In a first look exclusive interview with Edge magazine, PopCap have discussed why it's taken soo long for a sequel to the 2009 PC sensation that was Plants vs. Zombies and what we can expect from the new title. The four year hiatus has obviously not gone unnoticed by the studio and while the games title "It's About Time" seemingly pokes fun at the fact, it's actually also the main theme behind the game, that is to say time travelling. The first piece of big news regarding PvZ2 is that it will be coming first and exclusively to mobile devices, PopCap are planning to release it for other platforms in the future but we're not given any sort of schedule. I'm actually really disappointed with this news, I do agree that PvZ was a lot of fun to play on a touch screen device but at the same time I think the PC version was a lot smoother and so that's my platform of choice. The second piece of big news (unfortunately also bad) is that PopCap are releasing PvZ2 as a free-to-play game, couple this with the fact they are now owned by EA and I bet you're starting to have reservations just like I am. Obviously it's slightly unfair to pass judgement before I've played the game but if history has taught us anything, free-to-play does not benefit the gamer and EA makes terrible decisions when publishing games. Anyway, I've linked the article below so if you want to read the whole thing yourself and/or have sneak peak at some of the new plant types and garden arenas, then scroll down for the PDF. For those that just want a quick summary, I'll highlight what I believe to be the important points.
OK, well first off what's new and what's returning for PvZ2? From what I can tell, the basic principles of the game are mostly unchanged, the garden grid is exactly the same size and the way you sow seeds is as it always was i.e. collect sun, select seeds and plant. While the arena itself might've not have changed much the scenery and themes certainly have, as I mentioned above, the concept behind Pv2 is time travelling and the three era's that we'll be experiencing at launch will cover Ancient Egypt, the Pirates Seas and the Wild West. There are of course new plant types and zombies in this game, the magazine article lists a few from both sides and they certainly do sound interesting. Two new plants that caught my eye were 'Bonk Choy' and 'Coconut Cannon', the former is a close range plant fighter who will literally punch zombies back to where they came from and the latter is a player controlled weapon, much like the Cob Cannon from PvZ1 but will only take up one plot of land. The one new zombie unit that I'm already starting to harbour ill feelings towards is based on the sun God Ra, this crafty fellow has the ability to attract and steal your sunlight with with his staff, which should make him number one on your kill list, the instant he appears.
It's not just new characters and scenery that has gone into PvZ2, PopCap have also added a few new game mechanics that can be used when you're in the middle of a battle with the un-dead. 'Plant Food' will temporarily transform and boost the killing capability of any plant that is fed, 'Power Pinch' allows the player to snap the heads off attacking zombies, 'Power Toss' allows players to ping zombies off the screen and 'Power Zap' allows players drag electric currents between zombies, potentially a crowd destroyer. I'm not sure how or even if these will feature on non-touch screen platforms because these abilities aren't unlimited and can be used up but as you might've already guessed, a visit to the store with a credit card will quickly remedy that. Despite all the talk of PvZ2 not being pay to win, there's apparently quite a few items that are exclusive to the store, plant types and as I just said, power ups. Whether or not these will have a dramatic effect on the way we're able to play the game stands to be seen but either way the wait is nearly over. Just before I sign off, a quick note on some of the things that aren't returning, if you were a fan of the mushrooms in PvZ1, you might be sad to here that they didn't make the cut for launch. I'm assuming no night time plants also means no night time maps, unless there are some changes to the way day plants operate, which have yet to be revealed. PopCap have however stated they would like to bring back these dwellers of the night and to be quite honest it wouldn't surprise me if they were released as a post launch expansion pack. In fact if they take a leaf out of other free-to-play games, you can safely bet there will probably be a fair few expansion packs in the future, the question is though, will they be free?
Got any thoughts on Plants vs. Zombies 2 being free-to-play? Let me know below :)
Sources: Article shared by @PlantsvsZombies and title image from Edge article
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