I was skeptical at first. The childish idea of playing a game, let alone a sequel, consisting of tossing cabbage at zombies to keep them from eating my brains was not a top priority for me. However, “Plants Vs. Zombies 2” by Pop Cap, released on August 15, has 16 million downloads worldwide and was an instant top five favorite app in my book.

“Plants Vs. Zombies 2” is currently free, and only available at the iTunes App Store. I would get my hands on it quick before the price is raised to $4.99 like its predecessor Plants Vs. Zombies. PvZ 2 is a wild journey with Crazy Dave, a cooking-pot-for-a-hat wearing neanderthal whose words consist of growls and stammering, and Penny, a decked out time travelling RV that speaks and beeps directions throughout the game.

Unlike the original “Plants Vs. Zombies,” the sequel has a storyline that revolves around the player, Crazy Dave, and Penny travelling through time to recover a taco Crazy Dave wants to eat for a second time. The story is only a sideshow to the cabbage tossing, pea shooting intensity of the gameplay involved.

The main goal is to stop hordes of zombies from getting into your house and eating your brains. How do you stop them? By planting dozens of defensive vegetation that stop at nothing to defend the front yard, your house and most importantly your brains. This game is exhilarating and full of non-stop action. There is nothing better than the sigh of relief once the cabbage is tossed and all the zombies have fallen.

If this game was perfect, it wouldn’t be free. At the beginning, the loading “new content” screen felt like it was stuck there for hours. Loading screens are something every gamer has to face no matter what. The Egyptian themed map has forty levels. It takes approximately ten minutes to play each level which means the Egypt level consists of around six and a half hours of straight veggie tossing. Whether it takes you six hours or forty days to complete, the Egyptian map is utterly dry after a handful of levels.

I found myself become interested in non-gaming activities after a while. The game is easy to put down, but impossible to keep down.

Level of Addictiveness: 4 out of 10
Difficulty of Game: 9 out of 10
Fun-O-Meter: 8 out of 10
Overall Grade: B