Remember when they said this would have a PC version?

I checked out the iOS version, but decided I wouldn't put any money into it and instead pay for the proper PC version. Turns out EA gets none of my money, since the PC version is MIA and the Michael Transactions are super gross in the mobile version.

I guess the sort of casual gamer that Pop Cap caters to is largely playing stuff on phones, so I guess I'm not surprised they've put the PC version (permanently?) on the backburner. It would've been nice to have a $10-$15 PC version that just came with all the plants, instead of having to pay $3-$4 each for like a dozen bonus plants, many of which were included in the first game. Sorry, but no one tower in a tower defense game is worth $3 flippin' dollars.

On the brighter side, Garden Warfare is pretty dope. Definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good multiplayer shooter.

Shit, you're right, I totally forgot about that. I didn't think the issues were as egregious as some but I put the first game down all the same to wait for the PC version. Huh, I wonder what the latest response is because I'm sure someone must have been beating that drum in the time since.

@andorski said:

Yeah, I'll play the shit out of that when it's free to play. It looks like good clean fun, but man, I ain't made out of forty dollarses.

@bacongames said:

I don't know when you put it down, but lemme give you the scoop. So the mobile version was out for like, at least 6 months with basically no content updates whatsoever. That's atrocious, when you have the resources that Pop Cap/EA does. There were just the three time periods, and all they did near the end of that ~6 months was add in one new level for each time period with a Gargantuan Zombie. Like, honestly no idea what the fuck they were doing. I assume people bitched endlessly about the ridiculous grind to get random key drops to unlock all the side paths on the map (it was super dumb), so around the 6 month mark they overhauled the map to remove the sidepaths and the stupid key requirements, putting all those rewards just on the main path through each world.

Since then, they've actually been kinda better, releasing the future time period and the Dark Ages time period, which are mechanically more interesting than the initial 3 time periods. So I can only assume things were just on fire at Popcap for a while (or they stole a bunch of people to launch...Peggle 2 or something, then gave them back later), but the updates to the game seem to be kinda reasonably on track now.

It's still ridiculous that all of the real-money-only plants and upgrades amount to something like $40 worth of purchases. It's dumb that all the coins you grind out have basically no purpose in the game unless you're a pussy who needs to buy plant food or the dumb touch control blow-up-the-screen powerups because you couldn't plan your defense properly. So I still have no interest in giving the game a cent.

Michael Transactions are still illegal in my state.

Yep, waiting on that and Peggle 2... I played some of the Android version, but as you say, Michael Transactions is a bit of an asshole.

Dammit, Popcap/EA...

Yeah, it's kinda sad. Keep in mind that this is all after it took so long for the sequel to even materialize, when the original PvZ definitely wasn't a flop. PvZ 2's title is even a subtle jab at that: "It's about time."

It's a shame, because the original PvZ is one of my favorite games out there, but it's A: Not a game I want to play on my phone, and B: Not a game I want to be nickel-and-dimed in. I want to play with a mouse with everything available to me - even if I have to unlock it through playing. I would have happily paid them $20 for a PC release... Hell, maybe $30, but probably not after seeing what the actual game is. It's built from the ground up with micro-transactions in mind, and it's gross.

But yeah, I remember when PvZ 2 was announced, and they said they were going to bring it to more platforms and make it more widely available than the first. A year later, it's now on 2 (count 'em! TWO! They doubled their amount of platforms!) mobile devices, leaving all the consoles and PC in the dust.

Though they have PVZ - PC version, I still like playing PVZ on my phone. Coz I can't always bring my laptop anywhere, not like me phone. Hehehe.. I'd just play and play zombie games, coz that's what I like. Like this zombie shooting game I've been playing for weeks. You know Tapslayer: ALice in zombieland? Yep, that's the one. You guys should try it out too!!

Is it available for android now? Thanks

also: any other zombie game recommendations is welcome. any platform! Cause i love playing zombie games. thank you so much

I actually liked the original version of the game with the keys and side paths and all that more than the newer "updated" version of the game. I beat the original PvZ just fine with what the game provided me and had little issue; I played around 3-4 levels of that and while I'm no savant, it seemed to me like they upped the bullshit quotient in the game to the point where I was having zero fun with it.

Since then I put most of my attention on games like Knightmare Tower and the Kingdom Rush games, which are far superior to PvZ 2.