Gaming Flavour ~ Plants vs. Zombies

Hi dudes and dudettes! It’s Donna from the cotesinfinis team, I do a variety of blog posts, trying to keep my posts entertaining and with different viewpoints. Today I am going to introduce to you a game of the month that myself and my fellow bloggers on the cotesinfinis team have been addicted and love to reduce stress and take our minds of certain things.

Plants vs. Zombies Logo

Available on the PlayStore on Android Devices, App Store on Apple, All major consoles PS3, Xbox360, Vita, Nintendo DS and on the computer itself.

The game is called Plants vs. Zombies. It was developed by PopCap Games which is a video game company part of one the biggest publishers in the gaming industry Electronic Arts. You may know PopCap Games from games like BejeweledNoah’s ArkZuma, just to name a few of their popular games. The company floundered on the aspect of casual gaming as more devices and technology was readily becoming available for the general public to consume and use in our daily lives. Ever since Apple’s iPhone device hit the market, our lives have changed forever. Many of us have a smartphone nearby ready to be used for many different things like web browsing, calling, texting, etc. Not only does it do these things rather you can use it to game as the graphics and memory have improved every year. Not only that the ability of touch screen has created an emphasis on creating devices larger than smartphones such as tablets which improve our productivity and lack of requirement for a computer, as all these devices are able to do things a computer can do (not all as there are some aspects that we do require a computer to do such as creating sophisticated artwork on photoshop, etc.). Back to the topic on hand, plants vs. zombies is readily available in many technological outlets whether it be Android, Apple, or even Windows for that matter. So everyone out there with different technological devices can play the game whether you are a hardcore gamer or a casual gamer like myself, these casual gaming platforms don’t require much for you to know rather basic rules which in turn can help produce the strategies you will eventually develops as the levels get harder.

Plants vs. Zombies

Concept Art

The game plants vs. zombies is known as a tower defence genre which is common to many casual gaming platforms like castle defence, tower defence, etc. Although on different platforms the game functionality may be different due to controller use aspects that need to be considered. There are many game modes available in the game which give a creative change and entertainment factor to keep gamers on their feet on what decisions they must create. For those who enjoy strategy type games, although this may be simple for those hardcore strategy type gamers, this still challenges you in the decisions you make and helps you develop those necessary strategy’s for upcoming levels. The concept itself is very idealistic in a society where zombies has become very popular, especially with the Resident Evil series and other zombie type series influencing our likelihood to associate with a game. The creator had a very unique idea of mixing in a satirical sense of zombies coming after plants, as we all know zombies prefer to have meat, so this fresh take on zombies entertains us.

Gameplay

Gameplay

There are a variety of game modes that plants vs. zombies gives us in which we can play a single-player walkthrough the story, or a multi-player walkthrough, and Adventure mode in which a player can earn money to spend in the store which can upgrade and give gamers bonuses that can be used. There are extra modes available found in the main story in which are composed of a survival game, puzzle mode, vase-breaker mode and mini-games of many assortment. There are many achievements that you can gain throughout the story in which you can challenge your friends in completing the challenges and challenging your scores or achievements.

The gameplay requires some knowledge from the player but the rules and functions of each plant are extensively shown every time you attain a new plant which helps in you developing those particular strategies for later games or levels. The player has to develop some offensive and defensive strategies to fully win a level, there may be decisions that you create that may help or not help you in the long-run. There is two part secondary defence in the game, there is you and the lawn mowers by the house. Obviously, as a gamer you try not to use the lawn mowers as this would leave an opening to your house if some zombies are able to get in. Thus you must be able to use yourself as the primary main defence first and avoid utilizing the lawn mowers as best you can. Obviously at certain levels certain decisions may force you to have an opening as it may be too late. The main thing is you must plant the right plant and have proper resources to plant those specific plants to defend your house and attack the zombies. You can buy upgrades to help out your offensive and defensive abilities via the store to help you in your quest to finish the storyline or game. The game uses many layouts in which is mainly in the front yard but intakes realistic nature of the game in which could be daytime or nighttime levels in which nighttime levels are more challenging as the sun you require is needed to help maintain your offence and defence. The nighttime levels prove most challenging as the number of suns decrease, there is also use of the weather such as fog, lightning and even at the rooftop which has some challenges for the player to confront, which keeps us entertained.

I myself own both the android version which I play on my Sony Tablet and the ps3 version (yes I am one Sony freak) and I actually prefer the ps3 version even if I am a casual gamer. The tablet versions deem to be a more difficult in comparison to console games. This may be due to the cheaper price of the tablet or mobile versions in comparison to the console version. So, if you really want a challenge pick the tablet version as this is more readily accessible, and if you have a console and would like to try it out on there give it a whiz! Trust me you will be entertained and enjoy the strategy component to it. My strategy, use those sunflowers to the full-most extent so you can have enough resources for your offence and defence.

So if you need a game to play for a small price try out Plants vs. Zombies. There has been a newer version which is the sequel to Plants vs. Zombies known as Plants vs. Zombies 2: It’s About Time where the storyline has somewhat change as the main premise is due to time travel to keep the storyline and game interesting. There are a fewer upgrades, newer plants, better graphics and colouring on the newer version in comparison to its predecessor. I enjoy both, but at the moment I am playing two because of the new features it has. So if you would like to try a free game since the first version Plants vs. Zombies isn’t free, then try out Plants vs. Zombies 2, you don’t need to play the first one in order to play the sequel, they have a new tutorial system on the sequel to help you out on your adventure.  Hope you guys enjoy! I am heading out to play some more! Laters guys!

xoxo Donna.

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