Plants vs. Zombies

[shunoshi]

Who needs an ad when you can just make an animated music video (http://popcap.com/games/pvz) for your new game. The song is ridiculous, yet catchy and I'm totally sold.

[Xydarc]

Looks like fun! Hope this comes to the PSN.

[Libuke]

Saw it yesterday, got me interested in the game.

[Esquilax1138]

That was great! I'll be buying this one for sure as I'm a sucker for zombie games, and singing plants just make it better.

[BLeeP]

I was extremely interested, and the video was awesome, but then I realized that it seems like nothing more than yet ANOTHER tower defense game. Blah.

I definitely hope I'm wrong, though.

[KamaItachi]

I was extremely interested, and the video was awesome, but then I realized that it seems like nothing more than yet ANOTHER tower defense game. Blah.

I definitely hope I'm wrong, though.

My first thought as well, which means I'll probably end up passing. Never got into the genre.

[Grifter]

Yeah but it's tower defense done Popcap style which means it will be brilliant and more addictive than heroine laced nicotine.

[jpublic]

I'm going to buy that game just for the video, because it's chock full of awesome.

[destoo]

"There's butter on my head"
--"on his head..."

[Gerbs]

Nice video. Plants vs Zombies, why didn't we think of this sooner?

[Khrymsyn]

That video is too cutsey for me to like...

Yet...

I do.



greatly.

And something tells me that song will be stuck in my head now.

[Purple Santa]

Hilarious yet disturbing video. I can see ADD's mom really liking that game.

[Indig0g1rl]

That's awesome. Zombies rule, let's play some Left4Dead. :p

[jpublic]

Oh my god that song is the worst EVER for getting stuck in your head.

[Disgustipated]

No. Hell no.

[Savok]

No. Hell no.
Maybe when you grow up.

The dolphin sold me 100%, day one purchase barring any major bugs.

[Bad Buddha]

You can download an mp3 of the song.

And it comes in Japanese, too! :D

[Gerbs]

Wonder if we'll see this on XBLA or PSN at some point.

[Samitchdoo]

Zombie dolphins ftw.

Also, was that the feet of a zombie mecha on the roof?

[inmostlight]

More promotional weirdness from Popcap.
3lg8mcPOPjI

[Xydarc]

You can download an mp3 of the song.

And it comes in Japanese, too! :D
Where? Link please.

Edit: nvm. I used the magical scroll wheel on my mouse.:o

[shunoshi]

More promotional weirdness from Popcap.

Weirdness is right, WTF???

[shunoshi]

New Zombatar maker and game trailer. (http://www.popcap.com/promos/pvz/?cid=april_2009_03_za_2) :D

[Clark]

Bought and bought. Free Heavy Weapon with it!

[pronounconnoun]

http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/oo289/pronounconnoun/Zombatar.jpg

[LordDon]

The promotion for this game is nothing short of brilliant.

[H.Bogard]

Oh god...

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m255/HarryBogard/Zombatar.jpg

[LordDon]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v129/Lord_Don/JerZombatar.jpg

[NoName]

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee240/noname4444/Zombatar.jpg

I come for the Emperor.... 's brains!

[Morangie]

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/6553/zombatarw.jpg

Sold.

[inmostlight]

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs016.snc1/2981_71715174839_782969839_1583705_8155955_n.jpg

There's also a gameplay trailer up now that shows more what it's like.
Still don't wanna break NDA but this game is ridiculously fun and addictive.

Edit: Dammit, I wasn't trying to copy Don. That's just what zombified me would look like!

[Ink Asylum]

Anyone else tried the demo yet?

I'll occasionally drop the $20 to buy a casual game, and I just might do that for PvZ. I haven't enjoyed tower defense games much, because it's far too easy to fall behind level by level. If you don't build right from the start you're screwed. PvZ greatly limits the potential spaces you have to build in, shortens the attacker's path to five short rows where they attack head on, and clears the map every round.

The strategy in PvZ and the functions of the plants I got to use are much easier to understand and deploy, without being too simple and boring. Plants seem to break down into offense, defense, and support. Zombies are easily recognizable and their threat level is obvious. And everything is wrapped up in Popcap's standard charm.

[H.Bogard]

I checked out the demo.

Too casual for my tastes.

[Ink Asylum]

Have you gotten to the point where you have to make up your "team" of plants? You have a limit of five plants per level, and it looked like there were literally dozens of possible choices. I'm hoping the later levels are hard enough to allow for some real strategy.

[biosc1]

I'll occasionally drop the $20 to buy a casual game,

The game is only $9.99, so that may make it even more enticing. After hearing the PopCap guy on the Gamers With Jobs podcast, I'll definitely be buying this game.

[Ink Asylum]

Where is it available for $10? It's $20 on Popcap's site.

[biosc1]

Where is it available for $10? It's $20 on Popcap's site.

Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/app/3590/):

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/9312/clipboard15.jpg

[Ink Asylum]

oooo....must buy at that price. Thanks!

[shunoshi]

Excellent! $20 felt a bit steep. $10 = sold.

[Doctor Setebos]

Weird. How can the game be $20 on PopCap, but only $10 on Steam? That almost seems like an error.

Which means buy it off of Steam for that price while you still can. :D

EDIT: reading through some of the PvsZ forum posts on Steam's website, it sounds like this is par for the course for PopCap. They apparently have several games available for $20 from their own site, but only $10 on Steam.

[inmostlight]

I haven't enjoyed tower defense games much, because it's far too easy to fall behind level by level. If you don't build right from the start you're screwed. PvZ greatly limits the potential spaces you have to build in, shortens the attacker's path to five short rows where they attack head on, and clears the map every round.

For the people that want something harder, there are survival modes after you beat the campaign that are much more difficult. But they also don't clear the lawn after each round, and you can change out your load-out of seeds between each round. So maybe lay down some sunflowers and basic attacking plants and defenses in the first round, and then bring out the heavy artillery and elaborate traps in the later rounds. And since you can see a general example of the sorts of zombies you'll be facing, you might also have to switch out seeds to specifically counter certain types. It's pretty cool, and the tougher survival maps are downright brutal.

(The later levels, like at night and in other locations, are also tougher than the opening section you can see in the demo. And after you've beaten the campaign once, you also unlock a wide variety of mini-games, the Zen garden meta-game, and new options in the shop. If you replay the campaign Crazy Dave will start imposing new conditions on each level to keep it interesting, and like a Ratchet & Clank game you can also save up to by "ultra" versions of your existing seeds. Basically, there's a whole lot of replayability to this game.)

[Morangie]

Weird. How can the game be $20 on PopCap, but only $10 on Steam? That almost seems like an error.

Which means buy it off of Steam for that price while you still can. :D

EDIT: reading through some of the PvsZ forum posts on Steam's website, it sounds like this is par for the course for PopCap. They apparently have several games available for $20 from their own site, but only $10 on Steam.

Makes sense to me. The people who only play casual games don't know about steam to get the cheaper price, while the people with steam wouldn't pay the higher price for a casual game. :)

[Savok]

Well it's $19.99 for me....

[jpublic]

What the crap, I paid $18 for it on Steam. Bastards.

[Lance Uppercut]

I'm definitely liking this better than other tower defense games I've played.

Also, I lold when the Thriller zombies made their appearance.

[Ink Asylum]

The Thriller zombies are hilarious, though quite tough if you aren't prepared for them. Plenty of hilarious zombies in the game, like the Zomboni driver followed by the zombie bobsled team. Definitely read the almanac entries on the plants and zombies. They had fun with the writing.

This game is definitely addicting, which is to be expected from a Popcap game. The lawnmowers make it just a bit too easy so far. Even if I "fail" chances are the lawnmower will save my ass. The closet I've come to failure so far was one of the night stages with the pool. My pool defenses were overpowered, the first lawnmower killed the lead zombie before sinking, and I was just barely able to hold off the ones behind it by throwing down a lilypad with a walnut on top of it, then drop the strangling vines on the zeds whenever I could, replacing the walnut as needed.

[NoName]

This game is definitely addicting, which is to be expected from a Popcap game. The lawnmowers make it just a bit too easy so far. Even if I "fail" chances are the lawnmower will save my ass. The closet I've come to failure so far was one of the night stages with the pool. My pool defenses were overpowered, the first lawnmower killed the lead zombie before sinking, and I was just barely able to hold off the ones behind it by throwing down a lilypad with a walnut on top of it, then drop the strangling vines on the zeds whenever I could, replacing the walnut as needed.

If you haven't played the game yet this paragraph goes from strange to WTF.

For only 10 dollars I'll have to check it out. Does it have the addicting music video song in the game at all? :)

[Ink Asylum]

If you haven't played the game yet this paragraph goes from strange to WTF.

Did I mention one of the zombies was riding a zombie dolphin?

For only 10 dollars I'll have to check it out. Does it have the addicting music video song in the game at all? :)

Not that I've seen. The music sets the mood but it's just background, I usually turn it down or off.

[biosc1]

Great game so far. Would have loved to see some Steam achievements or at least in-game achievements, but that's just me.

Very addictive. I bought it last night with the intent to just check it out and ended up playing for an hour.

[menage]

Reviews are through the roof on this one. If I show this to the GF I'll not see her for a month.

[Ink Asylum]

Reviews are through the roof on this one. If I show this to the GF I'll not see her for a month.

Save it for when a console game comes out that you need a lot of uninterrupted playtime with.

[Lance Uppercut]

Fuck dolphin zombies. They ruined my shit when they first came out, but then I started building Chompers behind my Wallnuts to eat those bastards.

This is way more fun than a tower defense game ought to be for me. I never liked the genre because of all the stupid maze building and stuff, but this game strips it down, and adds its own style to it.

[Ink Asylum]

Yeah. Dolphin Zombies are my bane, although the hate I have for them is shifting towards Balloon Zombies. I usually keep a tangleweed on cooldown so I can drop it in front of a Dolphin Zombies. Fuckers can't jump that. I love Chompers but they can very easily get overwhelmed. They take a very long time to chew.

[inmostlight]

Yeah. Dolphin Zombies are my bane, although the hate I have for them is shifting towards Balloon Zombies. I usually keep a tangleweed on cooldown so I can drop it in front of a Dolphin Zombies. Fuckers can't jump that. I love Chompers but they can very easily get overwhelmed. They take a very long time to chew.

Putting two chompers in a row is a good strategy on some of the tougher levels, if the first one gets attacked the second one will eat him. It's useful if you're being overwhelmed by bucketheads or football players.

Even more fun for me is a chomper-wallnut-spikeweed combo, I love that one....

For only 10 dollars I'll have to check it out. Does it have the addicting music video song in the game at all?

I think that song is in the end credits.

Also, has anybody clicked the "Help" button on the main menu yet? :)

[jpublic]

I just drop a Lilypad iin front of my Wallnuts. They're cheap, and the dolphins jump them and get stuck up on the wallnut.

[Ink Asylum]

Good idea. It saves the cooldown of the vines for the buckethead zombies.

Man, the roof levels are rough. That gargantuan zombie is unstoppable. I laid into him with multiple attacking plants, including one butter shooting one that repeatedly stopped him so Chompers could repeatedly bite him, but he kept on coming. Good thing I bought the roof cleaners. I might have to invest in cherry bombs.

[Lance Uppercut]

How do you stop those bungie zombies?

edit: Try typing in "mustache" in the middle of a game.

[Veregon]

"future" is better! :P

[Doctor Setebos]

Just purchased and installed over lunch today. I had a blast with the demo, but it was far too short. PopCap gets more money from me. And so far, it's well-deserved. :D

[Lance Uppercut]

Good idea. It saves the cooldown of the vines for the buckethead zombies.

Man, the roof levels are rough. That gargantuan zombie is unstoppable. I laid into him with multiple attacking plants, including one butter shooting one that repeatedly stopped him so Chompers could repeatedly bite him, but he kept on coming. Good thing I bought the roof cleaners. I might have to invest in cherry bombs.

It takes at least 2 cherry bombs to take him down. On the second time I encountered them, I ended up letting the roof cleaners take care of the last one. Those bastards are tough.

I'm gonna try to experiment with diverting zombies with the garlic and lining them up into a jalapeno fire or another similarly powerful plant.

[Ink Asylum]

How do you stop those bungie zombies?

You can't the first time or two they appear, but eventually you're given an umbrella plant which seems to protect the a nine-square plot around it from both bungee zombies and the basketball chucking zombies.

It might also be possible to kill them before they pop back up with whatever they grab. I had a corn plant stop one with butter while the others in the row attacked it, but they couldn't kill it before it got away.

[Lance Uppercut]

Yeah, I've unlocked the umbrella plant, but now I have to deal with a level with both the zambonis and the gargantuans AND the balloon zombies. This is gonna be a pain in the ass.

I've been playing this all day. This game is like crack.

[Lance Uppercut]

I beat the game. I didn't expect the music video at the end.

I also didn't see this coming:

Ofd-SzGweTo
http://www.youtube.com/user/PlantsVsZombies

[inmostlight]

It takes at least 2 cherry bombs to take him down. On the second time I encountered them, I ended up letting the roof cleaners take care of the last one. Those bastards are tough.

I'm gonna try to experiment with diverting zombies with the garlic and lining them up into a jalapeno fire or another similarly powerful plant.

Squashes also work well on the gargantuan. You can quickly lay down a pot and squash behind him and it will still hit, and this way you don't have to uproot anything in front of him that might still be attacking.

[Ink Asylum]

Good plan! I hadn't thought about attacking him from behind. I hate to sacrifice so many roster spots just to fight gargantuans, but it might be worth trading the Chomper for the Squash and something else for Cherry Bombs.

[Veregon]

Finished getting all the trophies this morning, definitely got $10 worth of play-time out of this but not sure I'd fire it up again now that I cleared everything.

[Ten19]

Really enjoyed the demo.. for only $10 on Steam. I'll probably end up picking this up.

[Ink Asylum]

I am loving Survival mode. I'm hoping the final level is an endless stage, so I can put my defenses to a true test. Just finished Day (Hard), and almost completed my master defense:

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii286/inkasylum/PvZ.jpg

At this point the pumpkin-reinforced tallnuts were there for show. Nothing they were throwing at me made it close enough to take more than one swipe at them. Between the fiery wall of death and the twin layers of upgraded spike strips I don't think my Chompers had to take a single bite in the last two levels. If I'd had one more level I would have finished replacing the multi-peashooters with gatlings.

It was like Normandy, only the Nazis won.

[Lance Uppercut]

Hmm, I've been having trouble with the diggers on that level, so I'll try using chompers. I've been making good use of the garlic to funnel them all on the middle rows where I have winter melons, though.

[Ten19]

Best $10 I ever spent! Can't wait to get to the rest of the mini-games once I beat the final boss... bastard that he is...

[Zrikz]

I ended up buying this game as well yesterday and it rocks, I'm having a ton of fun with it.

[Arphahat]

I had never played a "Tower defense" game until I purchased Defense Grid just the other day and I think I like the genre. How does Plants vs. Zombies compare to something like Defense Grid and is there enough of a difference (in game play) to justify its purchase?

[Ten19]

I had never played a "Tower defense" game until I purchased Defense Grid just the other day and I think I like the genre. How does Plants vs. Zombies compare to something like Defense Grid and is there enough of a difference (in game play) to justify its purchase?

I'd honestly try the demo on Steam to see for yourself, but long story short, it's not quite the same as a standard tower defense. There are five rows, and the zombies slowly try to get from the right side to the left. You fight them off by placing a wide array of plants with different abilities to repel them, and they have a good amount of variety as well, so there's lots of strategy in terms of picking which plants to use in a round. There are many factors such as time of day, plants that are specialized to be in your backyard pool, and many others.

Give the demo a shake.

[Lance Uppercut]

Those minigames are awesome. I must've played Beghouled like ten times after I got the trophy already.

Also, I found a Doom-Shroom for my zen garden, but it's still asleep. How do you wake the thing?

[Doctor Setebos]

Also, I found a Doom-Shroom for my zen garden, but it's still asleep. How do you wake the thing?I would assume that would require a coffee bean. But I'm only guessing that based on the game proper. I only just received my Zen garden, so I haven't gotten that far yet.

[Lance Uppercut]

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/420/survivalday.png

On day (hard). Most of the magnets and all of those potato mines were unnecessary (maybe just half of those magnets would have been fine), but the sunshine points build up a lot so it's easier to upgrade in the later rounds.

As for the zen garden, I found out you need the nighttime garden for the mushrooms ($30,000). That's a lot of money, so I think I'm gonna replace those sunflowers late in the game with marigolds to make some coin.

[AbeLincoln]

Also, I found a Doom-Shroom for my zen garden, but it's still asleep. How do you wake the thing?

In Crazy Neighbor's shop there is a night garden for the nocturnals and a water garden for the aquatics also I think you need a wheelbarrow to move the plants between gardens, but I'm not sure cause that costs more cash than I have, so I'm letting them sleep.

[Ink Asylum]

Wow. I was doing great in Endless Survival Mode. I had my massive defense built up. A row of double-sunflowers, three rows of repeaters/gatlings, a fire row, a utility row (magnets/etc), wallnuts, and spikes. Everything was going fine until level 18. That's when the game decided to fuck with me and sent crazy red-eyed gargantuans, who seem to be stronger than regular ones. Plus their imps are stronger, too, so the little fucks kept messing with my pea shooters. I survied that round, though I lost much of two rows. The next round was hopeless, though. Red-eyed gargantuans and Zombonis did me in.

[Veregon]

The hardest thing about endless survival is that the upgrades keep going up in price. Every time you buy gatling or ice melons or anything they go up in price by 50 sun.

[Shrinn]

I absolutely love this game. I just owned Survival Pool (Hard) like this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v68/Zargriel/PVZSurvivalPoolHard.jpg

The only thing I could have done better was to not assume diggers would come mess me up like they always do. Those split peas were mostly wasted, as the few imps that got thrown got owned by Gatling Peas and Frost Melons. Also, thanks Lance_Uppercut and Ink for the double Spikerock idea!

[Lance Uppercut]

BTW, using winter melons with the fireballs cancel each other out. Use one or the other. As for diggers, they don't like magnets.

[Ink Asylum]

Yeah. Fire and ice cancel each other out.

Magnets are pretty useful against more than just diggers. They weaken bucket/football/screen door zombies, and grab ladders.

The super-spikes do a pretty good job slowing down the gargantuan zombies, as they will beat on them a while until they're dead, rather than just stomping over them. All the while your offensive plants are laying into them. Replacing them can take a while, though, due to cooldowns.

[Doctor Setebos]

I haven't even gotten that far yet.

Someone please tell me how to defeat Dr. Zomboss. :(

And don't say "persistence", because I will hurt you.

[Savok]

BTW, using winter melons with the fireballs cancel each other out. Use one or the other. As for diggers, they don't like magnets.
Actually the melons are AOE and fire peas only hit the first zombie so it's still worth it.

[inmostlight]

Potato mines will also stop the diggers, but those have such a long recharge time and "priming" time that they're really only useful in that aspect if you plan far ahead. It does crack me up, though, when they dig into a mine and FOOOM!

[Ink Asylum]

I haven't even gotten that far yet.

Someone please tell me how to defeat Dr. Zomboss. :(

And don't say "persistence", because I will hurt you.

Make sure to always keep a jalapeno and an ice mushroom on the conveyer belt in reserve. If he rolls out an ice ball drop a jalapeno in the same row. If he rolls out a fireball drop an ice mushroom anywhere. Beyond that, just try to keep your pots filled up and use excess jalapenos/ice mushrooms when you're overwhelmed.

[Shrinn]

Actually the melons are AOE and fire peas only hit the first zombie so it's still worth it.

The fire peas have an area of effect, but the ice melons freeze more than the fire pea unfreezes.


Magnets are pretty useful against more than just diggers. They weaken bucket/football/screen door zombies, and grab ladders.

The super-spikes do a pretty good job slowing down the gargantuan zombies, as they will beat on them a while until they're dead, rather than just stomping over them. All the while your offensive plants are laying into them. Replacing them can take a while, though, due to cooldowns.

I tried magnets vs diggers, but there are so many things coming at me that the magnet grabs that the chance of them grabbing the diggers still allows some to slip by. Personal preference dictates that I'd rather be able to kill them if they do slip by.

My spikes aren't for damaging zombies, they're for popping tires and slowing down the gargantuan zombies, like you said. It's so useful!

I'm having trouble on Hard Roof survival, but I've only given it two tries so far. Those bungee zombies really messed me up last time so I'm gonna build around those canopy plants this time. Put them in the 2nd and 4th rows and then force the zombies out of those rows into rows 1, 3, and 5, with garlic.

[Ink Asylum]

I tried magnets vs diggers, but there are so many things coming at me that the magnet grabs that the chance of them grabbing the diggers still allows some to slip by. Personal preference dictates that I'd rather be able to kill them if they do slip by.

If you're on a level where there are a lot of things for the magnets to grab, put a magnet or two farther back in one of the first three columns from the left. These magnets will be solely on digger duty, and will typically force the digger to come up somewhere in the fourth or fifth column, where they get shredded by your regular plants. If one slips by I can usually drop a squash on the first plant he kills, which will then kill him, but with backup magnets that's rarely a problem.

I'm having trouble on Hard Roof survival, but I've only given it two tries so far. Those bungee zombies really messed me up last time so I'm gonna build around those canopy plants this time. Put them in the 2nd and 4th rows and then force the zombies out of those rows into rows 1, 3, and 5, with garlic.

Yeah. The canopies are incredibly helpful. I only use two spots on them, covering all of my back three columns. The rare bungee zombie that grabs out of the front columns isn't that bad, I can replace those plants, and those rear canopies make basketball-chuckers completely harmless.

[Veregon]

I usually dedicate a full column to magnets, it really helps when a bunch of diggers, football, bucket, screen, or ladder zombies come out at once.

[Shrinn]

Well, that attempt failed. Guiding zombies down lanes doesn't help much when zomboni's run everything over.

If you're on a level where there are a lot of things for the magnets to grab, put a magnet or two farther back in one of the first three columns from the left. These magnets will be solely on digger duty, and will typically force the digger to come up somewhere in the fourth or fifth column, where they get shredded by your regular plants. If one slips by I can usually drop a squash on the first plant he kills, which will then kill him, but with backup magnets that's rarely a problem.

Good point. I'll try it out!

I haven't even gotten that far yet.

Someone please tell me how to defeat Dr. Zomboss. :(

And don't say "persistence", because I will hurt you.

Try to get your attack force out and spread as soon as possible. Try to save all your fire/ice attacks for when the robot is down. Make sure you always save at least one fire and one ice so that you can counter his giant elemental ball. When he starts smashing down with the car, save your plants until right after he smashes with the car, and then replenish your forces. Don't be afraid to let a couple plants pile up on the end, especially the single use plants. Make sure when you use your fire guys to attack the robot, you also burn up any remaining zombies! It helps your leftover plants out. If you use the ice shroom, the robot will stay down for a bit longer.

[Ink Asylum]

Yeah. The damn Zombonis can really mess up your day if you're not prepared for them. You either need some spike traps, preferably upgraded ones, or some insta-kill items like squash or cherry bombs ready to go right away. That's what really did in my last Endless Survival mode, they through way too many Zombonis at me alongside Gargantuans for me to fight them all off.

[Shrinn]

Yea, I'm having a lot of trouble on the roof survival (hard). Just can't get the right balance.

The game is smart though. I focused on repeaters without any catapults but had a good amount of umbrellas, they threw screen doors at me until I died. The second I don't have a good umbrella defense, bam, mass bungees steal all my attackers and only my attackers. I just didn't have the sun to recover.

[Ink Asylum]

I recommend investing in some magnets/coffee beans for roof levels when they show you a lot of screen doors, bucket heads, or football players on the preview, and definitely if you see any ladders. It takes two slots and each one costs 175 all together, but they will save your ass, trust me. Stealing a bucket/screen door/football helmet reduces a previously tough zombie into an instant pushover, and pulling ladders, even after they've already been set up, will keep your front line of nuts from being rendered useless.

[Shrinn]

I finally got it! I got pretty lucky with monster choices, so I didn't need to use any magnets even though I was prepared to and my umbrellas protected all my plants.

Tried my first bout of endless survival! It was pretty fun. I got up to 15 flags.

[Ink Asylum]

If anyone can clear the nineteenth level in Endless Survival I'll be very impressed.

[Lance Uppercut]

Man I need to get back into finishing the survival levels. I've been playing through the Adventure mode again, and getting lots of coins and zen garden plants from it.

[Doctor Setebos]

Awesome! Thanks for the tips, everyone. I defeated Dr. Zomboss on my second attempt.

Going through the minigames now, attempting to score some achievements. Has anyone figured out what the conditions are to get the mystery zombie to appear?

This game has me addicted more than any mildly casual game before it. :D

[inmostlight]

Going through the minigames now, attempting to score some achievements. Has anyone figured out what the conditions are to get the mystery zombie to appear?

I've only seen him twice (in about four playthroughs of the campaign), and never managed to kill it. I think it has to do with letting the zombini drivers lay down a lot of ice, but I'm not 100% positive.

[Ink Asylum]

Experimenting with some unorthodox setups in the Last Stand minigame. This one was surprisingly effective:

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii286/inkasylum/PVZ2.jpg

Those upgraded puffers do insane amounts of damage to zombies forced to walk past them, especially ones that are slowed down. Not a single zombie, even football players, got to the tallnuts at the end. Knowing that, I could probably remove the tallnuts and turn the snowpeas into icemelons and make it even more effective. All I had to do between rounds was replace the chewed up garlic.

[Lance Uppercut]

That's a pretty good setup. I just got the puffer upgrade, so I'll try that out.

Also, cob cannons own so much. I used them on the hard survival pool level, and made quick work of the several gargantuans that came out at the last part.

[Ink Asylum]

I just toyed around with them to see what they were all about. Wow! They take a while to setup, and aren't cheap ($700 total and they take up two spots), but they are devastating. A perpetually refilling mega-bomb. I wonder if I can set up two of them through the course of an Endless Survival to get past the late teens.

[Lance Uppercut]

Man, I'm having a lot of trouble with the bobsled minigame. How do you beat that?

[Ten19]

Man, I'm having a lot of trouble with the bobsled minigame. How do you beat that?

I was having a lot of trouble on this too, but then I came upon a nice strategy on the Steam forums.

Your main weapon is Fume-shrooms, with a Coffee Bean to wake 'em up. Combined, it's only 150 Sun, so they're relatively cheap to get going. The beauty of these guys is they fire their shots in a straight line, hitting every zombie in the square or two in front of them. Pair these with some Wal-Nuts for defense, and later upgrade them to Gloom-shrooms (bought from the shop) for when things get crazy later in the level.

As for the Zombinos, the best defense is Spikeweeds upgraded to Spikerocks. Keep a healthy Spikerock in front of each ice surface and you'll get a healthy number of popped Zombinos without having to do anything.

I more or less followed this formula, though I didn't need nearly as many Sunflowers:

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/2061/gloomshroom4tw.jpg

[Shrinn]

If you put the spikerocks as far right as possible, the zombonis will pop before getting any ice down and you won't have to deal with bobsleds at all.

[Ink Asylum]

I beat the Zomboni level by doing the following:

If a Zomboni was coming down an iced lane I dropped a Spikerock at the end of the track. If a Zombie Bobsled came down I would drop a Jalapeno down in that lane, which would destroy the team and the ice as well. I would then drop a spike rock at the far right of that track as soon as it was cooled down. I would then upgrade it as soon as possible. This essentially sealed that lane off to both Zombonis and Bobsleds.

It wasn't a foolproof strategy. If my Jalapeno was not off its cooldown I had to have a Cherry Bomb ready to defeat a bobsled, but that was just a delaying tactic. I actually had to let a team or two get taken out by the lawnmowers before I had enough lanes locked down. At the end, there were so many Zombonis that my upgraded Spikerocks were getting eliminated, and I was rushing to replace them, but I won out in the end.

My advice for some of the harder mini-games is to let your lawnmowers give you some extra time at the beginning to build up a solid defense and some extra sunlight. Focus on 3-4 rows, double up the sunflowers in them if necessary. You'll be able to build strong defenses in those rows and then have enough sunlight saved up to build similar defenses in the now vulnerable lanes. This can be more effective than building half-assed defenses in all six lanes (pea shooters, wallnuts) that only have to be replaced later (repeaters, tallnuts).

[H.Bogard]

The demo didn't show all aspects of the fun you can have with this game:

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m255/HarryBogard/zombies.jpg

Hah! Awesome.

[Lance Uppercut]

Pogo Party is giving me fits. Any tips?

[Ink Asylum]

Pogo zombies don't attack anything, they just hop to the end of the lane. Don't worry about killing the first few, just build your sunflowers and start saving for Tallnuts. Let the pogo zombie hit a roof cleaner then cover that row with a pot/tallnut and cabbagepult. You can let at least one per row past, because once you have the tallnuts up you've pretty much won.

[Lon Lon Rabbit]

I beat the Zomboni level by doing the following:


I found this to be the hardest minigame and used a pretty similar strategy.

I loaded up on all the (daytime) nukes and just spammed them while slowly setting up proper defenses, but in the end the nukes did almost all of the work. I lost I think 2 lanes and it was a pretty close game but it was fun and a different way to play the game.

Squash would always take out either vehicle in one hit, but the spud mines seemed to not always work on the bobsleds; sometimes the zombies would get out before they hit the mine (even when it was placed right at the end of the ice every time) and other times the sled would hit it, killing them all. Jalapenos were great like you said as you could then block off the lane right at the end to stop further progress and cherry bombs were good if you placed them carefully to take out several lanes of approaching enemies at once.

Basically kept the non instant nukes constantly on cooldown and slowly put up walls and backlines whenever I could. I'm pretty sure the pool needed nothing more than one or two basic attacking plants, too, as nothing that strong comes through there.

[Lance Uppercut]

I just got my Imitater, but how do you use that effectively? Is the idea to imitate cards that have a long cooldown?

[Ink Asylum]

I don't have it, but that would be my guess. I know there are plenty of times I cursed the cooldowns on defensive items like the Tallnuts and on insta-kill items. Being able to throw down two squashes in short order would be great against Gargantuans.

[Lance Uppercut]

I figured out the trick for the Zen Garden. Make sure all the plants are happy (that gold aura under the pots is an indicator), then feed the snail some chocolate and leave the window open while you do other things like surf the web or make a sandwich. The chocolate wears off after an hour, and the snail will fall asleep, but if you have a lot of full-grown plants (at least 12 that don't require the other zen gardens) this is a good way to make some coin.

[Savok]

Actually once a plant is happy it doesn't give a shit where it is. Need the other gardens to make it happy in the first place of course.

[Lance Uppercut]

Having a lot of trouble with Roof survival on hard. Any tips?

[Ink Asylum]

What zombies are causing you the most trouble?

My basic roof layout is, from left to right columns, double-sunflowers, corn/umbrella plants, two columns of cabbages later replaced by watermelon, magnets, chompers, tallnuts with pumpkin shields.

[zarathstra]

How is it possible that this game is so engrossing?

[shunoshi]

How is it possible that this game is so engrossing?

Because PopCap sprinkles a little crack on all their games.

[Ink Asylum]

They've created a form of crack that can be transmitted through a computer monitor directly into your eyeballs.

[zarathstra]

They've created a form of crack that can be transmitted through a computer monitor directly into your eyeballs.

I believe it!

Incidentally, how are people countering miner zombies? Do magnets work on them?

[LongStepMantis]

I believe it!

Incidentally, how are people countering miner zombies? Do magnets work on them?

Yes. It steals their pickaxes, forcing them to surface.

The cheapest way to deal with them is to use Potato mines. They will detonate and kill the miner if he tries to tunnel under them. Just put some down in the last column of each row, and miners will pose no threat.

Magnets are worth using the coffee bean just to have out (it's technically a mushroom, so it sleeps in daylight levels). No more bucketheads, football zombies, screen doors, pogo sticks, or miners. The only drawback is that they have to "recharge" before hitting another target. If you can put 2 or 3 of them down, it makes any levels with the mentioned zombies a ton easier. Especially football zombies. I hate those guys.

I've probably put 20 hours into this game, and still love it. For it's price, I can't complain one bit. Especially with all the mini-games and puzzles that open up after you beat the story. Not to mention that if you start the story back up after you beat it, Crazy Dave will randomly choose three of your plants and force you to use them on each level. It adds some challenge and allows you to experiment with new combinations.

[Ink Asylum]

A full column of magnet plants on levels where you have a few strong offensive columns can turn a tough horde of zombies into a cakewalk by stealing all the aforementioned as well as ladders, making a front column of tallnuts nigh-impregnable, and turns strong defense zombies into pushovers.