1. Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time by PopCap
Right? I mean, how could this not be at number one? This is a wonderfully executed castle defense game in which you are protecting yourself from encroaching zombies with the use of anthropomorphic garden plants! This is the second installment to a wonderfully original game, aptly titled Plants vs. Zombies. I had such a wonderful time playing the original that when I heard there was a second AND that it was free, it was like my birthday, Christmas, and Halloween all wrapped up in one nice package. There are a few differences between the original and this game. It was made by different creators (the first was created by a man named George Fan, who was promptly laid off by PopCap the day after they announced they would be developing a sequel to his game... rough, right?) and they felt that rather than a linear game that awarded you new plants for completing levels, it would give you the option of which plants to unlock as you navigate around a map. The down side about this game is that you will have to play the same levels over and over again in order to gain access to all of the doors, as it takes keys to unlock the doors and you're not guaranteed keys after completing every level. Another thing that isn't so awesome is that in order to access the time machine, the first time through, you need to have a certain amount of stars from completing levels. If you need thirty stars to get to the next world, but play through only yielded twenty-eight, you have to go back and play a few more levels better than you did the first time in order to get those two extra stars. However, those two not so awesome parts aside, this game is much more challenging than the first, which I was wondering how they would do. It also introduces some new plants, which are as adorable as they are clever. Along with new plants, there are new zombies as well, which are harder to defeat than the originals. I am sad to see some of the old zombies go, but they made way for some pretty interesting zombies to eat your brains. On a side note, PvZ2 creators Allen Murray, David Ryan Paul, and Mohan Rajagopalan have since quit their jobs at PopCap and have gone on to form a new game company called AtomJack - so keep an eye out for news on their upcoming games!