Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time
Developer(s)	PopCap Games
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Series	Plants vs. Zombies
Engine	PopCap Games Framework
Platform(s)	iOS, Android
Release date(s)	iOS AUS 20130709July 9, 2013 INT 20130815August 15, 2013 Android CHN 20130912September 12, 2013 AUS 20131002October 2, 2013 INT 20131023October 23, 2013
Genre(s)	Tower defense
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	Download

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time is a 2013 free-to-play tower defence video game developed by PopCap Games and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to Plants vs. Zombies, and was released worldwide on Apple App Store on August 15, 2013 and Google Play on October 23, 2013.

Gameplay

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time is a free-to-play game, unlike its predecessor, supporting in-app purchasing of coins in order to utilize certain power up abilities: Plant Food, a new power-up, allows plants to power up for varying amounts of time. Each plant has its own ability when given Plant Food. Players are able to complete the whole game without purchasing these abilities, some of which can be earned throughout the game instead of being purchased. Players can optionally start with a tutorial on the basics of the game which takes place in the player's house. After the tutorial, or immediately if the player chose to skip it, the player time-travels first to Ancient Egypt and can use either purchase access to worlds or win in-game World Keys to unlock the Pirate Seas, Wild West, Far Future, the Dark Ages, Big Wave Beach and Frostbite Caves; this required stars in earlier updates. In addition, the Chinese version has an additional world called Kung-Fu World.^[1] As players go through levels, they unlock new plants each with advantages and unique boosts.

Plot

The player receives a bottle of hot sauce which Crazy Dave, the player's neighbor, adds to his taco. Crazy Dave is determined to eat exactly the same taco again, so he uses a sentient time machine in the form of an RV, called Penny, to travel back in time to have the taco again. Due to a malfunction, he arrives in Ancient Egypt. Worsening matters is the fact that the zombies, led by Dr. Zomboss, have returned, this time with the hope of creating an alternate timeline where zombies are the dominant species. The player must then defeat zombies there. Each chapter is 25 "days (nights for Dark Ages)" or levels long (with the exception of Dark Ages, which has only 20 levels, Big Wave Beach with 32 levels and Frostbite Caves with 30 levels). Ancient Egypt is followed by Pirate Seas, Wild West, Far Future, Dark Ages, Big Wave Beach and Frostbite Caves levels, which can be unlocked and completed in any order.

Development

In August 2012, PopCap announced that they were working on a sequel to their previous game, Plants vs. Zombies, and that it would include "new features, settings, and situations".^[2] In a later announcement, the company confirmed that the new game would be released on July 18, 2013.^[3] On June 26, 2013, PopCap announced on their Twitter page that the game would release later than previously announced. On July 9, the game was released in Australia and New Zealand on the iOS App Store^[4] and came out worldwide on August 15, 2013.^[5] The Android version was released worldwide on October 23, 2013.^[6]

Release

The game was first expected to launch on iOS on July 18, 2013. On June 26, it was announced that the game was delayed until later in the summer on the game's official Twitter account.^[7] The game soft launched in Australian and New Zealand App Store's on July 9, to test server capacity. It launched worldwide on iOS on August 15 and in five days topped the free app charts in 137 countries. On September 12, PopCap Games soft launched the game for Android in China in Baidu AppSearch and announced that it would be coming to Google Play worldwide later in the year. On October 2, the game soft launched on the Australian and New Zealand Google Play stores.^[8]

Ancient Egypt, Pirate Seas and Wild West were released August 15, 2013 on iOS and on October 23, 2013 for Android. Far Future was released March 27, 2014. Dark Ages, part one was released on June 24, 2014 and the second on July 29, 2014. Big Wave Beach first on October 14, 2014, the second on November 11, 2014 and Frostbite Caves part one on January 13, 2015 and the second released on February 24, 2015. .

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 89.9% Metacritic 86% Review scores Publication Score Edge 9/10 Eurogamer 8/10 GameSpot 8.9/10 IGN 8.7/10 Gamezebo

The game received mostly positive feedback from users and critics, despite the use of in-app purchases. Critics mostly praised the gameplay and graphics. It has a Metacritic score of 86/100 based on 36 reviews.^[9] PopCap Games announced at Gamescom on August 20, 2013, that the game had been downloaded 15 million times, making it the most successful EA mobile game launch. Ten days later it was announced that the game had been downloaded 25 million times, exceeding the lifetime downloads of the first game.^[10]

Apple chose Plants vs. Zombies 2 as a runner-up for 2013 iPhone game of the year.^[11]

References

External links

• Official website