Plants vs. Zombies

Overview

Zombies are invading your home and the only way to stop them is by making use of your supply of undead-killing plants. You have a variety of plants at your disposal such as pea-shooters, cherry bombs, wall-nuts, and potato mines to name a few. There are different kinds of zombies with unique properties that attempt to cross the player's lawn. Earn an arsenal of 49 plants to stop the zombies from invading your home. The game features obstacles such as a setting sun, a creeping fog, and a swimming pool to make each level more challenging. This game plays similarly to a traditional tower defense game that will enhance your action-strategy skills.

Plants vs. Zombies was originally released as a flash game on PopCap's website. It is also available as an installable game PC, Mac, and iOS devices. However, the versions available on iOS devices only contain Adventure mode and lack the modes available in the other versions. The iPad version of the game, named Plants vs. Zombies HD features higher resolution graphics over the iPhone and iPod Touch version. The game was released on XBLA on September 8th, 2010. The Xbox 360 version has been available bundled in a retail disk with Zuma and Peggle since September 28th, 2010.

Gameplay

Plants vs Zombies is a tower defense game. The player saves up resources (solar energy) to buy and place plants on a 5x9 grid that represents their lawn. Zombies slowly move from the right of the screen to the player's house on the left. Unlike most tower defense games, the zombies generally move in a straight path along the grid. Over the course of the game, the player earns and buys additional plants. The player is only allowed to use a certain number of plants in a level. At the beginning of every level, the player must choose which plants to use. There are a variety of unique plants to choose from, ranging between multiple types of offensive and defensive plants.

The goal of the game is to prevent the zombies from reaching your home and eating your brains. Each level has a column of lawnmowers, pool cleaners, or roof cleaners that serve as a final line of defense. If a zombie manages to get through every obstacle in its way then one of the defenses is triggered and all enemies in that row are automatically destroyed. Their is only one defensive machine in each row and each one can only be used once per level. Lawnmowers are automatically given to the player, but pool and roof cleaners must be purchased from Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies, which serves as the game's shop. If a single zombie manages to make it past the final line of defense the player loses.

Players are awarded coins or diamonds at the end of the level, with bonus coins awarded for remaining final defenses. Zombies sometimes also drop coins. Coins can be used to buy new plants and other items from the player's neighbor, Crazy Dave.

Every ten levels, the game changes from day to night (and so on), requiring different strategies and plants that normally only work at night. Some night stages also feature a blanket of fog that hides a portion of the playing grid from the player. After 20 levels, the zombies make an attempt on the player's backyard, where they have a pool that spans the length of the level, requiring completely different plants to defend. The final set of levels has the player fighting zombies on the roof of their house where the player needs to buy flower pots to be able to use any plant.

Some levels in the game's Adventure Mode don't use solar energy or let the player choose which plants to bring into the level. These levels instead have a scrolling bar at the top of the screen where different plants appear in the form of a card. The player then simply takes the card and plants it whenever he or she chooses, without having to use the economic portion of the game. However, the unpredictability of the scrolling bar tends to make these levels more hectic than usual.

Other modes and levels change the game mechanics entirely, presenting the player with bowling levels, variations on PopCap favorites such as Bejeweled and Insaniquarium, or allowing the player to control the zombies in order to defeat the plants.

Plants

Economy Plants

Economic Plants are the plants that add to the player's resource-collection rate. These plants spawn solar-points which are then used to create more plants. The most basic of these are the Happy Sunflowers, which spawn solar-points during daytime. Its mushroom counterpart, which is the Sun-shroom, sleeps during the day but produces solar-points at night. Instead of giving you solar-points, the Marigold flower gives you silver and gold coins.

Plant	Description	Sun Cost
	The Sunflower is essential for the player as it produces extra sun. It costs 50 solar-points and it produces one normal-sized piece of sun (worth 25 solar-points) every 24.3 seconds.	50
	This analog to the Sunflower is less expensive, but starts out small, producing only 15 sun units until they grow to full size and produce 25. Like all mushrooms, sun-shrooms sleep during daytime levels.	25
	Marigolds periodically drop silver and gold coins. These plants are similar to the Sunflower, but they produce money instead of sun. Every 24 seconds, the Marigold drops a silver ($10) or gold coin ($50) which can then be used for purchases from Crazy Dave.	50

Offensive Plants

Offensive Plants attack the incoming waves of zombies. There are a large number of different offensive plants and only a few are listed below. In order to properly hold off the undead horde, one must use different offensive strategies depending on the situation.

Plant	Description	Sun Cost
	The Peashooter is basic line of defense. They shoot peas at attacking zombies. Peashooters are able to decapitate normal zombies in ten shots.	100
	A one-time use weapon that will blast the zombies on whatever square it's planted on as well as adjacent squares. It has a very quick charge, but it causes no damage if eaten before it explodes.	150
	A close relative to the Peashooter, this plant fires ice peas that freeze whatever zombie it hits, greatly slowing their forward progress. They do the same damage as a Peashooter and have the same firing rate, though they cost 175 sun.	175
	Chompers devour normal-sized zombies in one bite, but take plenty of time to chew their food at which point they are completely defenseless. They can attack one square ahead of them, so they do best planted behind another unit.	150
	Another close relative of the Peashooter, but this one shoots two peas at once.	200
	Threepeaters shoot peas across three different lanes.	325
	Split Peas shoot peas forward and backwards, useful against digger zombies.	125
	This is the weakest mushroom, being the first plant the player comes across with limited range (3 squares). On the other hand, the Puff-shroom is free to plant, making it useful during the night when sun is scarce.	0
	Fires a burst of spores that passes through screen doors that zombies carry for defense. Their attacks act as area-of-effect, since all within range are hit by the spores.	75
	Scaredy-shrooms are long-range shooters that hide when enemies get near them.	25
	Temporarily freezes all zombies on the screen. The ice-shroom disappears after applying the freezing effect. Some special zombies are either unaffected or merely slowed by this attack.	75
	The Doom-shroom is the most powerful of all exploding plants. It destroys all zombies in a large area and leaves a crater. The crater cannot be planted on but disappears in three minutes.	125
	Jalapeño deals heavy damage to an entire lane of zombies.	125
	Torchwoods turn peas that pass through them into fireballs that deal twice as much damage. (Snow Peas that pass through Torchwood melt into regular peas.)	175
	Sea-shrooms are aquatic plants that shoot short ranged spores. The pool-based equivalent of a puff-shroom, they can be planted without use of a lily-pad.	0
	Starfruits shoot stars in 5 directions.	125
	Cabbage-pults hurl cabbages at the enemy, useful on roof levels where the angle makes using peashooters much less useful.	100
	The Kernel-pult is an offensive lobbed-shot plant for the roof levels. It launches either light-damage kernels or normal-damage butter which temporarily stall zombies.	100
	The Melon-pult lobs watermelons at incoming zombies. The watermelons smash on impact, causing further damage to other nearby zombies.	300

Defensive Plants

Defensive plants act as supporting-plants, where they hold off or divert the attacking swarm long enough for the offensive plants to cause heavy damage. They are best used in conjunction with other plants to ensure home safety.

Plant	Description	Sun Cost
	These are useful when placed in front of other plants the player wants to protect.. The Wall-nut takes a great deal of damage before getting destroyed, allowing the player to damage tougher zombies without risking critical attack pieces. Advanced zombies are able to jump or fly over the Wall-nut.	50
	This inexpensive fellow takes awhile to activate after being planted, but once he does, he'll blow up any zombie that steps on him, dealing instant death to all but the strongest units.	25
	When eaten, it causes the eating zombie to turn around and fight for the player. Can only be consumed once and they cost 75 sun to plant.	75
	Tall-nuts are heavy-duty wall plants that can't be vaulted over. Ladder zombies are still able to climb over them and other advanced zombies can squish them. They can take 144 bites before being destroyed and they cost 125 sun.	125
	Squashes will smash the first zombie that gets close to it. They deal area-of-effect damage to all zombies that happen to be there when triggered.	50
	Pumpkins do not take up a grid-space of their own, but are planted on other plants. They shelter that plant for the same number of bites as a wall-nut, though a number of zombie types can still vault over them.	125
	Tangle Kelp are aquatic plants that pull the first zombie that nears them underwater.	25
	Blovers immediately blow away all balloon zombies on the field and also temporarily removes all fog from the map.	100
	Single-use plants that consumes a grave. During night-time levels, graves obstruct planting and serve as spawn points for zombies. It takes around five seconds for the Grave Buster to destroy the grave and the plant can still be consumed by zombies while working.	75
	Garlic diverts zombies into other lanes.	50
	Umbrella Leaves protect plants in a 3x3 square radius from bungees and catapults.	100
	Magnet-shrooms remove metal objects from zombies within a circular radius. This serves a variety of purposes; helmets can be removed to lower defense, ladders can be eliminated as a threat, jack-in-the-box explosives can be neutralized, etc.	100
	Spikeweeds cannot be eaten and hurt zombies walking on them. They also pop tires that attempt to drive over them, but then the spikeweed is destroyed in the process.	100

Utility Plants

These plants don't fit well within the offensive or defensive categories, but are nevertheless essential for surviving the zombie apocalypse.

Plant	Description	Sun Cost
	Lily pads let the player plant non-aquatic plants on top of them. This is used for levels in the backyard, where the player has a pool covering the majority of grid-squares.	25
	A mushroom pant is usually asleep during daytime levels, but each can be woken up by planting a coffee bean on it. Though mushrooms are cheap, Coffee Beans cost 75 sun, so the player must ensure that using the mushroom is economically efficient.	75
	Planterns light up an area, letting the player see through fog on levels in which it hides the identities of incoming zombies.	25
	Flower Pots let the player plant on the roof by placing other plants on them.	25
	Imitaters let you use two of the same plant during a level, which means you do not have to wait for the plant to recharge. The Imitater can not imitate the so-called "Upgrade Plants", but only the regular plants that you do not have to buy from Crazy Dave. When you want to purchase a plant (using solar-points) using the Imitater, you will have to wait for about 2 seconds before the Imitator turns into that plant. The plants you bought using the Imitator will have a lighter shade (unless they got upgraded). You can purchase this item for $30,000 in Crazy Dave's shop. The Imitater is the only buyable plant that does not get more expensive after every purchase during the "endless survival mode".	Depends

Upgrade Plants

Unlike the other plants in the game, upgrade plants are purchased from Crazy Dave's Shop instead of being earned through the adventure mode. They are displayed on purple cards and regenerate slower than the other cards. They are each planted on and thus enhance a specific other plant type,

Plant	Description	Sun Cost
	Upgrades the Repeater. Gatling Peas fire four peas per reload cycle (as opposed to the two of the repeater). You can purchase this upgrade for $5,000 in Crazy Dave's shop.	250
	Upgrades the Sunflower. The Twin Sunflower produces 50 sun each cycle instead of 25 sun per cycle. It is more expensive and requires more time between plantings than the normal sunflower, but allows double the space economy. You can purchase this upgrade for $5,000 in Crazy Dave's shop.	150
	Upgrades the Fume-Shroom. Gloom-shroom emits puffs of fumes in all directions when a zombie is nearby. You can purchase this upgrade for $7,500 in Crazy Dave's shop.	150
	Upgrades the lily-pad. The Cattail is a versatile attacker that targets the closest zombie. It can also shoot down air targets in any lane. You can purchase this upgrade for $10,000 from Crazy Dave's shop.	225
	Upgrades the Melon-Pult. The Winter Melon deals an area attack that affects multiple rows of zombies and slows their movement. You can purchase this upgrade for $10,000 in Crazy Dave's shop.	200
	Upgrades the Magnet-Shroom. Gold Magnet attracts coins that get dropped in the level. You can purchase this upgrade for $3,000 in Crazy Dave's shop.	50
	Upgrades Spikeweeds. Spikerock upgrade Spikeweeds to inflict higher damage and become more durable. You can purchase this upgrade for $7,500 in Crazy Dave's shop.	125
	Upgrades two Kernel-pults. The most devastating plant in the game. It destroys zombies in an area, then takes time to recharge. Because this plant uses two spots instead of one, it is not very space-economic and it cannot be protected by a Pumpkin. You can purchase this upgrade for $20,000 in Crazy Dave's shop.	500

Zombies

Zombies are the evil menace whose sole task is to invade your home and eat your brains. Naturally, you want to keep your brain for your own use. However, zombies have devised cruel and foul ways to try fighting through your plant-ary (pun for planetary) defenses. A number of different zombie types are listed below. Which plants will you use to hold off the horde?

Zombie	Description
	Regular Garden-variety Zombie
	Flag Zombies marks the arrival of a huge pile or "wave" of zombies.
	His traffic cone headpiece makes him twice as tough as normal zombies.
	Pole Vaulting Zombie vaults with a pole.
	His bucket hat allows him to take five times as much damage as a normal zombie.
	His newspaper provides limited defense.
	His screen door is an effective shield.
	Football Zombie makes the big plays.
	Originally, this zombie resembled Michael Jackson in his Thriller music video, but was later patched to look like a disco dancer. Any resemblance between Dancing Zombie and person living or dead is purely coincidental.
	These zombies appear in sets of four whenever Dancing Zombie rocks out.
	The ducky tube allows this zombie to float on water.
	Snorkel zombies can swim underwater.
	Balloon Zombies floats above the fray, immune to most attacks.
	The Zomboni applies ice, steam and pressure to your plants.
	These zombies appear in sets of four.
	Bungee Zombie attacks from above, descending from the sky to steal a plant or to drop a fellow zombie.
	Catapult Zombie operates heavy machinery and lobs basketballs at your plants.
	This Zombie digs tunnels underground to bypass your defenses and appears on the left side of the lawn.
	Dolphin Rider Zombies use dolphins to exploit weaknesses in your pool defense by jumping over the first plant he runs into.
	Gargantuar is a gigantic zombie with a highly destructive appetite. He also throws imps off of his back.
	Imps are tiny zombies thrown off of the back of a Gargantuar into the middle of your plants.
	This zombie carries an explosive surprise.
	Ladder Zombie climbs over obstacles.
	Pogo Zombie hops to bypass your defenses.
	Dr. Zomboss rules over all of the Zombies.
	Zombie Yeti is a rare and curious creature that runs away after a short while. You can only encounter this zombie when playing the adventure mode a second time.
	The Trash Can Zombie was added in the Xbox Live Arcade version of Plants Vs. Zombies. Trash Can Zombies use the trash cans for a shield so they will take more damage than a normal zombie. Trash Can Zombies can be found in the hard survival levels and well as Survival: Endless. The Trash Can Zombie is also a selectable unit in Vs. mode.
	The Target Zombies only appear in the Vs. Mode. In Vs. Mode the plants player must destroy three of the Target Zombies in order to win.

Almanac

The almanac is an in-game guide that keeps track of the plants and zombies the player encounters, providing both gameplay information and humorous biographies. It can be accessed from the main menu, from the pause menu, and from the plant selection screen preceding each level.

Mini-Games

A number of mini-games are unlocked over the course of the Adventure Mode. These include a bowling variant in which the player rolls defensive structures at zombies instead of building plants, and a more challenging variant of the main game where the zombie characters have a lot of the offensive capabilities that the player possesses, such as projectile attacks.

The complete list of mini-games is:

• Zombotany 1 & 2
• Wall-nut bowling 1 & 2
• Slot Machine
• It's raining Seeds!
• Beghouled
• Invisi-ghoul
• Seeing Stars
• Zomiquarium
• Beghouled Twist
• Big Trouble, Little Zombie
• Portal Combat
• Column Like You See Them
• Bobsled Bonanza
• Zombie Nimble, Zombie Quick
• Whack a Zombie
• Last Stand
• Pogo Party
• Dr Zomboss's Revenge
• Heavy Weapon (Xbox Live Arcade)

Puzzle Mode

Puzzle Mode is unlocked after the completion of the Adventure Mode. Puzzle Mode include two different types of puzzles. The first requires the player to break open vases which can either include zombies or plants. The player must successfully break all of the vases and kill all of the zombies. There are 9 different finite levels and one endless. The second mode requires the player to play the role of the zombie and assault cardboard cutout plants. The objective is to break through the defenses and consume 5 brains on the other side of the plants. This also includes 9 different finite levels and one endless.

Survival Mode

Survival mode sets the player up against multiple waves of zombies. The first five levels include each venue (Day, Night, Pool, Fog, Roof) and send five waves of zombies. The second set of five levels include the same five venues and ten waves of zombies. The final level provides an endless wave of zombies.

Store

The player can use coins collected during normal gameplay to purchase items. During the game's second chapter, a character named Crazy Dave will open his shop: Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies. This allows the player to purchase extra items to make the game's demands a little easier on them. The most expensive items in the store are generally the extra seed slots, which allow the player to bring more types of seeds (and therefore have a bigger variety of plants) in a given level.

Other upgrades include upgraded versions of items that must be planted over existing plants; for example, planting an upgrade onto Repeater plants will cause them to fire four shots at a time instead of two. The cheapest upgrades in the store are generally temporary; for $200, a rake can be purchased for the next three levels that will appear randomly on the map and kill the first zombie to step on it.

Zen-Garden

Starts with two Marigold flowers that need to be tended. Additional plants are collected by playing mini-game, puzzle, and survival modes. All plants require regular watering and fertilizer to grow. These activities reward the player with small amounts of money and a larger amount if the plant reaches its full size. Once full-grown plants also require bug-spray and music to remain happy for a day. Doing so nets the player a fairly large reward. Apart from the standard Zen-Garden a mushroom garden, aquarium, and the tree of wisdom are also provided. The mushroom garden allows mushroom plant types to grow further and the aquarium does the same for aquatic plants. The tree of life grows as tree-food is placed upon it, handing out advice for every growth spurt.

Versions

Xbox 360 Version

The Xbox Live Arcade version was released on Sept 8, 2010 for 1,200 Microsoft Points. It features 50 levels alongside 21 mini-games and 7 different game modes. The retail version was made available on Sept 28, 2010 for $19.99 and includes two other games by PopCap: Zuma and Peggle.

iPhone Version

The iPhone version was released on the 15th of February 2010. Whilst the game is ultimately the same game with touchscreen controls, upon release it had several missing features such as the Zen garden, various mini games, and survival mode which would be unlocked upon completion. A summer/fall 2011 update has added in most of the missing modes, but requires in-game or micro-transaction currency to unlock mini games.

Game of the Year Edition

On August 10th 2010 a game of the year edition of Plants Vs. Zombies was made available on Steam and as an automatic update to users of the regular edition. It added 20 new Steam achievements, support for Mac users, Steam Cloud support and a interactive zombatar tool which allows users to create their own zombies.

Google Chrome Edition

On May 19, 2010 Google announced at their I/O conference that they would be launching an app store for their web browser, Chrome. A flash version of Plants vs. Zombies was confirmed to be among the launch titles priced at $3.99 according to preview screenshots. The store is expected to be open by the end of October 2010.

Windows Phone 7 Version

On May 18th, 2011 a version of Plants Vs. Zombies was released for the Windows Phone 7 platform. This version of Plants Vs. Zombies is essentially the original game with the inclusion of Xbox Live features such as leaderboards and achievements.

PlayStation 3 Version

On February 8th, 2011 the game was released on the PlayStation Network. This version is the same as the original game, including leaderboards and 12 trophies.

Nintendo DS Version

On January 18th, 2011 Plants Vs. Zombies was released on the DS. This version also includes the multi-player modes from the Xbox Live version and allows the player to play against another friend with a cartridge or to send a basic skirmish via Download Play. The game was also released on DSIWare on March 14th, 2011.

Soundtrack

The game's soundtrack was composed by Laura Shigihara.

Track Number	Song Title	Length
1.	Crazy Dave's Greeting	00:08
2.	Crazy Dave (Intro Theme)	01:27
3.	Choose Your Seeds	00:18
4.	Grasswalk	02:28
5.	Loonboon	01:47
6.	Moongrains	02:25
7.	Zen Garden	01:00
8.	Watery Graves (Slow)	02:01
9.	Watery Graves (Fast)	01:56
10.	Ultimate Battle	01:55
11.	Rigor Mormist	01:52
12.	Cerebrawl	01:57
13.	Graze the Roof	03:03
14.	Brainiac Maniac	01:42
15.	Zombies On Your Lawn	02:39
16.	Zombotany (Unreleased Track)	01:17
17.	Uraniwa ni Zombies ga!	02:39
18.	Crazy Dave IN-GAME	01:45
19.	Choose Your Seeds IN-GAME	00:31
20.	Grasswalk IN-GAME	05:00
21.	Loonboon IN-GAME	02:04
22.	Moongrains IN-GAME	03:13
23.	Zen Garden IN-GAME	01:09
24.	Watery Graves IN-GAME	03:41
25.	Ultimate Battle IN-GAME	02:09
26.	Rigor Mormist IN-GAME	03:59
27.	Cerebrawl IN-GAME	01:55
28.	Graze the Roof IN-GAME	03:48
29.	Brainiac Maniac IN-GAME	01:59

PC System Requirements

• Operating System: Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / Mac OSX
• Processor: 1.2Ghz
• RAM Memory: 512 MB
• Graphics Card: 128MB of video memory, 16-bit or 32-bit colour quality
• DirectX: 8 or higher
• Hard Drive: 65 MB of free HD space
• Sound: DirectX compatible sound