With the popularity of Pinball FX2 growing all the time, many companies (including Marvel, Pop Cap Games, and others) have been working with the developers of the downloadable game to get specific tables for their titles, the most recent of which is the Pop Cap Games hit, Plants Vs. Zombies. This game is immensely popular, and given the simple yet fun configuration of the game, it seemed like a great fit for its own table.

The controls are incredibly simple, as the game just emulates the one button system, using either trigger to hit the flippers on the left or right side. Another button press launches the ball, and another changes camera angles. Nothing special there, but the real fun is in the gameplay.

While not overly complex, the table has all the things players know and love about PvZ, with several parts of the table taking some aspect of the game from the title itself. Crazy Dave makes an appearance, and players spend time gathering sun, coins, and smacking zombies with one or more types of weaponry, with the standard seed green ball to the ice blue ball (used for the blue pea shooters in the original game), as well as a few more. Defensive plants make an appearance as well, stopping the constantly appearing zombies in their tracks.

Pinball FX2 always does a terrific job of getting the atmosphere and aesthetics of a game done the right way when it brings it to a pinball table. Just about anything that appears in the original Plants Vs. Zombies game is featured on the table, from the zombies themselves to checking mail (which ends up doing quite a bit more than that) to upgrading and buying new plants to defend against the zombie horde.  There is less of a focus on some of the other locations from the original game (aside from the standard day level), but there are bits and pieces here and there.

The only real drawback about the game was the voice acting. While there was very little of it, the sound effect of a very peppy young woman thanking the lawnmowers for saving your turn and poking fun at zombies was a bit irritating. It seemed pretty unnecessary, and was rather distracting during play.

While this is more of an add-on than a full game, it feels like something completely separate from any of the other tables released previously. With a plethora of materials from the original game brought to a whole new style of game, it is a lot of fun.

Summary: While nothing groundbreaking, the Plants Vs. Zombies table for Pinball FX2 is a great addition for the multitude of tables already available for the game. For fans of the franchise, and of pinball, this is a game to grab, and for pretty cheap, as it’s only 240 Points on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Definitely worth picking up.

The Good: Fun, Creative Adaptation Of The Popular Title

The Bad: Little Level Variation

The Ugly: Really Annoying Voice-Overs

Score: 8.5