Ranking alongside Angry Birds and Tetris as one of the best pick-up-and-play games of all time, Plants vs. Zombies – or PvZ  - is a must buy for the Nokia Lumia 800. Bringing its unique brand of addictive gameplay to the Nokia Windows Phone, we’ve been battling the undead to see how this all-time classic looks and plays on the new Nokia handset.

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If you’ve never played Plants vs. Zombies before, the game has you battling hordes of the undead to protect your suburban home from the brain-munching masses. And with 49 hardy plant varieties at your disposal and swathes of zombies to plough through, the battle is always far from easy, but never anything less than totally addictive.

With its simple tap and drag gameplay, you can learn how to play PvZ in seconds on the Nokia Lumia 800. As soon as you kick off, the game gives you a great on-the-fly tutorial, throwing you straight into the deep end and teaching you to play while you’re in the thick of the action, letting you enjoy the game right away.

Like all great games, the concept of PvZ is simple; gangs of zombies attack from the right of the screen and you must protect your home on the left, by setting up complex floral defences on the lawn. However, while the concept is simple, the game itself is anything but, offering a truly satisfying challenge.

You start the game with a packet of peashooter seeds, which you can use to plant aggressive shrubs on the lawn, to shoot down zombies as they attack. To plant them in the ground, you just tap the seed packet on the left of your Lumia 800’s screen and then tap where you want them to go on your lawn.

Once your first plant is in place, you must then tap the falling sunbeams that drop from the sky, to build up enough sunshine to grow more plants and keep building your defences. And while the whole game is a rinse and repeat process of this concept, the many variations ensure the game never gets old.

With 49 plant types to add to your arsenal – each becoming available as you complete a level – as well as 29 different breeds of zombies to combat, you quickly need to start thinking strategically if you’re to keep the monsters at a bay and choose your plants wisely to always pick the right tools for the job.

And with 50 levels to fight your way through and some of the brightest and best cartoon graphics we’ve seen on our Nokia Windows Phone, PvZ looks just as good as it plays. And the music and sound effects are just as good, especially when wearing headphones, adding even more value to this great package.

While Plants vs. Zombies is not the most affordable Windows Phone game for your Nokia Lumia 800, it is without doubt one of the most fun and addictive. Offering a level of quality rarely seen on any gaming platform, the fact that PvZ can be enjoyed on your phone wherever you go makes it all the more essential.

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Plants vs. Zombies (PvZ) for the Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone is available now from the Windows Phone Marketplace for £3.99.

Are you a die-hard Plants vs. Zombies fan or is this the first time you’ve heard of it and you’re planning to give it a try on your Nokia handset? Why not let us know your thoughts about this great game and share any tips and tricks with us in the Comments below?

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