Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time

Plot

The protagonist of the game uses a time machine, allowing the game to feature a series of levels in different pseudo-historical settings. Supposedly, the protagonist is engaged in a race through time with Dr. Zomboss, the antagonist of the previous Plants vs. Zombies, who is trying to prevent a paradox.

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 a series of additional period settings ("worlds"); this required a certain number of stars in earlier updates. The Chinese version has two additional worlds. As players go through levels, they unlock new plants each with advantages and unique boosts.

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". In a later announcement, the company confirmed that the new game would be released on July 18, 2013. 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 and came out worldwide on August 15, 2013. The Android version was released worldwide on October 23, 2013.

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. 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.

Reception

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