Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time

Overview

Zombies are invading your home again, but matters take a turn for the science fiction when Crazy Dave eats a most delicious taco. You must command your army of undead-killing plants for a second time as you go back in time in search of Crazy Dave's taco.

PopCap first released Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time exclusively on IOS devices. PopCap added more plants, zombies, and mechanics to the game. The most notable change from the first game, however, is the fact that Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time is a free-to-play game.

Gameplay

New Mechanics

Plant Food

Plant food allows the player to power up one of his or her plants. To power up a plant, the player clicks on the plant food icon at the bottom of the screen and then clicks on a plant that has been placed. Every plant in the game can be powered up and each plant's power-up is unique and usually involves a beefed-up version of their usual attack or ability. Plant food is collected from zombies. Throughout a level, zombies will randomly come out with a green glows. This glow signifies that they will drop plant food once killed. Once the plant food is dropped, it floats around the screen until the player clicks on it and collects it, similarly to sun.

Powers

Three new abilities the player can use at any time were added to the game: Power Pinch, Power Toss, and Power Zap. To use these powers, the player clicks on the corresponding icon at the bottom of the screen and then he or she is given several seconds to use the power. Each power allows the player to use touch-device gestures to easily kill zombies. Players pinch zombies away with Power Pinch, flick zombies into oblivion with Power Toss, or press and electrocute zombies to dust with Power Zap.

Keys

Keys are special items that randomly drop when enemies are killed. They can drop in any level and from any enemy. Keys are used to open gates on the world map that lead to more plants, upgrades, and levels.

Stars

Stars are special items required to advance to the next world which players can collect by completing special challenges on levels. Most challenges require players to replay a level under certain restrictions. These restrictions include a sun-spending limit, special plants to protect, and many more. Most levels have three stars to collect, but these stars are locked and cannot be collected until the player reaches the end of the world. Certain levels will have only one star to collect, and these levels will usually introduce a challenge that dramatically changes the way the game is played; these levels often resemble the minigames from the original Plants vs. Zombies.

World Map

Plants vs. Zombies 2 plays across three different worlds: an Egypt-themed world, a pirate-themed world, and a wild west-themed world. Each world comes with its own unique world map which players use to select their level. Most levels are unlocked in a linear fashion, beat one level and the next one is unlocked. Certain levels are locked behind special gates and only unlock once the player has acquired enough keys from that world. These gates can also be unlocked with a real-money transaction if the player chooses to do so.

Yeti

The zombie yeti returns from the original Plants vs. Zombies, but this time he has a lunchbox. The yeti has a chance to randomly appears in any level in the game. When he does, the player is notified and has to seek him out before he goes away. Once the player chooses to play the level with the yeti, the player has to kill the yeti to get him to drop his lunchbox. After beating the level, the player opens the lunchbox which has a random reward, usually a key or gem.

Free to Play

Store

Plants vs. Zombies 2 has an in-game store from which players can purchase items for real money. The store has four sections: coins, plants, upgrades, and bundles. In the coins section, players can purchase coins in different amounts for use in the game. The plants section allows players to purchase several plants which are only available through the store. All except one of these plants (the Power Lily) are plants from the original Plants vs. Zombies, chosen from lists of player favourites. The upgrades section allows players to purchase four upgrades which give a permanent advantage while playing the game. One of each of these upgrades can be found in the game, the other has to be bought. The final section is for bundles that include coins, plants, and upgrades.

Gates

On each world map, there are several gates. These gates deviate from the main path and always lead to new plants or upgrades and new levels. Each gate has a number next to it indicating how many keys are needed to open the gate. The gates, however, can also be opened by spending real money. Each gate costs $1.99 to open.

Star Gates

To transfer from the current world to the next, players need to cross a star gate. These start gates can be unlocked in one of two ways. The first requires a star payment, the second requires a real payment. Players can pay $4.99 to cross to the next world.

Development

PopCap revealed the sequel on the morning of August 20th, 2012. No details about the game were given except for a "late spring 2013" release window.

On March 26th, 2013, the company revised its previous statements and touted an "early summer" release in 2013.

On May 6th, the company released a teaser trailer with an almost final release date; July 2013. It also revealed the game's full title: Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time. No platforms were announced.

On June 3rd, an official first trailer was released by PopCap. Surprising to many it detailed the game's platforms, which were "exclusively for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch". Through an article on IGN they also revealed the worldwide release date: July 18th 2013.

On June 26th, PopCap announced that the planned release date of July 18th had been pushed forward, and that the game would instead be released "later in the summer".

The game was released on August 15th, 2013.

As of January 15th, no word has been released about a PC version of the game, or a buyable version on any platform without microtransactions.