Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time! Reveal Trailer Released [Video and Analysis Inside]

It's been a long four years since the first Plants vs. Zombies game hit shelves but finally the sequel is nearing launch, PopCap have stated a July (2013) release but a solid date has yet to be announced. With a title that is seemingly mocking itself for the ludicrous production time, the game appears to be centred around the aspect of time travelling. You can check out the reveal trailer for yourself below and then if you're interested, I do a personal in depth analysis of the footage, which you can read further down, enjoy.

AcornVision Trailer Analysis

Before you carry on reading, I think it's a good idea to watch the trailer through once and then have it open in a separate window as you read through my bullet points, this way you can pause as you go along and identify the scenes that I'm discussing.

~ In the opening scene, notice the plant on the bedside table, looks like a strawberry plant to me, maybe this will be one of the new plant characters? We're then re-introduced to a familiar character, well you should recognise him if you played the first game, it's Crazy Dave!

~ The next scene confirms that the house we're in, belongs to Crazy Dave. The wall under his stairs is full of pictures and while most of them aren't significant, one or two might be hinting at what we can expect to see in the new game. One thing before I move onto analysing the pictures, did you notice a ships steering wheel in the background, as Crazy Dave walks down the stairs? Suggests an ocean theme perhaps?

~ There are 14 pictures altogether and if you number them left to right, then move down in rows, I'll highlight the ones that I think are interesting.

• Picture 1 is of a new plant, we see more of it later in the trailer and it appears to be a fighter of some sort.
• Picture 3 is of some French Fries, it might just be for comedic value but I bring it up because picture 9 shows a Taco, which briefly featured in the first game. Maybe this time round the fries get a similar look in?
• Pciture 6 is of Crazy Dave posing next to some pyramids, the ones found in Egypt. This coupled with some of the later scenes in the trailer, suggests that this is probably one of the new locations in the game.
• Picture 8 is a little hard to make out but it we consider some of the later scenes in the trailer, it looks as though he's in some sort of cowboy outfit, suggesting the era of the wild west.
• Picture 10 seems to fit in line with a wild west timeline but it could just be a black and white photo of Crazy Dave in front (or the back) of his current property.
• Picture 14 caught my eye immediately during my first viewing, it seems that he's sold/bought a property, is it the house he's currently in? Or was it the house he had in PvZ1? Suggests new gardens to defend. 

~ The next scene is of Crazy Dave opening his fridge, if you pause the video before he opens it, on the fridge door you can just make out a postcard which again features pyramids. Then in the bottom left, a photo of him posing next to a big clock, a scene that you might recognise if you've watched the film 'Back To The Future' (which was based around time travelling).

~ The next scene is after the fridge has been opened, the first thing that I spotted was the Snow Peas, it looks like they're making a return. The second plant sitting on some ice, looks similar to the Cabbage-Pult from PvZ1 but it's not green, maybe it's attack now has an additional chilling effects? Or it could be an entirely new plant type.

~ Staying in the fridge, I'm not sure if these next two things really provide any information on the new game but there is a taco on a plate and notice the name of the milk "TwiddyDinkies", we've now seen a taco twice and the name of Crazy Dave's shop in PvZ1 was also called the same thing as the milk. Might the milk be a new in game item?

~ The next scene shows Crazy Dave's house from the outside, as zombies begin approaching. It seems bigger than the one featured in PvZ1, so maybe he has moved. There are some aspects that do match the photo of the house under the stairs but it's hard to say if they're the same property.

~ The next scene is of Crazy Dave reading a newspaper, to me it looks a bit dated, so maybe he's just reminiscing. Notice in the bottom right of the newspapers picture that there's a Sun-Shroom, are they making a return as well?

~ The next scene features Crazy Dave watering some plants on his windowsill in the background, with a variety of things in the foreground. Firstly note the Sunflowers and Wall-Nuts, I guess they're making a return from PvZ1. The boxes on the left are labelled "Time Machine Stuff", ties in with the stuff we've been seeing in the trailer so far, time travel seems to be the key aspect of this new game. On the right we can see an Egyptian sarcophagus, again re-iterates the notion he's been to Egypt. Then on the far right we can see some empty plant pots, garden rakes and a bag of soil, I'm guessing we'll once again be able to make purchases from Crazy Dave.

~ The next scene shows another room in Crazy Dave's house, at first it's a wide-screen shot, then it's a close up of the centre table. Before the close up, on the far left there's a model ship, this could be the second hint at an ocean theme within PvZ2. On the right you can spot a couple familiar plants with a new one amongst them, the same plant that featured in the first photo under the stairs, the fighting one.

~ After the close up we're shown another new plant type, this one appears to have boomerangs growing from it's head. It's attack operates just like a boomerang would, first flying outwards and then returning. Notice the target practice device, it appears to be wild west themed (not sure how the flying chicken fits in lol), again another potential indicator of one of the games themes. BTW did you also notice the picture frame in the background? It shows one of the notes left by the Zombies in PvZ1 :D

~ The next scene is a close up of the zombies approaching the house, they appear to be almost the same as they were in PvZ1, one of them even picks up a traffic cone and uses it as a helmet.

~ The next scene shows Crazy Dave taking a plant outside and placing it on the lawn, the plant he carries isn't new but the two on it's sides are. The plant on the left appears to be a trio of pea pods, with a single pea in the left and right pod with the central one housing three peas. I'm guessing the peas in the central pod will fire in the lane it has been planted with the other two pods will fire into the lanes on the left and right. The plant on the right is the one we've seen earlier, this confirms it's a fighting plant, possibly only operating at close range.

~ The next scene shows the attacking zombies being fought back, they seem to go down the same way as in PvZ1.

~ The next scene is of Crazy Dave in his vehicle/time travelling machine, as he turns the dial on his right, notice the three different eras that display on the screen: "The Future", "Wild West" and "Ancient Egypt". This confirms two of my guesses from earlier scenes, of the locations that we'll be visiting and I assume, fighting zombies in. On the vehicles dashboard there's a small figure of the some pyramids and hanging from his rear view mirror is the Cherry Bomb plant from PvZ1, I guess they're also making a return.

~ The final scene of this trailer shows Crazy Dave crashing though his garage door and about to travel through time. There's not much to note about the surrounding area, it looks like a normal suburban street but if you're quick enough, you can spot three things about his vehicle. On the front of this vehicle there is an animal skull, probably acquired during a trip to the wild west and then on the side we can see an old style harpoon gun, we weren't shown any concrete evidence of an ocean theme but this further suggests there is one. The last thing I spotted about the vehicle was the license plate at the rear, with the word "Penny", is this the name he's given the vehicle or is there an as yet, new character to be revealed? Perhaps Crazy Dave's found a special someone? ^_^

I imagine more information will be released as we draw nearer to release and if I think it's significant, you can be sure I'll pen an article on it. Until then, what did you think of the reveal trailer, spot anything I missed? Let me know below :)