a piece of garlic). There are three environments in Plants versus Zombies. The first is the front yard. Very straightforward, five paths for zombies day time then night time and that’s it. Then comes the backyard. In the backyard there are four lines of land for the zombies to travel on and also two lines of pool area. In the pool you have to use the select few water plants, or else you have to first plant a lily pad which allows you to plant normal plants on top of it. The final frontier is the roof of your house. Because of the slanted roof, regular straight shooters won’t do you any good and this forces you to use the three catapult plants instead. This offers new challenges in itself.
The game has an adventure mode and a quick play mode which is unlocked by beating adventure mode. I am currently on the second to last of the 50 adventure mode levels and so unfortunately I can’t tell you what quick play mode looks like. At $2.99 this game is a steal and provides hours of replay value. Simply stated, go get this and you won’t regret it.
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