Plants vs. Zombies 2 Released on iOS Today!

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Plants vs Zombies 2

Popcap and EA Games have teamed up to bring you the greatly anticipated follow-up to the original Plants vs. Zombies.  The premise of the Plants vs. Zombies series is that you’re a homeowner who is trying to defend his house against a horde of the undead.  Your weapon? Plants.  Good Luck! Plants vs. Zombies 2 is out now for free on the App Store.

After a lengthy beta testing period and a soft launch in New Zealand, Plants vs. Zombies 2 is finally available to all of us Americans.  This time, instead of only defending your own home from the incoming zombie horde, you’re taken back in time to defend ancient Egypt, the Wild West, and the Pirate Seas.  There are also new plants available to fight in your side including Bonk Choy, Bloomerang, and Lighting Reed.  Also, with new locations comes new zombies.  You’ll see a number of new walkers with new abilities throughout the game.

Plants vs Zombies Gear Diary (1)

Those sneaky zombies think I’ll confuse them for a camel.

There are also new game mechanics like Plant Food, which will supercharge one of your plants for a short period of time.  You can also use your fingers to pinch, flick, and zap the zombies trying to attack your homestead.  There are also upgrades that can be purchased to add another seed slot to your arsenal, or add another 25 sun to the 50 that you start with.

Plants vs Zombies Gear Diary (2)

Here, you’ll see a pharaoh zombie trying to steal my sun.

Speaking of in app purchases, I read a lot of reports during the New Zealand soft launch period that admonished EA for bringing big in app purchases into the game and forcing players to use real money, rather than in-game, earn-able currency to buy certain plants.  While this is definitely the case, as you can see in some of the screenshots below, I feel that it’s possible to play through the game, enjoying yourself, without having to spend a single cent.  Another point to keep in mind is that without in app purchases, the price of Plants vs. Zombies 2 would likely be at least $5 instead of the much nicer number, zero dollars.  Those who want to spend money on the game will do so, and those who don’t, won’t have to open their wallets to enjoy the game.  It’s as simple as that.

Plants vs Zombies Gear Diary (4)

$2.99 for a Jalapeno? What is this, Whole Foods?

Stay tuned to Gear Diary for Michael Anderson’s full review.  But in the meantime, feel free to use the comments section of this article to let us know what you think of the game!

Check out Plants vs. Zombies 2 on the App Store, out today, for free.

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About the Author

Perry Brauner
I'm an architect by trade, but the overarching theme of my life has always been trying to keep up with the newest, coolest technology. Ever since I picked up an NES controller, I've been hooked on the latest and greatest gadgets, gizmos, and toys. Whether it's gaming, mobile phones, and accessories, or PCs and Apple products, I'm interested. I use many Apple products in my daily life, such as the iPhone, iPad, and my MacBook Pro. I've also built a few PCs in my day, so I'd like to say that I'm a pretty well-rounded techie.

4 Comments on "Plants vs. Zombies 2 Released on iOS Today!"

  1. Thanks for posting this – I downloaded right away last night. I was such a huge fan of the original, but this one is going to take me a bit longer to fully assess – let’s just say it reeks of EA influence, and that is not a compliment for the 2-time ‘Worst Company in America’!

    Personally, I have talked before that while I understand the ‘free with in-app-purchases’ mentality – mostly because for gamers they feel like they get a free game, but for companies they actually make more money that way – I would rather pay $10 up front.

    • Totally get your point about IAP. I’m the kind of guy who would squeeze every last second out of a freemium game without spending any money unless I truly loved the game and wanted to support it. $5 or $10 up front for an iOS game is a big roadblock that could be tough for most casual iPhone gamers to get past.

      • I totally get it – there is a reason that EA’s three top-earning games are ‘free’ after all. I also recognize that as someone who paid $20 for X-COM on iPad without blinking I am in the minority. It just makes it harder for me to enjoy the experience.

  2. I downloaded late last night. It kept me up for a while. Super fun and not sure why so addicting. IAP suck! I would pay a fee up front to play good games and almost never pay for IAP.

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