Plants vs. Zombies vs Sanctum
Two series side by side on the facts: how many games, the average GamingPickz Score, the best entry each, and the weight of reviews behind them. Across the games we can score, Plants vs. Zombies averages the higher score.
The two series at a glance
| Plants vs. Zombies | Sanctum | |
|---|---|---|
| Games we hold | 3 ✓ | 2 |
| Scored (Steam data) | 3 | 2 |
| Average GamingPickz Score | 7.8 ✓ | 7.3 |
| Best entry | Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition (8.7) ✓ | Sanctum 2 (7.6) |
| Combined reviews | 224,575 ✓ | 17,748 |
| First release | 2009 | 2011 |
| Latest release | 2022 | 2013 |
A series average hides its highs and lows and rewards being prolific. It is a starting point, not a verdict; the individual games are on each franchise page.
Flagship head to head
The best-scored entry of each series is Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition (8.7) for Plants vs. Zombies and Sanctum 2 (7.6) for Sanctum.
Both series on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueEvery scorable Plants vs. Zombies and Sanctum game plotted on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from. Change either axis to see where each series clusters.
5 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 5 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
The full series, each
Common questions
Is Plants vs. Zombies or Sanctum the better series?
Across the games we can score, Plants vs. Zombies averages a higher GamingPickz Score (7.8 to 7.3). That is the average of a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, not our taste, and a series average hides its highs and lows: see the best entry of each above.
Which has more games, Plants vs. Zombies or Sanctum?
We hold 3 Plants vs. Zombies games and 2 Sanctum games, the first from 2009. The full lists are on each franchise page.
What is the best game in each series?
Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition for Plants vs. Zombies (8.7), and Sanctum 2 for Sanctum (7.6), by the GamingPickz Score.