Now that I’ve had some time with the demo I can happily say that the game is every bit as cute and addictive as Peggle or Bookworm Adventures were.  PopCap games has a way of taking tried and true concepts from specific genres and distilling them until they become deceptively simple with layers of strategy for those that care to delve deep enough.  Plants Vs. Zombies may not revolutionize the tower defense genre but it does provide a highly polished experience that is saturated with the charm associated with the PopCap name.  Waves of varied zombies take turns assaulting your lawn and it is up to you to plant various plant types in an effort to stop their evil plans.

The first few sections had me casually clicking my pea shooters and sunflowers to stave off the zombie horde but the difficulty quickly amped forcing me to act with a more deliberate plan of action.  I loved the fact that PopCap took the time to make both the plant and zombie side of the fight to have as varied casts as possible.  Rather than taking the easy way out of just making harder to kill zombies the player is treated to a inventive mix of characters that will get a chuckle the first time you’re faced with them.

I find it hard to review games from PopCap because of one simple fact…they’re fun.  I have a specific part of my gaming heart dedicated to games that are a joy to play and Plants vs. Zombies is that and then some.  Thanks PopCap for once again creating a game that procrastination from all work like activities.

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The only bad thing about zombies is becoming one yourself, otherwise they’re a blast.  It can be quite viseral to take out a whole group of them with abandon.  One of my favorite  zombie games was the original Dead Rising for Xbox 360.  The great mix of gore and outright silliness (Mega Man costume!) created a sandbox that allowed for dozens of ways to tear through the zombie horde.

With great enthusiasm I’d like to pass on the news that the inevitable sequel to Dead Rising was officially announced by Capcom on Feb 9th of this year.   The story is set to throw at you, “tens of thousands of zombies” while you roam the “new gambling paradise of Fortune City” which seems to have a bit of Las Vegas flavor (zombie Elvis impersonators anyone?).  From the screenshots that were released along with this announcement Dead Rising 2 looks to be on par with its predecessor and seems to be attempting to up the ante in every way possible.

I really enjoyed the first one regardless of the technical difficulties (limiting save system, timeline based story progression).  If Dead Rising 2 dixes those issues and just follows the original’s flavor this entry will only add to the franchise’s appeal.  There’s currently no announced release date for Dead Rising 2 but I predict the game to be out sometime during the 4th quarter of ‘09, til then I’ll be waiting impatiently to get my hands on it like the sick zombie fiend I am.

There have been games before that have used Zombies and the undead as the “baddies.”  What sets Left 4 Dead apart is how close it gets to duplicating the pacing of a real Zombie flick.  They’ve created an AI “Director” that chooses at random when would be the best place to surprise the hell out of you.  It is a feat to behold that almost never gets old because of the spontaneity.

Left 4 Dead also gives you a chance to see how it feels to fight on the other side of the Zombie Apocalypse.  The Versus multiplayer gameplay let’s you battle it out against other real players switching from one side to the other trying to stop the opposite team from reaching the safe room.  This switch up in gameplay definitely resists the fatigue that can sometimes set on while playing FPS mutiplayer games.

The one an only drawback to this game is the insufficient amount of maps to play on.  While this will eventually prove why many people migrate away from the game, hopefully Valve will have some new downloadable content  before that happens.