Plants vs. Zombies

The Logo Plants vs. Zombies

***Plants vs. Zombies*** (abbreviated as ***PvZ***) is a tower defense video game developed and originally published by PopCap Games and it is the first installment in the *Plants vs. Zombies* series. The game involves homeowners who use a variety of different plants to prevent waves of zombies from entering their houses and "eating their brains".

An Android version of the game was released on May 31, 2011 on the Amazon no Appstore, while it was also released to the Android Market (now Google Play) on December 14, 2011. On February 16, 2012, a version was released for no BlackBerry PlayBook. Later, a no BlackBerry smartphone version of the game was released on January 2013 following the launch of BlackBerry 10. In November 13, 2014, a free ad-supported version of the game was released for no iOS and only Android.

The game received a positive response from critics and was nominated for multiple Interactive Achievement Awards, alongside receiving praise for its musical score. The game is followed by a sequel, *Plants vs. Zombies 2*, which was released on July 9, 2013, in Australia and New Zealand, then it was released worldwide on August 15, 2013.

## Description of the Game

An all-new action-strategy game from PopCap, makers of *Bejeweled* and *Peggle*!

Zombies are invading your home, and the only defense is your arsenal of plants! Armed with an alien nursery-worth of zombie-zapping plants like peashooters and cherry bombs, you'll need to think fast and plant faster to stop dozens of types of zombies dead in their tracks. Obstacles like a setting sun, creeping fog and a swimming pool add to the challenge, and with five game modes to dig into, the fun never dies!

* Play five game modes: Adventure, Mini-Games, Puzzle, Survival, plus the stress-free Zen Garden
* Conquer all 50 levels of Adventure mode — through day, night, and fog, in a swimming pool and on the rooftop
* Battle 26 types of zombies including pole-vaulters, snorkelers and “Zomboni” drivers
* Earn 49 powerful perennials and collect coins to buy a pet snail, power-ups and more!

due to how its name suggested its purpose; to squash things. A plant was proposed that is similar to the defensive item Umbrella Leaf, which would be planted above other plants to protect them from bungee zombies and catapult zombies. However, it was difficult to visualize their positions.

### Cultural references

*Plants vs. Zombies* uses many cultural references in its names of stages and others. The gravestones' inscriptions ("Expired", "Ceased to Exist", "Just Resting", etc.) were taken from Monty Python's *Dead Parrot Sketch*. Four of the mini-games—"Zombiquarium", "Beghouled", "Beghouled Twist", and "Whack a Zombie"—are a reference from four other PopCap games: *Insaniquarium*, *Bejeweled*, *Bejeweled Twist*, and *Hammer Heads Deluxe* respectively. Two levels in "Vasebreaker" puzzles, "Scary Potter" and "Ace of Vase", take their names from *Harry Potter* and Ace of Base. Similarly, the "I, Zombie" (a reference to Isaac Asimov's *I, Robot*) puzzles have levels called "Dead Zeppelin" (resembling Led Zeppelin) and "All your brainz r belong to us" (a play on the gaming meme "All your base are belong to us"). The name of the Torchwood plant is a reference to *Doctor Who* and its spin-off show *Torchwood*. Originally, the dancing zombie resembled Michael Jackson from the short film *Thriller*. Though the Jackson-inspired zombie was present in the game before Jackson's death, the estate of Michael Jackson objected to its inclusion more than a year after his death; PopCap agreed to remove the Jackson-inspired zombie and replaced it with a more generic disco-dancing one for all future patches and releases of the game. A "disclaimer" in the game's almanac states "Any resemblance between Dancing Zombie and any persons living or dead is purely coincidental." Some *Plants vs. Zombies* advertisements parody controversial Evony ads, showing a drooling zombie instead of a voluptuous woman.

A planned name was Lawn of the Dead, a pun on the title of the George A. Romero zombie film *Dawn of the Dead*. The development team created a video that was sent to Romero to ask permission to use the name, but Romero would not give it. It was then that the development team came up with the name *Plants vs. Zombies*. It spent three years in development and was released for the PC on May 5, 2009. Since it was released, it has been announced for multiple platforms, including PlayStation 3's PlayStation Network, Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade digital distribution service, Nintendo DS, Android, and iOS.

*Plants vs. Zombies* itself was referenced in "The Passing" campaign of Valve's fellow zombie game *Left 4 Dead 2*, in which the player can stumble upon in-game graffiti attributed to the character of Crazy Dave. A five-level quest chain culminating in a quest entitled "Lawn of the Dead" in the massively multiplayer online game *World of Warcraft: Cataclysm* is based on Plants vs. Zombies, using Warcraft elements to recreate the gameplay. Blizzard Entertainment had contacted PopCap about the inclusion, and Laura Shigihara was able to record some new music for the *Warcraft* version of the game.

### Crazy Dave

Main article: Crazy Dave
David Blazing, known within the game as "Crazy Dave", serves as a narrator and an instructor during Adventure Mode, introducing the player to certain levels and explaining some of the mini-games and bonus levels. He is later abducted by a Bungee Zombie on level 5–10 right before he can tell the player Dr. Zomboss' weaknesses, and reappears during Sunflower's rendition of "Zombies on your Lawn" after Dr. Zomboss's defeat at the end of the game. He has a shop known as "Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies" that he runs from the back of his car once the player finds his car keys after Level 3–4. He sells several plant upgrades, extra defenses, and Zen Garden items. Crazy Dave's notable features include a rugged beard and a pot always worn on his head, as well as his signature babbling speech.

### Dr. Zomboss

Main article: Dr. Zomboss
Dr. Edgar George Zomboss is the main antagonist and the leader of the zombies in *Plants vs. Zombies*, and reappears in the sequel, *Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time*. He is battled on the Night Roof during Level 5–10 as the final boss in *Plants vs. Zombies*.
The name "Zomboss" is a portmanteau of the words "Zombie" and "Boss", meaning "Zombie Boss", while the Zombot, the machine used by Dr. Zomboss in the game, is the portmanteau of the words "Zombie" and "Robot", meaning "Zombie Robot".
According to an interview with George Fan, Dr. Zomboss' middle name "George" was not intended to be named after him, and was only accepted since "it sounded like a great middle name for a zombie overlord boss character."

## Soundtrack

Main article: Plants vs. Zombies Original Soundtrack
The soundtrack for *Plants vs. Zombies* was composed by Laura Shigihara. It borrows elements from the pop music genre, as well as console chiptunes. Before the inception of *Plants vs. Zombies*, Director George Fan asked Laura if she would like to compose the music for his next title after following her for some years. She accepted, owing to his creativity. Shigihara described the music as "macabre, yet goofy". Using the night stage as an example, she used a combination of "Big Band" and swing beats with "several haunting and serious melodies". The songs "Loonboon" and "Brainiac Maniac" were written towards the end of production. The song "Ultimate Battle" also appears in the game Melolune. She stated that these were reactionary songs that she wrote to fit the feel of the game after having played through it twice. She tried to make the game have a Danny Elfman feel to it while mixing in melodic tunes and funky beats. She describes a song early in the game, which uses marching band percussion and swing beats. She described another one which used techno beats with organic sounds. Shigihara also composed and performed the music video shown during the credits of the game, titled "Zombies on Your Lawn".

## Reception

Template:Construction/Section*Plants vs. Zombies* has received a positive reception from critics, garnering an aggregate score of 87/100 from Metacritic and an 88% from GameRankings.

IGN editor Andy J Kolozsy commented that it featured a lot more content than other games in the genre, as well as praising its addictive nature. However, the DS version was criticized for its lower quality graphics and expensive price point. GameSpot editor Chris Watters praised the design of the plants and zombies, as well as the visuals and its overall value. However, he found fault in the learning curve. 1UP.com editor Alice Liang found the game enjoyable, commenting that the lawnmowers that protect the left side of the screen strikes a good balance between ease-of-use and in-depth gameplay. Edge's review praised PopCap Games for adding an imaginative touch to every little detail of the game. He also credited them for taking the tower defense genre and making it their own.

Laura Shigihara's music video also received praise, with Hatfield attributing his interest in the game to the video. Liang also praised the song, asking how anyone could not want *Plants vs. Zombies* after seeing the video.

To date, *Plants vs. Zombies* is the fastest-selling video game created by PopCap Games. *Plants vs. Zombies* director George Fan estimated that half of the game's sales are from hardcore gamers. According to PopCap, the iOS release of *Plants vs. Zombies* sold more than 300,000 copies in the first nine days it was available on the App Store, generating more than $1M in gross sales, and considered it "the top-grossing iPhone launch".

### Awards

*Plants vs. Zombies* has been nominated for the "Casual Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement in Game Design" Interactive Achievement Awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. The game received nominations in "Best Game Design", "Innovation", and "Best Download Game" for the Game Developers Choice Awards. *Plants vs Zombies* was picked by Gamezebo as one of the 'Best games of 2009'.

### Legacy

A version of the game was added in patch 4.0.3a of *World of Warcraft* which used similar mechanics as an homage to the popularity of the game. A reward of a non-combat pet singing sunflower is given to those who can beat the minigame. The success of the game has led to the creation of *Plants vs. Zombies* lottery tickets. Since the game was partially inspired by the Magic: The Gathering card game, a Magic card called Grave Bramble has been released in the Innistrad expansion. It is a Plant with the Protection from Zombies ability. Zen Pinball 2 for Wii U, PlayStation 3 and PS Vita and Pinball FX 2 on Xbox 360 feature a *Plants vs. Zombies* pinball table.

## Game Information

### Premise

A mob of fun-loving zombies are trying to invade the player's house and eat their brains, and all the player has to do is defend themselves with plants using their skills.

### List of sub-versions

Main article: Game versions of Plants vs. Zombies
Due to its big popularity, this game has been ported to various consoles and some Chinese variants had been created. The following is a list of all sub-versions created:
Template:ChineseTag

* *Plants vs. Zombies FREE*

### Game modes

Main article: Game modes (PvZ)
This game is full of different game modes that change some rules of the game formula to keep it fresh and to raise the length of the game without becoming repetitive. Some game modes are exclusive to a certain version due to its exclusive type of controller or due to consoles limitations.

* Adventure Mode
* Mini-games (except Nook)
* Puzzle Mode (except Nook)
	+ Vasebreaker
	+ I, Zombie
	+ Last Stand (Android only)
* Survival Mode (some versions only)
* Zen Garden (some versions only)
* Quick Play (any mobile version except for the Windows phone version and FREE version)
* Zombatar (some versions only)
* Co-op Mode

### Version History

Template:Construction/Section**V1.0.0.1051**

Main article: Plants vs. Zombies: Original PC Edition

May 5, 2009

Initial release!

**V1.2.0.1065**

August 19, 2009

Bug Fixes.

**V1.2.0.1073**

Main article: Plants vs. Zombies: Game of the Year Edition

July 11, 2010

Bug fixes and new features.

### Glitches

Main article: Plants vs. Zombies/Glitches

### Beta content

Main article: Plants vs. Zombies/Concepts

### See also

* Areas
* Money
* Music
* Crazy Dave

## Order of eventsTemplate:Spoilers/Tag

The first available game mode is Adventure Mode. First, the zombies start invading the player's house from the front lawn (mainly with Zombies and Conehead Zombies). The player needs to use their plants to defend against them such as Peashooters, Sunflowers, and Wall-nuts. After each level, a new plant is obtained. After fending off four Zombie invasion attempts, Crazy Dave is introduced and challenges the player to a game of Wall-nut Bowling. After bowling over zombie heads, a new zombie is introduced, and on every second level, (excluding bonus levels) another is introduced. After another new zombie and eight plants, the zombies perform an "all-out-attack" in an attempt to overwhelm the player's plants. After the zombies lost, they retreat and plot to attack again.

The next stage, Night, is different. There are graves on the player's lawn and nocturnal mushrooms are introduced. In exchange for sleeping in the day, these plants are cheaper than most plants. After level 2-4, the player is awarded the Suburban Almanac, which contains technical information and humorous notes on every plant and zombie in the game. After this level, it can be reached from the main menu. Both plant and zombie databases increase as the player continues the adventure mode and encounters new ones. In the bonus level, Crazy Dave lets the player play a game of Whack a Zombie using (mainly) a mallet to kill zombies rather than plants. After another all-out attack, the zombies regroup and plot other intentions.

After the night, the zombies try to attack the player's backyard. Here, the lanes are expanded from the normal five to six, two of these being full of water where aquatic plants can be placed, but most other regular plants require assistance from Lily Pads to be used. During 3-2, a present is dropped containing mini-games. At the end of level 3-4, the last zombie drops Crazy Dave's Car Key, which opens Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies and the purchase of upgrades is allowed. In the bonus level, Crazy Dave tells the player smaller zombies are invading the lawn.

After the Pool is Fog. The zombies are still entering through the backyard, but it's at night, so again no sun is falling from the sky. Also, fog covers most of the screen, making it unable to see where the zombies are coming. As the player progresses through the levels, the fog moves closer and closer to their house. The player is given Planterns and Blovers to make the fog go away. The player unlocks Puzzle Mode in level 4-6. The player then learns how to play Vasebreaker, breaking vases with plants or zombies inside them. On the final fog level, the whole screen is dark with only a few short intervals of light. The zombies encountered carry exploding jack-in-the-boxes, fly over the player's defenses on balloons, dig to overwhelm defenses in the back and can hop over all of the player's plants with a pogo stick.

The final part of Adventure Mode is the Roof. Here, all of the player's plants will have to be planted on Flower Pots. The roof's slanted angle means that the player will most likely only use lobbed shot plants to hit zombies. On the roof, the player encounters zombies that have bungee cords, ladders, and basketball catapults. The player even encounters the super-strong Gargantuar and his friend. In the bonus level, Crazy Dave tells the player that the "annoying" Bungee Zombies plan to send zombies to get to the house quicker. Finally, the player encounters zombie mastermind Dr. Edgar George Zomboss in Adventure Mode's finale, where he places zombies on the Night Roof in his Zombot. When the player beats him, the player obtains the Silver Sunflower Trophy, the credits roll, and Zombies on Your Lawn plays.

After beating Adventure Mode the first time, the player can play over and over again, where Crazy Dave gives the player three seed packets along with the rest that he or she chooses. When playing Level 4-10 again, the player gets to encounter the mysterious Zombie Yeti which gives diamonds when killed. Once the player beats Dr. Zomboss again, he or she are rewarded with three diamonds.

### After Adventure Mode

The player can also play other modes. Once the player beats Adventure Mode, they can play all mini-games, which are just like Adventure Mode but with some very special variation. For example, the player can bowl different types of Wall-nuts at zombies in Wall-nut Bowling, fight zombie-plant hybrids in ZomBotany, beat Invisible Zombies in Invisi-ghoul, meet little Zombies again in Big Trouble Little Zombie, try to complete some hard mini-games such as Column Like You See 'Em and Bobsled Bonanza, or face Dr. Zomboss again in his new-and-improved Zombot. Once the player completes all the mini-games, he or she can play them again and again.

Another game mode is Puzzle Mode. This is an extremely strategic and logic mode. In I, Zombie, the player gets to control zombies and chew cardboard plants to eat brains. The player can also play Vasebreaker as they could in level 4-5 of Adventure Mode. On the iOS versions of *Plants vs. Zombies*, the player can play Last Stand, a remix of the mini-game where they get a certain amount of sun to go five straight flags without collecting any. The player can also test their real skill in the Endless modes of these.

In Survival Mode, the player gets to face extremely large hordes of zombies that last up to ten flags. Taking place in each area, the player can see how good at *Plants vs. Zombies* they really are and use their top strategies to go for a long time in each area. The player can also change their plants as they complete a flag or two. Once the player completes all ten Survival levels, the player can play Survival: Endless and not only break their old records, but earn a lot of money and kill a lot of zombies.

The player can also grow plants in the Zen Garden. The player can water, fertilize, and play music for their plants, make them happy, and earn a lot of money. The player can also grow a Tree of Wisdom, where they can learn some strategy hints and tips the more the tree is fed. The player can also learn about some codes that change the game.

There are many other things the player can do in the game as well. When the player enters Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies, they can go on a shopping spree and buy extra seed slots, upgrade plants, and accessories for their Zen Garden. The player can earn money by getting trophies and killing zombies. In the multiplayer modes on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo DS versions of *Plants vs. Zombies*, the player can play with a friend. Versus Mode allows the player to face a friend, plants versus zombies, and see who prevails in the final end. In Co-op Mode, the player can beat waves of zombies with a friend on their side. The player can also replay their favorite Adventure Mode levels in Quick Play, or try to complete all the achievements. The player can view the Suburban Almanac, which shows descriptions of plants and zombies, along with a comedic comment about the plant or zombie in question. The player can even create their own Flag Zombie in Zombatar.

## Plants

Main article: Plants (PvZ)

* Sunflower
* Cherry Bomb
* Wall-nut
* Potato Mine
* Snow Pea
* Chomper
* Repeater
* Sun-shroom
* Fume-shroom
* Grave Buster
* Hypno-shroom
* Scaredy-shroom
* Ice-shroom
* Doom-shroom
* Squash
* Threepeater
* Tangle Kelp
* Jalapeno
* Spikeweed
* Torchwood
* Tall-nut
* Plantern
* Cactus
* Blover
* Split Pea
* Starfruit
* Pumpkin
* Magnet-shroom
* Flower Pot
* Kernel-pult
* Coffee Bean
* Garlic
* Umbrella Leaf
* Marigold
 Upgrade plants* Gatling Pea
* Twin Sunflower
* Gloom-shroom
* Cattail
* Winter Melon
* Gold Magnet
* Spikerock
* Cob Cannon
* Explode-o-nut
* Giant Wall-nut (except Nook)
* Giant Sunflower (PC only)
* Giant Marigold (PC only)
* Reverse Repeater (Vasebreaker only)

## Zombies

Main article: Zombies (PvZ)

* Flag Zombie
* Conehead Zombie
* Pole Vaulting Zombie
* Buckethead Zombie
* Screen Door Zombie
* Football Zombie
* Dancing Zombie
* Backup Dancer
* Snorkel Zombie
* Zomboni
* Zombie Bobsled Team
* Dolphin Rider Zombie
	+ Dolphin
* Balloon Zombie
* Digger Zombie
* Pogo Zombie
* Zombie Yeti
* Ladder Zombie
* Catapult Zombie
* Gargantuar
* Imp
 Endless mode zombies* Giga-gargantuar (versions with Survival: Endless, Co-op Endless or Last Stand: Endless only)
* Giga-Football Zombie (web version only)
* Wall-nut Zombie (except Nook)
* Gatling Pea Zombie (except Nook)
* Tall-nut Zombie (except Nook)
* Jalapeno Zombie (except Nook)
* Squash Zombie (except Nook)
* Target Zombie (DS and console versions only)
* Baseball Zombie (DS only)
* Catapult Baseball Zombie (DS only)
* Zombie Worm (except Original PC version)
* Sunflower Zombie (console versions only)

## Gallery

Template:Gallery

 File:Buttonclick.ogg | The game's button click

## External links

* Official website
* Official Facebook page

## References

Template:PvZ series
Template:Game Versions

be:Plants vs. Zombies
de:Pflanzen gegen Zombies
es:Plants vs. Zombies
fr:Plantes contre Zombies
pl:Plants vs. Zombies
ru:Plants\_vs.\_Zombies
vi:Plants vs. Zombies
uk:Plants vs. Zombies
zh:植物大战僵尸