The above music video does PopCap's Plants vs Zombies more justice than we ever could, but let's give it a try.

Ravenous cartoon undead shamble onto your trim suburban lawn from the right, sporting protective traffic cones, screen doors and poles with which to vault obstacles, among other means of invasion.

Were this Days 2 Die we'd be reaching for our shotguns, but firearms are sparse in this corner of middle America. Your only weapons, in fact, are your smokin' hot gardening skillz. Grow exploding potatoes, venus flytraps and ice-spitting snow drops to thin the rotting hordes.

As you sow and re-sow the defences you'll need to mouse-collect balls of sunlight to buy more seeds. Planting sunflowers will ramp up the supply.

In the course of Plants vs Zombies's 50 levels, you'll do battle around the backyard swimming pool, at night, in visibility-limiting fog and on your roof. 49 species of grumpy greenery can be unlocked to fight 26 kinds of brain-eater, and there are minigame, puzzle, survival and sandbox modes to round out the playtime.

At $19.95 it's a steal, but there's a one hour trial download if you still have doubts. Otherwise, give the equally comic but far bloodier Nooboo Mary a spin.

Play Plants vs Zombies