We’ve only got a couple games for you this week. But trust me — if you’ve been playing either of them, you’ll understand why there wasn’t time for anything else.

I Can't Believe It's Not Brains!

Nick: Oh man. Plants Vs. Zombies. Plants Vs. Zombies. Plants Vs. Zombies.

It’s common knowledge that I’m guaranteed to fall in love with any game that’s got the PopCap seal of quality on it. But their latest game managed to do the impossible: It took a genre I couldn’t stand — tower defense — and transmogrified it into the most wonderful, purest substance of joy I’ve experienced in a game since…well, Peggle. But Plants Vs. Zombies breaks with PopCap’s precedent by delivering a game that’s not only infinitely addictive and bursting with charm — it’s crammed full of things to do.

After sinking more than 12 hours into the game (including a final three-hour binge that ended with my victory over the Adventure mode at 3:00 a.m.) I’ve still got dozens of challenge and puzzle modes to complete, a Zen Garden to cultivate, and a new and foreboding mode called Survival.

I’m hoping to have a full review up before too long, but trust me when I say this is the best $10 you’ll spend on a game for a very long time. Despite the heavy hitters to come along this year, Plants Vs. Zombies is the best game I’ve encountered in a very, very long time.

Aaron: This week I played one game: Pokemon Pearl.

Seriously.

I took a breather from gaming and instead read some books, caught up on current events, watched Battlestar Galactica for the first time and spent time outside of the house. As far as games I’ll be playing next week? It’s anyone’s guess. But we have to get more reviews done, I suppose.

Sure, you might’ve played a couple rounds here and there of Peggle, PopCap‘s fun little peg-shooting puzzler, but it’s easy to shrug it off and get back to being a productive member of society.

But sooner or later, it’s inevitable: You’ve got some free time! You glance around, shrug your shoulders, and decide to pay the Peggle Institute another visit. “What’s the harm in a few more levels?” you ask yourself.

What’s the harm, indeed.

The symptoms appear swiftly and without mercy. Whenever you close your eyes, you see balls launched with beautiful angles and perfect trajectory, knocking out those few remaining orange pegs and winning the round. You make up voices for the ridiculous menagerie that comprises the Peggle Institute, from Bjorn the unicorn to Jimmy Lightning, the obese, skateboarding beaver. And Beethoven’s Ode to Joy echoes in your head on loop, forever and ever, sunrise to sunset.

Sound terrible? Think again. Peggle addiction is one of the greatest joys that can be experienced in one’s life — or, at the very least, it’s the most fun you’ll probably ever have for under five bucks.

Colorful pegs come in all shapes and sizes. Green ones activate a Peggle Master's powers, while purple pegs act as score multipliers.

Like all great casual games, Peggle’s got a simple premise. Your mission is to clear each peg-filled screen of all its orange pegs. You’re given ten balls, a launcher, and a few tricks up your sleeve in the form of each Peggle Master’s magic powers. These range from the practical — more precise aiming, multiple balls — to the truly bizarre — pinball flippers and a “spooky ball” that comes back from the dead to drop down the screen a second time.

The game’s adventure mode introduces you to each of the ten Peggle Masters and lets you take their individual powers for a whirl. But the final five levels are a true challenge, requiring you to choose the master’s power you feel is best suited to the puzzle at hand. It’s a prelude to the game’s Challenge mode, which is unlocked after finishing the main adventure. Packed with all sorts of tricky levels and demanding requirements, it’ll test the prowess (and patience) of even the most seasoned Peggle player.

PopCap has an admirable reputation for making accessibility a top priority, and Peggle delivers with options to assist lefties and the colorblind.

Fortunately, the iPhone version features a few welcome tweaks to the original formula. You can aim anywhere on the screen by tapping, and fine-tuning is easy thanks to the new wheel located on the side of the screen. And although the iPhone’s 480×320 resolution is much smaller than that of the original PC version of Peggle, double-tapping anywhere on the screen zooms in to display a segment of the board in crisp detail — perfect for fine-tuning those particularly ludicrous shots.

This version of Peggle also features a pass-the-phone Duel mode and a trophy room that visualizes your accomplishments. There’s also the option to save a replay of any game, so you can immortalize your best and brightest moments (and brag to your friends.)

The only thing lacking is the original game’s in-level music, but frankly, you won’t miss it. It was highly repetitive (a common problem among PopCap games) and besides: You’re playing Peggle on an iPod! Surely you’ve got some music of your own that will better fit your needs until you hit that last peg and blast into a Beethoven-fueled Extreme Fever.

Give it a little while. You'll be lusting after those Extreme Fevers and humming Beethoven's Ninth in no time.

For $4.99, this is the least expensive version of Peggle available on any platform. Although it would have been nice for PopCap to include the Peggle Nights features, the next major iPhone firmware update will enable in-game downloadable content. Whether you’re a newcomer or a seasoned veteran of the Peggle Institute, this latest rendition of the modern classic is easy to recommend.

Peggle is currently available for iPhone and iPod Touch for $4.99 through the App Store. Windows, Mac OS X, Fifth-generation iPod (with video), mobile phone, Xbox Live Arcade, and Nintendo DS versions of the game are also available. Peggle is legion; resistance is futile.

Recommended for:

• Casual and hardcore puzzle gamers alike: It’s blissfully easy to pick up, but diabolical to master
• Peggle fans looking for a faithful, complete version of the original game while on the go

Not Recommended for:

• Puzzle fanatics with poor impulse control (for example: I played through Peggle and wrote this review just a few hours after it was released on the App Store)
• Peggle fans expecting a comprehensive Peggle package; for now, it’s just the original game, but new content is a distinct possibility down the road

Read our policy on reviews here.

Yep. Even the loading screen's progress bar is charming.

Well, PopCap, you’ve done it again.

I was all set to get the Backlog out the door so I could enjoy my weekend, and you had to stumble in out of the cold, like an estranged lover drawn back to rekindle a long-burning flame. All those hours we spent matching jewels, the dizzying ecstasy of our peg-filled Extreme Fevers…you’ve always been good to me, baby.

And now you show up on my doorstep with this new game, Plants Vs. Zombies — a clever and hilarious twist on a revered casual genre — and I can’t help but fall in love with you all over again.

Um. So yeah, that’s where I’ve been for the past three hours. Read on to see what the rest of the gang’s up to!

Subtitle: Except for this album cover. It's pretty shocking.

Nick: Aside from the freakishly addictive Plants Vs. Zombies, I’ve been trying to find good music I haven’t heard. And one of the best ways I’ve found for discovering new music is to check it out in Rock Band 2, naturally. There are two reasons:

1. I love playing Rock Band 2.
2. Harmonix has impeccable taste in music.

So I’ve been catching up on some of my favorite artists — Neko Case, the Allman Brothers Band, and, uh…REO Speedwagon. But the biggest gamble I made turned out to be a fantastic decision. I picked up Nothing’s Shocking, the debut album from Jane’s Addiction, and I’m shocked by how much I’m enjoying the thing from start to finish. The funky basslines, the intricate drum patterns, the awesome guitar solos, the…well, whatever Perry Farrell’s singing about, I like it too.

I’ve also got several games I’m pushing myself to finish in order to review them next week: Halo Wars, Resistance 2 and GTA: Chinatown Wars, primarily. But you can also look forward to another hand-picked iPhone game review this Monday, and I’m sure I won’t be able to stop blathering on about Plants Vs. Zombies anytime soon.

Aaron: So, this week I managed to download and explore the 10-day free trial for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. I’ve heard decent to average things about the game since its release, but after playing for a few days I’ll stick my neck out here and say this: Warhammer is more fun and better-crafted than World of Warcraft in terms of player vs. player content.

The Realm vs. Realm aspect of Warhammer is tighter and more fast-paced than Warcraft’s frustrating and sometimes inaccessible Player vs. Player feature. In Warhammer, players are in and out of battles quickly, they can queue from anywhere for numerous different battlegrounds and characters are even returned to their previous location, post-battle.

Even Warhammer’s quest system is more intuitive, though the myriad of “Kill this” and “Collect that” missions are pretty standard. I also enjoy how the minimap in Warhammer will lay a red hue over the area where your quest can be found, reducing the need for a multitude of add-ons just to find something, as is the case with WoW.

I doubt I’ll subscribe, as any MMO is a burden of commitment, but I’m quite impressed with what Warhammer has to offer.

Aside from all that online kerfuffle (there’s an antiquated word), I got back into some of The Witcher: Enhanced Edition and enjoyed it a lot. I’ve also been plowing through Fallout 3‘s three packs of DLC for our review feature, and I finally got around to Suikoden Tierkreis. Man, the voice acting in that game is absolutely horrendous.

Otherwise this weekend I’ll be watching some movies, enjoying the weather and the apartment to myself and probably reading. I’m a bit “gamed out.”

Doug: More of the same for me this week, as time-old traditions continue anew: Sports and racing games have dominated my gaming time this week.

Of course, my go-to has been FIFA 09. I’m hooked now on the main Manager mode, where I’m trying to guide Italian side Sampdoria to glory; I also have saves in that mode with my favorite soccer team, Arsenal, and an English side called Leicester City. The latter will be a challenge run, trying to build the team up from the third tier of English soccer up into a powerhouse.

Even better, word through the grapevine is that Sasquatch editor Nick Cummings is thinking of dipping his toe into the sports gaming world by giving FIFA a try. My evil plan, it is working! Seriously, soccer is almost the perfect sports game to start with: The sport is very accessible, the current (since the 08 version) FIFA engine has great flexibility with its control scheme so beginners can start with some very good training wheels, and it’s loads of fun. It’s not overly complicated and, much like a fighting game, the way you play is very tailored to the individual.

The other game I’ve been spending lots of time on is Project Gotham Racing 4. I picked this up with Assassin’s Creed a few weeks ago for cheap at GameStop; both games cost me less than $40. I honestly can’t believe I shrugged PGR4 off the first time because it is rather amazing and, fitting in with the theme, it’s a great racing game for somebody interested in the genre to start with.

It’s really also the ultimate evolution of the work Bizarre Creations started with PGR2 on the original Xbox: You’re driving fast through real-life cities and doing a variety of race types to not only finish first, but finish first in style. The controls are great, and while it’s not the most realistic racer in the world (Forza 2 beats it, and that gets stomped by myriad PC simulators in terms of realism) it has a heft and feel and gravity to the driving that just feels more hyper-real than arcadey. The feeling of driving fast and attacking corners in PGR4 is what car geeks like myself like to remember our real-life Sunday drives feeling like.

It also does weather effects rather well, especially the rain. The moment I knew that was driving in one of the wet cities and feeling both a rumble effect and a slight pull from a large pool of water on the street. Being a native Portlander, I know driving in the rain – and PGR4 nails that feeling really well.

I hope to take more chunks out of Assassin’s Creed and maybe my second Mass Effect playthrough this weekend; might hop into Rock Band 2 a bit, too. But don’t be surprised if I’m still on FIFA.

The de facto puzzle game of the Internet Age arrives on the iPhone at an unbeatable price

If you’ve surfed the Web in the last five years, I’m willing to wager you’ve also played Bejeweled. Since it first appeared as a Web-based application in 2001, Bejeweled has been downloaded more than 150 million times, according to developer PopCap. Known for its wildly popular and often brilliant casual games, such as the Pachinko-like Peggle, Bejeweled remains PopCap’s iconic flagship title. This latest iteration first arrived in a Web-based format in 2004, followed by releases on Xbox Live Arcade in 2005 and PSN in 2009. With the immense install base of the iPhone and the unparalleled accessibility of its native App Store, porting Bejeweled 2 to the phone was a no-brainer. And with the game priced at a paltry $2.99, it’s easily the best value for your money in iPhone gaming.

Part of the beauty of Bejeweled has always resided in its accessibility. Whether you prefer to spend your weekends mercilessly blowing people away on Xbox Live in Call of Duty, or if you play the occasional game of FreeCell during a lull at work, you’re going to have a good time with Bejeweled. The game sports a classic mode where you make matches and increase your score until no more moves can be made, but it also includes two new modes: Action and Endless.

While Endless Mode offers a casual (almost catatonic) mode of play where you never run out of moves, which is likely to appeal to newcomers, the real standout addition to Bejeweled 2 is Action Mode. Its premise is simple enough: Match gems in quicker and quicker succession in order to boost your meter to the top. The quicker you make matches, the faster the meter rises. When it hits 100%, you move on to the next stage, where you gain more points but the meter drops more rapidly. When it empties completely, it’s game over. The pace quickly ramps up into a frenetic action-puzzler that actually delivers some authentic thrills. My girlfriend and I spent the better part of a weekend contending for the highest score in Action Mode. (For the record: she currently h0lds the highest score by a ridiculous margin.)

While price is typically less of a consideration in reviewing a retail console or PC game, it takes on a greater significance in the realm of digital distribution. And with the iPhone App Store already flooded with thousands of free and for-pay games — and new ones arriving constantly — it almost goes without saying that money and time can easily be squandered. Consequently, I feel that, as a reviewer, it is important to establish whether an iPhone title is a good value or not.

Fortunately, Bejeweled 2 is a hell of a value. Since purchasing it about a week and a half ago, the game has been responsible for my phone running low on batteries by mid-afternoon more than once. The control scheme is intuitive — simply drag one gem in any direction with your finger to swap places, and if three or more match, they disappear. However, the game is remarkably astute when it comes to determining which gem you meant to move where. For example, it pays attention to which gems can be moved to match as opposed to which can’t, and any time you input a move with your finger it detects whichever valid move is closest to the one you made and executes it. This results in uninterrupted gameplay with no frustrating mistakes on the part of the computer. After nearly seven hours of gameplay, I’ve seen the game make maybe one or two matches I didn’t intend to make.

While it’s certainly not the newest puzzle game to hit the market, Bejeweled 2 really shines (graphically and gameplay-wise) on the iPhone’s brilliant screen. And for three bucks, you could certainly do a whole lot worse for yourself.

Recommended for:

• iPhone and iPod Touch owners looking for an enduring, high-quality game on the go
• Puzzle game enthusiasts who want the most bang for their buck
• Anyone looking for a quick, pick-up-and-play game that all their friends can enjoy

Our review policy: Games are completed by the reviewer in full (either in terms of a storyline or campaign in the case of traditional console, handheld and PC titles, or by attempting to reach the level cap in an MMO). Other features (i.e., multiplayer) are also explored, being viewed as an addition to the overall package. Downloadable content and expansions are considered separate from the original game and reviewed accordingly. Reviews are accompanied by a “Recommended” or “Not Recommended” designation that explains exactly why the title was given its rating and how the author’s personal tastes would reflect one option or the other. After all, criticisms and compliments are influenced by individual tastes. The overall aim of our reviews is to not only both steer the readership away from what we deem “bad” games and highlight for them the “good” ones, but to also make clear recommendations are based on our opinions and analysis.