Let’s start with the obvious. I wouldn’t install a PopCap game on my laptop even if angels would visit my bedroom offering heavenly felatio. But, my girlfriend had other plans, so while I was away, an intruder defiled my virtual sanctity. Coming home after a hard day, I see a new shortcut on my desktop. The name sounded funny enough to give it a double click. So I did. But after seeing the PopCap logo, my brain started spewing molten hatred and prepared me for a good ol’ game-bashing. And you’ll be surprised to know that I failed. I can’t crucify this game. It’s … nice. I didn’t realise this fact until the next day, when I remembered my gaming schedule for the previous day. I’ve spent five minutes in World Of Warcraft and four hours in Plants vs Zombies. Shit…

I can grasp the fact that small, cute games can make the world go round. I mean, come on. There’s Crayon Physics, And Yet It Moves, World Of Goo, and so on. And it’s obvious that these little miracles can really warm the hearts of jaded hardcore gamers that start every sentence with “back then, before the Diablo 1 era, when gaming was different and talent really mattered to game developers”, like myself.

It’s refreshing to see a game that doesn’t need keyboard shortcuts. Really. It’s very relaxing. Clickfests also have their role in this universe and shouldn’t be ignored, because, what they do well is eviscerate tension and assassinate stress. Plants vs Zombies is pretty self-explanatory really. You know what to expect when you enter this game, but the huge amount of detail and wacky humour is so outrageous that it will knock your socks off. And I mean that in a good way.

And I feel I blabbered more about generalities than the actual game. I’ve written enough, so I’ll try to be brief. This game is amazing. You start like in a god-game, with a few seeds in your virtual palm, to grow plants, that defend your house against impending zombie attacks. It’s a pretty straight-forward tower defense game, but besides the tried-and-true gameplay omnipresent in other games, Plants vs Zombies entices the player in lung-cracking laughter. You’ll see pole-jumper zombies, Michael Jackson (in the Thriller-era) cadavers, complete with a horde of undead backing dancers, dolphin-riding corpses, and so on. Advancing in the game, you gather a plethora of plants, with different violent capabilities and, gathering points to improve your garden against the zombie horde. Points appear randomly on the screen after kicking the undead buttock of a zombie, as well as … 'Sun'. From time to time (aided by the number of sunflowers you have), yellow spheres drop from the sky, and you have to click on them, because 'sun' is the game's currency. You want a deadly peashooter? Gather sun! You want a devastating jalapeno, cough up some 'sun'. So, as you see, the gameplay doesn’t bring anything new to the table, but the shear amount of “adoooorable”, “awwww” , “cuuuuute” and “LOOOL” is staggering.

I wholeheartedly recommend this game to anyone. It can make even the most hardcore of gamers feel in an enchanted meadow, gathering lilies while poaching unicorns. This game made me wish for Plants Vs. Zombies Total War. Come on, Creative Assembly! You can do it!