Pads & Panels

Title: Mystery P.I. – Stolen in San Francisco

Platform: PC

ESRB: Unknown

Publisher: PopCap, SpinTop Games

Developer: SpinTop Games

Rating:

Review by: Sarah Kumley

Much like a Where’s Waldo? puzzle, the Mystery P.I. series challenges players to find everyday objects that are hidden in a scene. The latest installment, Stolen in San Francisco, uses famous scenery from around the great West Coast city. The player has been hired by a very wealthy person to find $250 million worth of gold bars stolen from an armored car. The player scours 25 locations to find clues and put them all together to recover the gold, by pointing and clicking on objects. (more…)

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Title: Bookworm

Platform: DS

ESRB: E

Publisher: PopCap Games

Developer: PopCap Games

Rating:

Review by: Sarah Kumley

The PC addiction of Bookworm is now available on the Nintendo DS. This version plays much like the original, with some new additions. The goal is to find and spell out words in a collection of letter tiles. Longer and more complex words net the player more points. The player can also unlock more library rooms by spelling longer words. Twenty bonus books offer players a chance to find specific words in the tiles. Each book has a different theme, with twelve words to find that vary in length and difficulty. There are three different modes to play: classic, action and multiplayer. The classic mode is just that – the original version. Action mode really keeps the player on edge by causing fire tiles to appear every few seconds and the game is over if they reach the bottom. Multiplayer mode pits players who also own Bookworm on the DS against each other in a race to be the first to reach a goal score. (more…)

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#3 – Plants vs. Zombies (PC)

Publisher: PopCap – Developer: PopCap

Our Review

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Popcap strips down the tower defense genre so anyone can jump in, then level-by-level builds it up to perfection. Players place various plants to defend the house from waves of the undead. Everything’s got character, and it is damn near impossible to play this game not sporting a big smile. The pacing is perfect and is constantly mixing things up before any repetition sets in. Plants vs. Zombies is rounded out by a good sense of humor and a soundtrack guaranteed to get stuck in gamers’ heads. (more…)

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PopCap announced this month that Plants vs. Zombies is set to appear the evening of Saturday, Oct. 31 in New York City’s 36th Annual Village Halloween Parade as an “In-Parade Sponsor.” The parade begins at 7 p.m. PopCap will reportedly be giving away themed merchandise as the parade weaves through the streets of Manhattan. Fans are encouraged to join the celebration by wearing a PvZ costume. A costume contest will be held following the parade, with more PopCap prizes for the best plant and best zombie costumes. PopCap has also extended an invitation to NYC Zombie Crawl and ZombieCon in an attempt to make it the largest gathering of zombies in the parade’s history.

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Owners of the iPhone who haven’t discovered the extremely addictive gameplay of Peggle yet are in luck.  PopCap’s pachinko-meets-puzzler title normally retails for $4.99 for the phone, but there is currently an 80 percent off sale, making the game one cent cheaper than a McDonald’s double cheeseburger, at only $.99. And at the risk of editorializing this news post, I have to say Peggle is so much better than a McDonald’s double cheeseburger. Readers can check out the Pads & Panels review of the DS version of the title HERE.

–Bill

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Title: Peggle: Dual Shot

Platform: DS

ESRB Rating: E

Publisher: PopCap Games

Developer: Q Entertainment

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

If PopCap is going to continue making games like Peggle, it better start offering addiction counseling on its support page. Ever since being released in February of 2007, Peggle has steadily grown its fan base alongside several different versions of the game – including Peggle Extreme with The Orange Box –Xbox Live Arcade and iPhone releases, and a sequel in Peggle Nights. Consider Peggle: Dual Shot a “greatest hits” collection of Peggle thus far, with minor support for the stylus controls. (more…)

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Title: Plants vs Zombies

Platform: PC, Mac

ESRB Rating: E

Publisher: PopCap Games

Developer: PopCap Games

Rating:

Review by: Kevin Haverty

PopCap continues blurring the lines of casual and hardcore with Plants vs Zombies. PvZ combines plants, zombies, the addictiveness of crystal meth and tower defense, then applies a sugar candy coating. A bitchin’ battalion of botany battles the barrage of baneful, bone-breaking, brain-binging bogeymen from bashing the bungalow to bits. Blimey! (more…)

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