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What's the right thing to say to a gopher leading a bunch of pests to destroy your garden?

"Get off my lawn."

In Plant This! by Blue Atom Games, you and your flowery labyrinth of redoubts are the only things that stand between a sadistic gopher and the defenseless gardens of the world. Using towers to defend against relentless waves of assailants has been done before in computer games, but only rarely has it been done with this level of polish and sophistication.

Using a limited supply of cash, you must buy the flowers you need to make a maze out of your bare lawn. As the waves of pests make their way through your redoubts of foliage, you'll need to upgrade and reposition flowers to compensate for their ever-increasing strength. Unlike other games in the genre, these attackers don't innately know the best way through your maze and will go through any dead ends long enough to fool them. This makes designing complex mazes that much more rewarding when you see those ants blindly march up to a devastating lily.

While most of the game lies in designing the mazes, you'll also find some tests of your dexterity. Some pests need to be targeted by clicking on them. Others can be squished by well-placed flowers, stopping them in their tracks. There are other surprises as well. Expansions of your lawn, changes in obstacles, and holes in the ground will pop up at the beginning of some levels - all of which require you to make quick changes in your labyrinth.

The developers of the game tout Plant This! as casual and accessible, and it certainly is. I've only got two major complaints: First, that annoying glitches can cause crashes in the game every now and then at the least opportune moments. And second, that tutorials can't be quickly skipped. Other than that, everything looks great - from the ants to the flowers. The orchestral music in the game is very well-scored, resulting in a soundtrack with an epic yet pastoral feel. The sound effects are also good, with plenty of cartoony pops and squishes perfect for the light-hearted tone of the game.

If you've never played a tower defense game before, Plant This! is an excellent introduction to the genre. Even if you have, this game features enough new wrinkles and solid gameplay to make it worth your time. Be patient with its drawn-out tutorials and messages, and you'll find a game that will draw in casual and hardcore games alike. Plant This! is no garden-variety game; it's a strongly-recommended 4 out of 5.

Learn more about this author, Tim Peters.
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