Finally after a ton of anticipation and some delay, Pop Cap’s hit tower defense-esque game Plants vs Zombies lands in the iPhone App Store! Now anyone who’s read Matt’s review of the MAC/PC version knows that this game is awesome. Very awesome. I dare anyone to play this game for a half-hour and see if it doesn’t turn into three. Don’t blame yourself however, it happens to everyone that picks it up. With the switch-over to touch screen the only question that lingers now is: how does this compare to the MAC/PC version? Click on the link to find out.

Usually when a game is classified as an tower defense game people turn and run the other way. Sales of this game however disprove this trend. Some purists would say it’s a step backwards and call PvZ a watered-down version of a ‘true’ tower defense or RTS. For those who are not elitist schmucks however this is a brilliant and easily approachable build from a gaming subculture that despite countless attempts has yet to get real mainstream exposure. Until now it seems. A quick overview: zombies are attacking your house. Your last line of defense is plants (what?!). The set up is a tower defense style. The sunflowers provide the means to grow plants that either attack or defend. It sounds simple but there’s a lot to chew on here: 50 levels in Adventure mode, 49 different plants and 26 types of zombies. You start off with six slots to choose and place plant types – but with a little money you can eventually get to ten slots via Crazy Dave’s shop. With plenty of extra items to purchase the already high replay value increases. The graphics are fun, sharp and are as good as it’s big brothers, though the animations aren’t quite as smooth. The bar in which plants are chosen has been moved from the top of the screen to the left hand side. Most importantly this version has the addictive ‘one more stage’ nature of the original. I’m not saying you’ll stop eating and lose sleep for days. But you’ll definitely miss lunch, most likely dinner and drop off little whatsiznuts an hour or so late for school. Well done, you’re a shitty parent. Damn you have problems.

The only real problem is the slowdown when a lot of action is on screen. The mini-games and puzzle sections got axed, perhaps due to file size. Whatever, the Quick Play mode added makes more sense for a mobile platform anyways. Oh and one other warning: don’t try to play this game drunk or stoned or even really tired. The touch-screen controls are precise and fumbling around them will only cause frustration. Not that I condone these things. Anyways, you’ve been warned.

For god’s sake people this is only $2.99. I could have a chunk of my brain torn out and still know that’s one of the best iPhone deals EVER. I think that other companies will have to try extra hard if they want to topple this Game of the Year contender. Honestly, I don’t think anyone else has a chance in hell, but maybe it’s that train of thought that will boost the quality of future apps. So as it stands right now Plants vs. Zombies is the killer app for the iPhone. Go get it. Like now.

Seriously, stop reading this and download it.