PopCap Reveals Plants vs. Zombies

[Keane Ng]

PopCap Reveals Plants vs. Zombies

The newest game from Peggle-creators PopCap is a tower defense game that pits, you guessed it, plants against zombies.

Some rivalries ring out through the annals of time. Yankees vs. Red Sox. McDonald's vs. Burger King. Nintendo vs. Sega. French toilets vs German toilets [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwTJXHNP0bg]. Plants vs...zombies? Alright, that's a new one but I suppose it's actually not all that weird considering it comes from the wacky minds at PopCap, the creators of uber-addictive (and equally ridiculous) casual games like Peggle and Zuma.

Offworld [http://www.popcap.com/games/pvz], it appears that Plants vs. Zombies is PopCap's take on the popular tower defense genre in which the player is tasked with defending a base from oncoming waves of enemies. Zombies are trying to get into a house so they can snack on some brains, and it's up to you to use plants to stop them.

There are different types of plants, each with different strategic uses like killing zombies, repelling zombies, creating light, etc, according to a PopCap staffer posting on Quarter to Three [http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=1652220&postcount=26]. Seems that you choose a different "deck" of six or so plants that you can use on a given stage. The zombies, meanwhile, also come in several varieties. In the trailer, there's a zombie with a screen door shield, a zombie with a cone on its head, a zombie shark and maybe even a gigantic zombie.

Hopefully we'll get more details soon, but in the meantime, you can sign up for early access to the game by adding your email to the mailing list over here [http://www.popcap.com/games/pvz].


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[super_smash_jesus]

Its like George Ramero versus M. Night Shamylan.

god "the happening" was horrible.....

 

[Thingo]

Yeah, i bet they were smoking another kind of plants when they got the idea...

But this game is pretty pointless, you can play tons of free tower defence games on newgrounds, kongregate and other flash sites.

 

[Nova Tendril]

I always imagined plants turning people into zombies, not plants fighting zombies.

It's a tower defense game? Not surprised.

 

[Susan Arendt]

I've played the game. It's friggin fantastic.

 

[Liverandbacon]

I've played the game. It's friggin fantastic.

I think I remember seeing a preview for this in a gaming magazine a while back, but it had a different title. It said you could plant things like pea-shooters and cherry bombs to defen your garden. Is this still the case, Susan?

Edit: It also had zombies in American Football uniforms which looked quite friendly and endearing as far as zombies go.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

this sounds like something out of the brain of some half-starved horror writer kept alive on ritalin and twinkies

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

I've played the game. It's friggin fantastic.

Awesome. I may buy it, but it looks like something I could get off addictinggames or something.

 

[Arcyde]

This combination is so random.

Where did they come up with this?

 

[NoDamnNames]

good thing the zombies are race indeterminable...

 

[ranc0re]

Tower defence? Again? About 50% of casual games seem to be tower defence clones now.

 

[Keane Ng]

I've played the game. It's friggin fantastic.

I think I remember seeing a preview for this in a gaming magazine a while back, but it had a different title. It said you could plant things like pea-shooters and cherry bombs to defen your garden. Is this still the case, Susan?

Edit: It also had zombies in American Football uniforms which looked quite friendly and endearing as far as zombies go.

Yes, the football player zombies seem to be in here.

 

[Disembodied_Dave]

Really how many Tower Defense games do we really need?

 

[BobisOnlyBob]

There's a zombie on your lawn.
There's a zombie on your lawn.
We don't want zombies on the lawn.

 

[John Funk]

I've played the game. It's friggin fantastic.

I've watched her and Jordan Deam play the game. It looked friggin' fantastic.

 

[Imat]

Really how many Tower Defense games do we really need?

How many MMO's do we need? How many FPS's do we need? HOW MUCH OXYGEN DO WE NEED?!?!?

barring that last one, they all have one thing in common: They're all a particular genre which appeals to a different group of people (Not to say there is no overlap). Tower defense (Or defence, given the situation) maps may seem limited, but I'm willing to bet they turn big profits off this game.

 

[Disembodied_Dave]

Really how many Tower Defense games do we really need?

How many MMO's do we need? How many FPS's do we need? HOW MUCH OXYGEN DO WE NEED?!?!?

barring that last one, they all have one thing in common: They're all a particular genre which appeals to a different group of people (Not to say there is no overlap). Tower defense (Or defence, given the situation) maps may seem limited, but I'm willing to bet they turn big profits off this game.

Including all those... If there is extremely noticeable variation and differences other than appearance then there is no point. Regardless of genre or medium. And sure they'll make money, but that doesn't mean that the game will be interesting or anything.

 

[Nia-san]

Wow what a concept, even thought its kinda like a tower defense game. Plants vs Zombies has originality. Defiantly a great game for when you meed distractions.