PopCap Games is responsible for some of the most addictive and widely known casual games ever to hit the market. Bejeweled is a title that has been helping people goof off at work for years now, and everyone from soccer moms to the most hardcore gamers have heard the name. Peggle is much the same, a strangely addictive title that'll have you sitting down for a five minute game only to end up wasting an entire afternoon bouncing pachinko balls off of colored pegs. There's a whole list of other great casual titles that PopCap has put out and I've been looking forward to Plants vs Zombies, their latest release, ever since I first heard about it a while back. Now that I've gotten to spend some time with it I'm happy to report that it delivers the same addictive fun and entertaining charm fans have come to expect of this developer.

As the title suggests, the game is entirely about a bunch of plants holding back hordes of invading zombies. A ridiculous premise to be sure, but one that fits perfectly with PopCap's tongue-in-cheek approach to games. Some have called Plants vs Zombies a tower defense game, but I'm not entirely convinced of that. It strongly resembles games from that genre on occasion, especially in that your defenses are completely static, but there's so many little tweaks and cool ideas mixed in that it changes the formula just enough to stand by itself.

The game offers an unexpectedly wide variety of modes to play, the most prominent of which is the Adventure Mode. Wrapped loosely in a family friendly and heavily cliche zombie storyline, this mode is the meatiest portion of the game. Progress is slow as the game teaches you the basics and then ratchets up the difficulty from there, but the pace at which it hands out new plant and zombie types feels unbearably slow at times. The gradual ease into things at the beginning is nice and comfortable, especially for new players, but later on I really felt like things were being drawn out more than they should have been.

Defending your lawn from the zombie hordes is a lot more fun than it sounds. Basic strategy involves setting up sunflowers to get some sunlight production (what you use to grow new plants), saving up enough sun to get some defenses up (such as Peashooters that fire peas at incoming enemies or potato mines that detonate the undead on impact) and then improving upon them as the number of zombies steadily increases. Much of the game's charm comes into play here, and there were many times that I found myself laughing at some new plant or zombie type. For example, the Michael Jackson-esque Dancer Zombie (complete with backup dancers) that looks like he's straight out of the Thriller video, or the always fearsome Zombie Bobsled Team (complete with bobsled) who try to luge their way through your defenses. There's layer upon layer of humor here, and when combined with such simple yet entertaining gameplay makes for a game that's hard to beat.

Working your way through Adventure Mode slowly unlocks many of the goodies that are hiding in every corner of Plants vs Zombies. Other gameplay modes include Zombie Bowling, Beghouled (a play on their classic game Bejeweled), a brain bending puzzle mode and Survival Mode that pits you against an ever increasing horde of enemies that don't stop until you're defeated. On top of that there's eventually an option to play the game from the side of the zombies, a Zen garden that allows you to care for plants to earn rewards and a shop where you can spend money you've picked up during the game on various powerups and unlockables. For a measly twenty bucks it's hard to beat the amount of content here, especially when you consider the quality of it all.

Just like PopCap's other titles, Plants vs Zombies kept me playing with a smile on my face the entire time. There's just enough to keep the gears in your head turning, yet things stay simple enough to keep the flow relaxed and enjoyable. At the very least, do yourself a favor and check out the sixty minute demo that's available for the game. It'll get you through the basics and up to the point at which the game starts to really get interesting, leaving you salivating for more like any good demo should. You won't often find a title that's this much fun, this affordable and this enjoyable for such a wide demographic.