Every Plants vs. Zombies game, ranked
All 3 Plants vs. Zombies games we hold, spanning 2009 to 2022: 3 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 224,575 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition (GamingPickz Score 8.7), the highest-rated entry we can score.
The Plants vs. Zombies games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 3 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
3 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 3 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.
3 best Plants vs. Zombies games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
- 1
Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
8.7GamingPickz Scorehigh confidencePlants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition at a glance Released 2009 Studio PopCap Games, Inc. Player sentiment 98% positive of 155,468 Critics 87/100 Price $4.99 Steam Deck unsupported Install size Not stated Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 98% shrinks to 98.0 on 155,468 reviews, then blends with the 87 critic aggregate, giving 8.7.
What the data supports- 98% positive across 155,468 reviews is a strong signal at that volume, where a few enthusiasts cannot move the number.
Worth checking first- Valve rates it Unsupported on the Steam Deck.
- 2
Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2: Deluxe Edition
Best for: Playing through with a friend online
8.0GamingPickz Scorehigh confidencePlants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2: Deluxe Edition at a glance Released 2022 Studio PopCap Player sentiment 90% positive of 50,300 Critics 82/100 Price $29.99 Steam Deck unsupported Install size 40 GB Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 90% shrinks to 90.0 on 50,300 reviews, then blends with the 82 critic aggregate, giving 8.0.
Worth checking first- Carries in-game purchases. Check what they cost before committing.
- Valve rates it Unsupported on the Steam Deck.
- 3
Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville
Best for: Playing with other people
6.7GamingPickz Scorehigh confidencePlants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville at a glance Released 2020 Studio PopCap Player sentiment 71% positive of 18,807 Critics 77/100 Price $29.99 Steam Deck unsupported Install size 15 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 71% shrinks to 71.3 on 18,807 reviews, then blends with the 77 critic aggregate, giving 6.7.
Worth checking first- Valve rates it Unsupported on the Steam Deck.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Plants vs. Zombies game we can score is Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition at 8.7. The lowest is Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville at 6.7, a 2.0-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
How the series scored over time
GamingPickz Score against release year, 2009 to 2022. The later entries score lower than the earlier ones: the series has been trending down.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition at $4.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Plants vs. Zombies entries on Steam:
- Unsupported: Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition, Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2: Deluxe Edition
Platforms across the series
Where the 3 Plants vs. Zombies games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 3 of 3 |
The Plants vs. Zombies series, game by game
Every Plants vs. Zombies game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2009
Zombies are invading your home, and the only defense is your arsenal of plants! Armed with an alien nursery-worth of zombie-zapping plants like peashooters and cherry bombs, you'll need to think fast and plant faster to stop dozens of types of zombies dead in their tracks. (Steam)
- 2020
Kick some grass in Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, the wackiest shooter yet! (Steam)
Reception
Reception On review aggregation website, Metacritic , the Xbox One version of the game has a score of 76/100, and 77/100 from both the PS4 and PC versions, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville was given positive reviews. (Wikipedia)
- 2022
Ready the Peashooters and prepare for the craziest, funniest shooter in the universe: Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2. (Steam)
Plants vs. Zombies, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Plants vs. Zombies vs other series
How Plants vs. Zombies stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: Plants vs. Zombies vs Frostpunk, Plants vs. Zombies vs Kingdom, Plants vs. Zombies vs Sanctum, Plants vs. Zombies vs Town of Salem
Common questions
How many Plants vs. Zombies games are there?
We hold 3 Plants vs. Zombies games in the catalogue, released between 2009 and 2022. 3 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Plants vs. Zombies game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition rates highest at 8.7. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Plants vs. Zombies games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2009 to 2022. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
More franchises
Browse every game franchise ranked the same way, or head to the full grid.