Technomaly

We’d be remiss if we didn’t tip our hats to the juggernaut of flash gaming, the one, the only, the indispensable…As tower defense games go, few are as deceptively simple yet maddeningly complex as Plants vs. Zombies. The concept is simple – an army of the undead inexorably marches towards your home. Your only defense? A pack of killer plants who are as adorable as they are deadly.

So, in gaming terms, the mobs are zombies and the towers are plants. There are tons of zombie types, and 49 plant types – each effective against a different zombie or in a different situation. The challenge comes in that you can only bring six different plants with you, so balancing our your clorophyllic arsenal becomes a major part of the gameplay.

Screen door zombies can only be killed with poison gas emitting mushrooms, and the fast charging quarterback zombies need to be frozen before they mow down your entire garden. Tombstones create more zombies, but can only be destroyed with a single plant – a plant which becomes useless once the tombstones are gone, filling a valuable plant slot.

See what I mean about complex?

The game is also relentlessly fun, and is the fastest selling iPhone game of all time. Check it out at www.popcap.com/games/free/pvz.