Bay 12 Games Forum
Other Projects => Other Games => Topic started by: Kagus on May 19, 2009, 10:09:23 am
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So, just recently (yesterday, I believe), I downloaded the trial to Plants vs. Zombies off of Steam, and decided to give the highly-advertised indie game a whirl.
I was a bit skeptic when I first started it up and it informed me that I had 60 minutes left of the free trial. Have I mentioned how much I hate, abhor and loathe timed trials? Well, I do. A lot.
But, since I wasn't really expecting all the much anyways, I decided to try it out just the same.
I ended up blowing through the whole sixty minutes in one go. The gameplay is simplistic and addictive (while still allowing for a level of tactics, especially later in the game), the graphics are quite functional and not nearly as disgusting as I had thought they might be, and I felt mightily gipped when the trial ran out.
The game blew away my rather low expectations and revealed a game that is most certainly worth playing (paying is another matter, but it's definitely worth playing). I remember fearing an "annoying helper" when the crazy neighbour poked his head into the picture, but the chap is actually one of the more entertaining "crazy" characters I have experienced in gaming. And the babbling nonsense of his voice acting is indescribably charming.
In short, I am fearfully close to actually spending money. Is there anyone else who would like to share their experiences with this game, or would like to point me towards a free alternative before I do something unspeakable?
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THERE'S A ZOMBIE ON YOUR LAWN!!!
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I don't know why, but that just made me start giggling uncontrollably.
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I guess it's another "tower defence"?
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To an extent, I suppose. There's another name for this genre, I just don't remember what it is. It's a defense game, certainly.
I highly recommend you try it out. It's very easy to get into, and Steam allows for quick and easy downloading.
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Well, the Gem Tower Defense (http://www.gemtowerdefense.com/) game is probably my favorite tower defense game so far. It's free, and the strategy gets quite deep as you try to beat the higher difficulty levels.
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Woah, somebody did it?! I've played a GEM TD in Warcraft III a lot. And it has DF sprites. EPIC :D.
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Yeah, I remember playing that thing a long time back. I also remember a tower defense game with various big weapon installations, and if you linked them together in certain combinations you could end up with world-nuking guns o' DOOM.
It's fun, but it's still a tower defense, which PvZ isn't.
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OK, you've encouraged me to try it :D.
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Sill a tower defense, which PvZ isn't.
How would you classify PvZ, then? The screenshots I saw of it made it look like one. (Well, a variant, anyway).
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LOL EPIC :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N1_0SUGlDQ
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That's just it, I don't really know how to classify PvZ. A standard Tower Defense game seems to be based around a set path (or checkpoints) where a number of disinterested enemies travel along towards your base. You create a massive amount of defenses along the sides of this path, which try to destroy the enemies before they can reach your base. The enemies generally do not interact with your defenses in any other way than getting shot at by them.
I suppose the best description of PvZ would really be a "Base Defense" game. The zombies will interact fully with all your defenses, munching up your delightful little plants while making their way towards the house.
There are around five individual rows on the lawn (might be more later on in the game), all of which lead directly to the house. The defenses on one row (generally) cannot interact with the zombies on other rows, and the zombies on one row (generally) cannot interact with the defenses on other rows. You therefore need to build five different defensive lines in order to prevent all the zombies from reaching your house.
Furthermore, you do not gain resources from killing enemies like in a standard TD (well, you can get "bonus points" from them, with which you can buy stuff from your crazy neighbour. Like a pet snail). You plant your defenses using solar power, which drops down from the top of the screen intermittently. However, the rate at which solar power is dropped is much too slow to fuel any real defense, so you need to plant several resource-generating plants (sunflowers, solar mushrooms, Etc.) which will periodically spew out some solar power for you to pick up. Early in the game you need to balance resource use between setting up more solar generators or placing defenses.
Another twist arrives at nighttime, where solar power does not drop from the top of the screen. Also, standard plants do not grow at night, so you need to use an entirely different set of plants, including solar mushrooms which do not produce as much solar power as sunflowers (after quite some time, they do grow up to match sunflower production however). This creates an interesting economic crisis during nighttime maps, which is slightly offset by being able to spawn weak basic defense mushrooms for free.
You will eventually unlock more and more different types of plants, which you will eventually need to manage as you cannot have access to all your unlocked plant types at once. Prioritize, make favorites, and style your "deck" to suit your style (and save a place for cherry bombs. Seriously, those things rock).
Yeah, base defense would probably be the best description of PvZ. But to find out the real charm of this thing, you just need to give it a whirl and find out for yourself. It's very easy to get the gist of, while still providing a challenge, and it keeps the relatively simplistic gameplay varied enough so as not to get dull. Overall, it's quite well made.
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If you want a few days of your life getting sucked away, I heartily recommend Plants vs Zombies.
After hearing all the hype about this game I finally succumbed and bought it on Tuesday and just now closed it because I didn't want to play it any more, as opposed to only closing it in the last two days because I really had to do something, like sleep.
I've clocked now 15 fun-filled hours of PvZ, but I wonder if I'll get that many more. Survival Mode is the only thing I got left and I have such a foolproof defence for it (don't underestimate garlic) that I just can't be arsed to set it up for every stage (especially since with the lily-pads it's exactly the same for all non-roof stages). For the same reason I don't want to play Adventure Mode again. The mini-games and puzzles are the funnest part of the game and they've run quite dry now too, though I really want to get the achievements for Vasebreaker and I, Zombie, which is my favourite mode.
It's a well-made game alright, but the fact that it makes me feel more like "I have to play" than "I want to play" is quite disconcerting.
When I'm completely done with it, it'll probably be almost worth the ten bucks it cost me.
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LOL EPIC :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N1_0SUGlDQ
THERE'S A ZOMBIE ON YOUR LAWN!!!
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This is also a tower defense game. There are two types. One is the linear path type, ala Gem Tower Defense. The other is a free form path where you can either herd enemies or they just walk over your defenses. Theres one where you try to defend you cake against ants Ah thats its name antbuster.
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LOL EPIC :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N1_0SUGlDQ
THERE'S A ZOMBIE ON YOUR LAWN!!!
WE DON'T WANT ZOMBIES ON THE LAWN!!!
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LOL EPIC :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N1_0SUGlDQ
THERE'S A ZOMBIE ON YOUR LAWN!!!
WE DON'T WANT ZOMBIES ON THE LAWN!!!
BRAINS ARE QUITE RICH IN CHOLESTEROL!!!