Plants vs. Zombies Adventures Beta Impressions ~ Crash To Desktop

Plants vs. Zombies was my first tower defense game and I loved it. Originally I had purchased it for my ex boyfriend and watched him play it; but it wasn't until a friend eventually purchased it me for Christmas, (where I managed to finish it in the same day) that I became a fan.

I wanted to play more of it, but it was too short and I was relying on survival mode to still feel like I would benefit from playing it (if you grow your tree of wisdom to one million feet you will unlock zombie mode, but that’s overboard despite mine currently sitting over halfway to that goal) and not go insane via the achievements for vase breaker and I, zombie.

For anyone who has not played Plants vs. Zombies or perhaps haven’t played a tower defense game before, you’re the plants defending your home (and brains!) from a variety of unique hungry zombies.

You start off with sun power which is used to purchase offensive and defensive plants, and sunflowers that can then generate more sun power for you. The action takes place in different environments, with different weather effects. You can be battling in the back garden on a foggy or clear night, outside a swimming pool, or even on the roof of your home.

You’re quickly taught which plants counter which zombie and then relied upon to counter each wave accordingly, earning you money to purchase perks, and upgrades to your agricultural army. This is absolutely essential in order to progress to the harder stages later on.

The game started off on the PC platform, but currently sits on ten different platforms. I have personally played through the game on the PC, DS and Xbox and I would play it on more platforms if it was not for the financial implications of having to buy them all!

The game does have achievements you can earn if you wish, with no reward other than to feel good about yourself, which if you’re a completionist (which I sometimes am) could appeal to you.

It’s a simple but effective game which can be taught in bullet points, I personally would love to see it progress into more. With the announcement of Plants vs. Zombies 2 coming out in July 2013, I am left anxious but excited to see what they will do with it.

With the recent release of the open beta of Plants vs. Zombies Adventures on the 20^th of May 2013; I am under the impression that we will see some of the new plants and zombies introduced in this Facebook game, in the sequel.

I can imagine the difficulty in creating new whacky and amusing zombies/plants that fit into the games sense of humour, and as a closed beta player of the game, I can say that so far I am impressed. I have found myself chuckling plenty of times at the jokes and discoveries in the game.

Years ago I would play Facebook games that would rely on you having a lot of neighbours/friends, or expect you to pay money into the game in order to actually progress. The ultimatum was this: either be patient or spend real life money on a virtual game (that in theory is free). The problem remains that micro transactions can be addictive and stack up over time, only for you to eventually get bored of the game and not play it anymore. This has happened to me a few times with the exception of MMO's, which seem to invoke a bigger commitment.

Another addictive part of games such as these is the fact you’re competing against your friends; some people may not be bothered about this, but when it comes to Adventures, I want to be the top of the scoreboards!

The nice thing about Adventures is that you’re not pressured into spending money in the game in order to progress; you’re allowed to complete previous stages to earn Zombucks which allow you to pay for the people required in order to progress to the next stage. This is very useful if you find you don’t have any friends playing it, where as previous games I’ve played would require you to spend money or recruit your friends.

The game makes it optional rather than mandatory to spend money on it, and the only real benefit from spending money, is so you can finish it quicker. If you’re struggling to learn how to play it, and you’re rolling in money you're able to simply pay for each stage's completion if you lose.

Other superfluous perks for spending money is the ability to plant more plants that grow over time, or decorations that will increase your income to purchase buildings/plants but again, this is merely time saving and you shouldn’t feel forced into spending money.

I haven’t seen a game like it on Facebook, it's a tower defense game with friends! I sometimes enjoy sending a wave of zombies to a neighbours building, stopping them from getting coins from it for a few hours. I love the evil feeling when I write my own zombie written note, then wait for their retaliation later when they find they have been attacked.

I do hope the game retains this simple fun throughout its lifetime, I wouldn’t want Popcap to become money hungry (but then EA did buy them out a few years ago and I personally do not have a pleasant opinion of EA).

I think it will be difficult to create new stages, levels, plants, zombies, characters and more to add to the game, but we shall see where it goes. I simply enjoy having something new to play in the Plants vs. Zombies series, and with my friends nonetheless!

Plants vs. Zombies 2 will be out in July 2013 and this certainly will warm up my anticipation for the release, awaiting it with grubby little hands.

Do you feel the money you pay into a Facebook game is worth it compared to an MMO or individual game?

Do you feel that micro-transactions in games are justifiable, or do you prefer to pay for a game you can play and have all the features for?

Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter.