My Brief Affair with Mobile Gaming, Part 2

Plants vs. Zombies

I don't know if there is a way to adequately describe how endearing this game is. The mechanics are a simple variation on a theme. If you've played any tower defense game before, you'll pick up on gameplay quickly. There are two significant differences between Plants and other tower defense games I've played in the past:

1. There is no twisty windy valley in which the zombies have to progress. Rather, there are six lanes, and the zombies only go straight in those six lanes, and are fully capable of attacking all six lanes at once. 
2. Sun (the resource of the game) isn't gathered at the end of a successfully completed level, like in the majority of tower games I've played, but is rather accrued over time via the sun itself and the assistance of resource producing plants, sunflowers and a particular kind of mushroom. 

These significant departures from the tower defense norm bring a fresh perspective to an often run down genre. The first major consideration is resource production and the real estate it takes up. Considering that your resource producing plants also cost sun and they're taking up valuable space that could be used by one of your other offensive or defensive plants the player is forced rather early on to experiment with build order in order to optimize production and defense on any given level.

For example, early on as a player I was hasty to put down my first pea shooter in anticipation of the forthcoming zombie horde. However, often I would place the pea shooter in one lane as the zombies approached in another. A little trial and error force me to learn that it's often best to build your first two sunflowers in one lane and then wait for the first approaching zombie before you build a pea shooter. This can guarantee you build it in a lane where it will be effective while simultaneously accruing resources to further production/defense.

The second consideration is the six independent lanes in which the zombies approach. Building up and defending one lane doesn't mean diddly squat for the other lanes. While later in the game you do acquire a few plants that defend multiple lanes at once, for the most part each plant defends its home lane and nothing else, meaning that you're essentially balancing six different defense games at once. Late game, the levels can get a bit hectic. 

With increasingly complex mechanics, such as the pool below with adds water zombies and of course water plants, the game stays fresh from beginning to end. Honestly, it's one of the first games in some time I've played from beginning to end essentially without break. It was over the course of a few days, but never because I lost interest - only because I have to rejoin the real world every now and again. 

If you've ever had any interest in tower defense games, I can't recommend Plants vs. Zombies enough. It's a fresh installment in a stale genre, once that will be sure to liven up your phone for an enjoyable time.