Okay, so we only picked this one because it sounds hilarious ... but these two games are also worthy foes.

When it comes to casual, addictive games, Plants vs. Zombies is one of the best. Unlike your Farmvilles and your Bejeweleds, this game is not one that hardcore gamers are ashamed to admit they love.

We continue our run of difficult choices with this week's battle. We're calling on role-playing connoisseurs (and/or professors) for help with these two PC classics - both are immersive and addictive; neither, somewhat annoyingly, is currently available on Steam. Diablo II is kicking ass in our poll; Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, not so much.

Well, the same week that the Supreme Court heard a case about free speech in video games, we coincidentally selected a battle between two of the most violent, brutal, bloody action games of all time. Mortal Kombat was released amid a great deal of controversy over its portayal of beheadings and organ removals.

Castlevania and Metroid. The battles of the Belmont family and Samus Aran have long legacies all the way back to the original NES in ’86, and both parties are still duking it out with monsters and space pirates to the likes and dislikes of critics today (the Phoenix’s own Mitch Krpata gave Other M a resounding “meh”).

VOTE NOW: The Laser Orgy 500 - the Phoenix's quest to crown the greatest video game of all time.

The Sims and World of Warcraft both came out in the early aughts, the former in 2000 and the latter in 2004. The franchises are two of the most popular franchises of all time, alongside Myst, believe it or not -- but unlike Myst, these two games have had years of expansion packs and upgrades.

VOTE NOW: The Laser Orgy 500 - the Phoenix's quest to crown the greatest video game of all time.

In our past featured battles, we've compared games from similar genres or similar games from different eras. But the wily Laser Orgy 500 cares not whether its mash-ups are rhetorically logical. Sometimes, the ol' LO500 will pick two games from completely different time periods and genres, and expect you to reasonably compare them.

A truly immersive gaming experience hinges on atmosphere. And I would argue that few video games burrow under our skin as effectively as the ones that drop us into the middle of a desolate universe, and force us to Figure Shit Out in wordless solitude. It's what's made the Metroid series so haunting. (Until Team Ninja decided to take a rusty icepick to Samus Aran's prefrontal lobe

^{Resident Evil 4's chainsaw chase, or Left 4 Dead's boomer bile?}

VOTE NOW: The Laser Orgy 500 - the Phoenix's quest to crown the greatest video game of all time.

Resident Evil 4 (2005), widely considered to be the best of the Resident Evil series, places pretty-boy protagonist Leon firmly in the center of the action, while also revealing bits of the story's conspiracy in tantalizing bits and pieces.

VOTE NOW: The Laser Orgy 500 - the Phoenix's quest to crown the greatest video game of all time.

I often use Counter-Strike as the game to which I compare all other first-person shooters, mostly due to its old-school minimalist style. The game originated as a mod of Half-Life, took off unexpectedly, and remains an oldie-but-goodie for PC gamers.

Super Smash Bros. Melee is also a good game, and it is also something you can vote for in the Laser Orgy 500.

VOTE NOW: The Laser Orgy 500 - the Phoenix's quest to crown the greatest video game of all time.

This week, we bring you a battle of '90s Nintendo classics (and, we add, two games that are currently doing well in our standings).

VOTE NOW: The Laser Orgy 500: The Quest To Crown the Greatest Video Game of All Time.

We begin our list of weekly featured battles in our ongoing Quest To Crown the Greatest Video Game of All Time with this matchup between two of the biggest-selling games of the last five years. Grand Theft Auto IV came out in 2008 to rapturous praise, and while the Citizen Kane comparisons were maybe a bit much (and a bit off-base), the game was still an artistic success, whether measured by its storyline or its open-world re-creation of a living, breathing digital New York City.