Plants vs. Zombies™ Reviews

by Beastygamer2435

When I was younger, this was by far my favorite game to play. I would constantly try and beat the next level, but I could never defeat the final boss at the end. I was excited when I saw it optimized for the new phones so I could finally beat the game without my fathers help, but now I’m incredibly disappointed. Both before and after every level, I have been forced to watch a 30 second ad that cannot be skipped. It happens whenever you switch menus or do really anything in the game, which makes it infuriating to play. The game also freezes a ton during each round, which causes you to restart the game and watch another ad upon re-entry, even making you lose all progress. On top of that, everything is nearly impossible to do without spending money for the mini games which is disheartening. Those used to be a ton of fun to play, but now I can only play one and then have to grind 2 more hours to do even one more. I loved this game when I was younger, but now it is almost impossible to play which makes me feel awful. Why did EA do anything to this game? It was perfect before, but now it’s only a money grab.

by Puri101

PvZ, at its core, was a wonderful experience. If you’re playing this in 2020, I assume you know what the gameplay is. Compared to PvZ2, The adventure mode is streamlined and encourages using a variety of plants in each world, the bonus games are fun, and Zen Garden is a relaxing and simple collectathon if that strikes your fancy. Those are the things it does right.

However, going back to play this game now (which I had purchased before it was F2P), the staggering amount of ads they’ve implemented make this a headache to play through. Forced ads before AND after levels, ads to play bonus games, ads to supplement the pathetic amount of coins you get when you used to be able to comfortably buy everything just playing the game. And to top it all off, it’s clear the game wasn’t originally designed for ads and they are poorly integrated, since very frequently the level will crash after serving you up the pre-level ad which forces an app restart and watching an ad once more.

I understand making it F2P is appealing, but anyone who had purchased the game previously should automatically have the ad-free option unlocked. This wasn’t done, hence my low score. Play something else.

by The Eater Of Toast

I have literally purchased this game more times than I remember, in many different forms. I know I originally bought PlantsvsZombies on my iPod when I was younger so that’s at least ONE time I’ve paid $0.99. I’ve had it on my DS, my Xbox, etc, not that it matters. And I’ve purchased coins from the shop a few times over the years as well—specifically through iTunes.

So what the hell is going on when suddenly it’s a free to download app that refuses to restore all my purchases and forces me to watch adds? I literally own this game and it was taken away from me by an update?? I guess it’s my fault for getting a new phone huh? Honestly this is really scummy. At least let people restore their purchases. This new update only allows the “get rid of ads” purchase to be restored, and I believe any purchase used to do that but I could be mistaken.

Even so, for somebody who originally paid for PlantsvsZombies and has since made in-app purchases, all on the same iTunes account over many years, it’s disappointing for me to see my favorite mobile game get squeezed for cash like this. 😔 SEGA did this with Sonic as well so you’re not the only ones stealing products back from the consumers I guess

by AwesomeSauce866

There are so many ads now in PvZ it actually hurts me to play sometimes. I have to turn on airplane mode so I don’t receive an ad each time I complete a level or go to the main menu. They are quite annoying especially since playing before this time there was zero ads. Why did EA have to change this?? Leave the old game to slowly sputter out they literally had to change nothing and the game would still be perfect but they had to go and add so many ads into it.

Not only that but a large thing that makes me mad is the fact that marigolds are sold in the shop for $5000 (previously $2500). This is a terrible price when you think about it because of these reasons. The marigold when finally grown to an adult size you get $1000 (one diamond) and can only be sold for $3000 and also in the intermediate levels of growth you get less than $500. This was the whole idea of the marigolds so that players can make a profit but instead you are losing money from buying these. There utterly is no point to them and should be reverted to their previous price of $2500 to “reward us nicely” as Crazy Dave says.

I am putting this review as 1 Star because EA and popcap took a great game and made it just annoying. Hopefully this being 1 Star someone might see it but I highly doubt any change will be made. Thank you for reading my frustration!

by HCH753

UPDATE TO PREVIOUS REVIEW: The game has been glitching the last few days. As I have beaten the game well over 100 times and gotten all but one or two achievements, I typically only get on to play mini games. I was in the middle of playing level 3-5 when the game kept freezing up when I tried to get anything that required watching a video. So I logged off and back on several times. After the last time, my entire game was reset, completely wiped out my progress, FOR THE THIRD TIME. My game started over as if I had never played the game before. I am so annoyed!! Never have I played a game before that the developers think it is ok to reset all progress, MULTIPLE TIMES!! I LOVED this game for a very long time, but now it’s just irritating! I will not be starting over again. I will just finally delete PlantsvsZombies , unfortunately, and that makes me very sad to say.

The update wiped out my Zen Garden but gave me money for it so no big deal, although I don't need the money and used some to buy back my gardens but my survival mode is locked even though I have ALL of my trophies and most of my achievements!!! Please UNLOCK SURVIVAL MODE!!!! The extras are the only reason I play anymore since I have beaten the game MULTIPLE times!!!!

by Ethan Angelo Perches

Have you fine people wondered why this game doesn’t capture the same nostalgia as the PvZ you once knew and loved? Check the publisher. That’s not our beloved Popcap making old moves. That’s EA getting their hands somewhere it doesn’t belong again. This game doesn’t feel like the old one because it’s not. I’m sorry EA I love you and I love the Sims, but you’ve once again stuck your grubby little hands where they don’t belong. I was only able to figure this out because when I noticed PlantsvsZombies was free and there was no 99¢ option I looked in my recent purchases and there it was. The exact same game (we all know not exact but you get what I’m saying) same plants, same zombies, different publisher. I didn’t think anyone could screw up a game already published so badly, but are you folks really so strapped for cash you have to not only put ads before each level, but also offer unremovable ad options for items that no player should be using because it’s absolutely immersion breaking and just in general not fun like the exploding walnut and extra lawn mowers? I’m willing to bet I could play a whole game without planting a single plant, and for that you break my heart.

by LegendaryDragon1355

I enjoy the game very much, but it’s not nearly as fun as it was 3-4 years ago The zombies should do more or atleast feel like they more damage every level so if a normal zombie does 3 damage at level 4 it should do 3.5 or 4 damage level 5 as well as the plants costing more al little for another example on level 3 a pea shooter costs 100 on level 5 or 6 it should cost a little more like 105 or 110 see what I mean it would make it harder because right now with a easy to master sunflower farm making sun pretty much infinite so hard to run out and lawn mowers and plants that can 1 shot any zombie meaning you could just spawn them when a high health zombie comes and with its short respawn time you could spam them if you have an efficient sunflower farm which is easy to make. I understand you may think that the game will be be to challenging for kids, but if you look back at the old Mario games they were hard very hard and the kids adapted to them calling them easy. It just strengthened their gaming skills, but you can have a better explain system or tutorial if you want take care.

by Jamievlong

Originally bought the game back in 2012. Every few years I like to go back and play the game. I recently started playing again. I re-downloaded PlantsvsZombies to see they did some updates with the interface. Nice. My one biggest pet peeve is that the game is now laden with adds and annoying suggestions to watch videos for a stupid item or upgrade. Is this what the game industry has come to? After every level you beat there is a stupid ad. What prompted me to write this review is that I just beat a level that I was working on for a good 20min and then had to watch an ad(ok, normal), then once the ad started, an “x” to close the ad that normally appears after about 8-10secs never appeared. I then went , “fine I’ll just open up the ad to see if this gets it going”. Nothing. Ok. So I then close PvZ then re-open it only to find out it didn’t save because of a stupid ad that glitched and forced me to exit out, close PlantsvsZombies , then re-open it. Cmon PvZ team. Your game rivaled Angry Birds years ago. One of the top mobile games. Now you guys are pumping low-tier crap. The stuff you are doing is what sketchy rip off mobile games do.

by Alessio Giammarinaro

First off, the actual gameplay of PvZ is awesome. It is very simple; defend your brains from the zombies by using a variety of weaponized plants. The creativity in this game is great from the different plants to the unique zombies, and having to continually adapt to the variety of different challenges keeps the gameplay fun and interesting. The problem, though, is the quantity of ads. I have no problems with having a few ads here and there in a FREE game, but there is an ad before and after every level as well as every time you go back to the home screen. This makes playing the game more tedious than it needs to be because of how many breaks there are in playing the actual game and navigating through the menus. Again, I have no problems having an ad every so often, but when you are spending more time watching ads more than playing the game, there is a problem that needs to be fixed. In addition, there are glitches in the game that cause PlantsvsZombies to crash. So far, the only glitch I have seen is in the endless survival game mode. After reaching ten flags, PlantsvsZombies crashed, I have not been able to continue in the game mode since. I also read other reviews where the game crashed while doing similar things like entering the shop or doing a challenge. To wrap up, the game itself is awesome however the amount of ads and the glitches are some serious problems that need to be fixed. I hope EA reads this.

by Madison Rudloff

I would have given five stars, because this game is amazing. It helps me “tame” my ADHD & it satisfies my OCD without fail every time. HOWEVER when I first played the game, there were no ads. Next thing I knew, there were ads every five freaking seconds. Any time I tapped on anything, there was an ad. Most of which, I couldn’t even skip. And then the glitches. The first glitch made it so I couldn’t play my favorite mini game, survival, I had to figure out a way to fix it which ultimately led to me having to restart some of my progress. AND THEN a little while after this, I was playing the game and it deleted ALL of my progress. I love this game & would love to replay it. But under MY circumstances. I had so much stuff. I’m so mad.
To end this on a lighter note, if the game makers see this somehow and want tips on adding to the game, I would suggest making an endless survival out of all of the places. So the grass, night time, roof, so on and so forth. Or even making a new place! That would be cool.
Anyway I don’t hate this game. I just hate the fact that the glitches literally ruined everything.

by ADD THIS IN ALREADY

Straight to the point...I love PvZ (Though the first person BS needs a break) I have supported PVZ for years and I was so excited by the new update with penny and opened PlantsvsZombies ...where was it? I thought maybe I need to unlock it? I went to worlds...no...shop?nope...I pressed learn more and it said once you get 15 plants it’s unlocked...I’m way past 15 plants...were is it? I closed PlantsvsZombies fully and re-opened and still couldn’t find it I looked more in the shop and then PlantsvsZombies crashed, I thought maybe PlantsvsZombies realized something wasn’t right...nope just crashed...please fix it I really want to participate

Ps. I also for some reason can’t make a new account and I accidentally deleted my old account when I wanted to re-name it and I couldn’t get it back so maybe add a warning before you erase your progress?

Pps. I bought the Apple motor and I don’t have many other plants other than the gem premiums and I wanted to level it up because Apple motor was my favorite plant...and every time I bough a premium piñata I got random premium plants I don’t own so I was wondering if you could make it so it’s more common to get seeds for plants you ACTUALLY OWN?

by Monniewolf

I paid a few months ago to remove ads. That worked for about a week. Now I’m back to having so many ads that game is almost unplayable. There are ads between every round, ads before and after every bonus game, ads when I visit my zen garden, etc. I spend more time stuck in ads than playing. I’ve contacted EA three separate times (before the lockdown) about it. First time they never responded. Second time they told me it was third party apps playing the ads (lie) and that I need to track down PlantsvsZombies and delete it. So apparently according to EA, the inability to restore your purchase of no ads isn’t their fault (it just hangs on connecting to server when you click restore) it’s some invisible third party that they’re not responsible for and that only affects their game and no others. Third time, a response to their third party app theory, got no response.
I know it’s only 3 bucks, but how many people are they ripping off? Reinstalling the game doesn’t fix it.

by Random_nem

Plants vs Zombies has always been a staple of what a good mobile game is. It is extremely fun to play with an adventure/levels mode, as well as numerous other fun mini games. But now the game that was with me all my life is changed. I got a new Apple ID and got the game again but it’s different from how it once was. EA has made it so that at the begging of every level, you have a rake in the middle of the screen, and to get it you have to watch an add. You used to buy these things with easy to get in game money(no real money spent) but now there’s a focus on watching adds. As well as these optional items, in order to play the game you sometimes need to watch adds. In order to play a bonus game you HAVE TO WATCH AN ADD. Even the adventure part of the game is filled with adds. The final straw for me writing this review was when after completing an adventure level an add popped up. In summary PvZ is an amazing game, but it was much better when although the game cost money, there were NO ADDS. DOWN WITH EA

by Brian Leverett

Now this game is the best game for all ages because it starts out nice and easy for beginners and the new update allows more detailed practice for starter players. This game has everything you want to do and it is very long! The only thing that I would like to see added is a co-op mode and a vs mode with a friend or with the computer. Other than that this game is the best for all players. If you don’t know what this game is than download it right now and play and play it! I hope that it keeps getting updated for more stuff to do. The new modes that I said about would make the game never ending and more fun! As always download this game now you will have fun with it! Trust me. I am still playing this game today on adventure 2 day 8. I love survival endless it is a good way to get coins faster. One thing that doesn’t work for me is the cob cannons explosions. I doesn’t blow up the zombies for me. But to end this download this now it’s a good game to do if your bored! This game is great and keep updating it please! 100/1 rating!

by Echo_A.

Okay so the first time I played this, it was on my grandma’s iPad. I loved it. (My parents didn’t really approve, but I didn’t care and neither did my grandma) so I was pretty decent at this, beat all the levels. Now I’m sitting here playing it, and it’s totally addicting years later. I prefer this one to the second one, mostly because the game mechanics seem simpler to me I guess. I just realized that this was the first review I’ve ever written for a game 🤔. So this pretty much had no purpose, I just wanted to let y’all know that this game is great! I mean, for some younger kids, it might be a bit scary... but if you think they can handle it, go ahead and get it for them! Seriously, great game. Can be played online and offline, with WiFi or without it. So it’s great for road trips, being on a plane, in a dead zone, pretty much anywhere your device won’t be harmed. I have no problem with this whatsoever, just wanted to let you guys know what a great game this is! 👍

by CixXcaxX

It’s impossible to get passed level 5 on Night, You don’t have unlimited lawn mowers, so you have to continue watching ads after ads, Then when you’re out, You’re out you lose, Play it again the same thing happens, Also when you use a cherry bomb after you kill a zombie with a lawn mover and they drop sun points, You place it down and it only has like, 2 Tiles down and 1 tile over, Like 2 Y and 1 X So what about the other two or three lanes? It also takes about a minute for that thing to be ready to use again, This is super unfair, They just want you to keep on playing ads, When there’s no possible way to beat it, This game was fun a few years back when I downloaded it on my laptop, I beat it and decided to play it again on my IPhone, I noticed it changed a lot, And so has the levels, Please make Level 5 Night at least possible

by Not_Primae

I love nearly everything about this game. In my opinion it is one of the best games on the appstore and I’ll explain why.

The game is completely and utterly unique in theme, planting plants to defend your house from incoming zombies. Now that’s already a great game that you could play for a pretty long time, but eventually you’d get bored of it. They knew this and added plenty of mini games for you to entertain yourself with and it gives the game much more longevity. Also all the levels are not too hard but easy enough that you don’t have to redo them millions of times.

I love crazy Dave, I think he is a hilarious character but that’s not the only reason I think he’s great. Other games will have characters who are entertaining like him but most of those are mono dimensional, and they don’t really effect the plot. Yet Crazy Dave is intertwined perfectly. He is your guide for the basics of lawn safety via plants.

I think the art design is really good, it’s not too extremely realistic, but it’s not too cartoony either. I love the soundtrack it fits the game really well, it really captures the essence of the game. I love all the little things you can do around the menus as well.

I love the entire currency system, unlike many other games it only has one currency. I like that you purchase everything you need from the back of crazy Dave’s van and I like the zen garden concept as well.

That’s why I think this is one of the best games on the appstore.

by Thatreviewer😀

Everybody knows this classic series, and even though it’s currently broad (until PVZ3 gets released), the first game is WAY more fun than it looks. The reason it’s so popular with beginners and professionals is because the game is easy to play, but hard to master. Even after you complete Adventure Mode (1 & 2), There’s still so much to do, especially mini games! My favorite is I, Zombie, where you take control of the zombies and play from their perspective. My only criticism to the game is the micro transactions. I mean, I get it, EA now owns PopCap (cry about it), and EA is infamous for their sextillion micro transactions. But, once you take away the micro transactions, PVZ becomes a fun game! As soon as it becomes repetitive, the game hits you with a game changing plant or zombie, like the menacing, 3 feet tall Gargantuar, or the strong Doom-Shroom! Overall, this game used to be perfect before EA came to the scene, however, it’s still fun! If you haven’t played this game yet (Like, seriously? Been living under a rock) PLAY IT, it’s a must-play!

by The Ultimate Cooli0 :)

Ok so I downloaded this game because I played it at Bahama Breeze restaurant, and it is super fun this is currently one of my favorite games, however there is one issue that really bugs me and everyone else in the reviews, that is the ADS! Look I don’t mind a few ads maybe like one every 3 levels or one to play a bonus game, and there are a lot less here than a modern mobile game, which I like, but do you REALLY need to put an ad at the begging or end of EVERY level? At first I told myself, ok at least they are not in the middle of the level unless you want an explode o nut, but after a while it just got annoying that there were ads at the start and end of every level, or when you enter or exit an area like the zen garden or Crazy Dave’s shop! Maybe instead of an ad when you enter or exit an area or level, maybe reduce it to one ad every 3 to 5 levels and/or areas. If you read this than thank you for taking the time to read this and sorry if it was a little long. (P.S, unrelated to this but can you please add mod support for the sims 4 consoles?, if not please respond with a valid reason why)

by MC1129

Why? Because these 2 are gonna crash the game and it’s gonna start from the beginning or the game keeps crashing or it freezes the game. So Do NOT go to zen garden and portal combat because it will crash the game. So what I’m going to do is what i need to get some coins is go to level 5-10 to keep replay it, But what I can do is I’m going to play some survival mode is what i need is to get loads of marigold and some gold magnets so I can start farming coins so it gonna take a while. Now I have a lot of coins I can now buy packs of minigames, puzzle games and also wooden hammers for endless. And one more thing buy ads remove in the shop so you don’t want to see it all in game.

And That is how to farm coins in PvZ iPhone! But always remember Do NOT go to zen garden and portal combat cause it will crash! Thank you! 👍