PixlBit

Plants vs. Zombies has already made its way to every gaming platform known to man. While I say this facetiously, the tower-defense title has been adapted for a wide variety of platforms since initially debuting on the PC in 2009. While it started on the PC, Plants vs. Zombies found its true home on the mobile platform after appearing on all manner of smart phones. The touch controls and ability to play in small bursts, anytime, anywhere, made the smart phone version of the game the most palatable. Now appearing on the Vita, the game is equally viable on the new platform, especially with the bright, beautiful HD visuals provided by the Vita's multi-touch screen. While viable, its high price point ($15) is likely to chase away most would-be zombie defenders.

Part of what has made Plants vs. Zombies such a hit is its unbelievable approachability. The difficulty ramp is extremely gradual, allowing players to slowly perfect their skills in order to ward off bigger and bigger zombie offenses. The game also takes much of the complication out of the tower defense genre. With five lanes for zombies to approach down, players needn't worry about pathing or attacks from multiple sides. Instead, they're able to focus all of their energy on placing the right towers (read: plants) in the right places to repel attacking zombies.

As the game progresses onward, it adds lots of little things to keep it from growing stale. New towers are add with each passing round and collection of coins throughout the game makes it possible to purchase upgrades to things like the lawnmowers (your last line of defense) to work in water, or unattainable towers, like the double sunflower. Eventually players will have to contend with new environments and zombies that can only be defeated by specific towers. One-time use items also become available, giving you the ability to clear a whole row if you have the necessary amount of currency (read: sunlight).

There's no question that Plants vs. Zombies has addictive qualities, and with the right audience the game can be nearly impossible to put down. I've always found the game to be a bit easy and at times, plodding, but it's not a title built specifically for the core gamer.

Whatever your take on the game, the Vita edition brings two great improvements. For one, sunlight that drops from both the sky and the sunflowers, as well as coins from the zombies, can all be picked up with a quick shake of the system. This absolutely beats having to tap or click everything that hits the field, especially when it's easy to accidentally drop a plant in the wrong place while trying to grab some falling sunlight. The other improvement is the high definition OLED screen that displays the game's vibrant colors better than ever.

Despite these improvements, the Vita version of the game isn't ideal. Chances are you aren't carrying around your Vita everywhere, much like you already do with your smart phone. Given the quick pick-up-and-play gameplay offered by Plants vs. Zombies, smart phones offer a much better platform for the experience. Unless this is your first outing with Plants vs. Zombies, it's not likely that you're going to play this on-the-go on your Vita when plenty of other more substantial games are available.

More importantly, the pricing for Plants vs. Zombies is unreasonably high. Normally a $3 game on your (more convenient) Android phone or iPhone; here it's $15. It makes very little sense to spend five times the amount to play it on your Vita, regardless of what upgrades it may offer.