Review: Plants Vs. Zombies for Nintendo DS

PopCap Games is famous for not only creating amazing games that have a very wide appeal but also taking their best games and porting them to as many systems as possible. This gives as many gamers as possible a chance to play. Plants Vs. Zombies, one of PopCap's most popular games has made its way to different platforms such as the PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Xbox Live Arcade, and most recently PlayStation Network. Plants Vs. Zombies has taken another leap to handhelds on the Nintendo DS. Is Plants Vs. Zombies on Nintendo DS a worthy port of the backyard defense game?

If you have never heard of or played Plants Vs. Zombies, you might be living under a rock. Millions have already enjoyed planting the scores of plants available to take down many different types of zombies. I have played Plants Vs. Zombies before on iPhone and I absolutely fell in love with the gameplay and the cartoony ary style of the game. The version you will get on Nintendo DS is the same exact experience you will find on other platforms. It looks exactly the same as all previous versions of the game except it runs at much lower resolutions. For a Nintendo DS game, Plants Vs. Zombies looks spectacular and keeps the same fun animations.

Plants Vs. Zombies also plays the same as previous versions. The addition of the touch screen as seen in the iPhone and iPad versions show that Plants Vs. Zombies is one of those games that works much better by touch rather than with buttons. The gameplay is exactly the same as other touch screen versions which is perfect. My only complaint is that I would have liked to see PopCap experiment with the addition of the second screen. All that is on the top screen are fun animations of the Zombies on the play field which is not a bad thing but I would have liked to see something that slightly changed the gameplay.

As for content, the DS version of Plants Vs. Zombies packs a lot into its tiny game card. Aside from the same great adventure mode and minigames you'll find on other versions, you'll find that Plants Vs. Zombies DS has some modes and minigames that the other versions do not have. There are DS exclusive minigames which take advantage of some of the DS' features such as the microphone. The Zen Garden allows you to plant plants and earn in game money for it. It also contains the Zombitar, originally exclusive to the PC version. This mode allows you to dress up your own zombie in various hats and shirts. Unfortunately, unlike the PC version, you cannot export you zombie into the game so there is nothing you can do with the zombie after you have customized it.

Plants Vs. Zombies is just an amazing game with a great concept and memorable characters behind it. I had an absolute blast playing through it once again on Nintendo DS. I highly recommend that if you have never played Plants Vs. Zombies, you are seriously missing out. It is a game you absolutely need to experience. But is the Nintendo DS version the best? I would say its on par with the other versions of the game. At $20 I would say this is a must buy but the same exact game is available on other platforms for much cheaper. I would say if you have never played Plants Vs. Zombies and only have a Nintendo DS or you want to replay the game on a different platform, you absolutely must buy it. I just really hope to see a sequel to Plants Vs. Zombies soon and not too many more ports.

Final Score: 9.0/10

Special thanks to PopCap Games for providing a copy of the game.