Zombies Don't Stand A Chance

Day 225: I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I was when Rovio released their new "Angry Birds Friends" game and I discovered that it requires you to belong to the bubblegum crowd on Facebook. Oh, I have a Facebook account, but I don't "friend" people I don't know, and I don't keep an appointment list for what times I'll be on the computer to play a game against an opponent. However, I find myself rapidly running out of birds to fling and pigs to blow up, and therefore I needed something to amuse myself when I want to kick back in my favorite chair and put my feet up. A friend whose opinions I value suggested a game which from the name sounded rather unappealing to me: "Plants vs. Zombies." As I was creeping closer and closer to the completion of all Angry Birds episodes at the three-star level, I finally gave in.

Okay, it's not as much fun as Angry Birds. I'll tell you that straight up, but there's something entertaining about playing as a gardener who is trying to win out over the horde of zombies invading the yard. Oh, yes...you play as the gardener, not as a zombie. That was the first surprise, and given the popularity of guts and gore, it was even more astonishing to find that the zombies aren't particularly gruesome. They're kinda silly, actually, and the plants...well, the plants are just plain cute. There's a Chomper, a globose, fanged purple species which resembles a Venus Fly Trap and eats zombies who get too close. It takes a long time to masticate its meal, though, and is vulnerable while it's chewing. With my fondness for carnivorous plants, it endeared itself to me immediately.

The game is easier than Angry Birds, and I'm skipping through the levels quickly. The Kindle Fire version is missing some of the content available to PC users (notably the Zen Garden), but since I've never played it on the computer, I don't notice the lack. And if I can't win out against the deer in my real garden, at least in this virtual one, I can keep those pesky zombies at bay.