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Macworld has published a new review of Plants vs. Zombies, PopCap Games take on the immortal struggle between vegetation and the undead. The tower defense title challenges players to make use of a variety of plants to defend their home, and their brain, from a horde of hungry zombies. Macworld gave the game a score of 4.5 out of 5 mice.

From the review:

As a tower defense strategy game, Plants vs. Zombies is remarkably deep. There are over 24 types of seeds and zombies, so the game goes far beyond the typical “rock-paper-scissors” formula. Some plants will be nearly universally useful, while others will be very helpful against some very deadly specialty zombies. For example, when playing throughout the backyard missions (where you’ll have to deploy lily pads or other water-based plants to fend off inflatable-duck-wearing zombies) I had to be vigilant against mining zombies that could burrow under my lines and attack me from my flank. I eventually deployed twin direction pea pods and potato mines—the combination helped stave back the horde and I lived for another day.

This addictive game has six main levels in adventure mode, split into a number of missions per level. You’ll defend your front yard, backyard and roof in both nighttime and daytime settings, using different plants for each mission. As you progress, you’ll unlock the other modes of the game, a Zen garden, and an almanac explaining the abilities of your plants and your enemy zombies. There are 20 mini-games, 20 puzzle missions, and 11 survival modes that require you to survive with a given lawn for a specific time. Each environment has its own advantages and challenges, but by the end you’ll be wishing they were more varied, exotic, and bigger.

On my 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro, the distinctive art came through in bright colors and vivid detail. As a cartoon-based strategy game, I imagine that a lesser processor could handle the workload, even with a large army of zombies on the screen at any one time.

I laughed several times out loud during my many hours playing this game. When you beat a level in adventure mode, you’ll often obtain a note from the zombies. They’ll ask, in poorly spelled handwriting, to either leave your home unguarded or to surrender or some other poorly conceived plan to get to you. The “help” menu in the game tells you to “just sit there and don’t do anything. You win the game when the Zombies get to your houze.”

Macworld: Plants vs Zombies Review

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Plants vs. Zombies

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