Wesley Hilliard
"Plants vs. Zombies" fans have been waiting years for the long-awaited third installment, and despite a troubled development cycle, it's finally seeing some early public testing.
The original "Plants vs. Zombies" launched on Mac in 2009, later making its way to iPhone. After the developer PopCap was purchased by EA in 2011, "Plants vs. Zombies 2" was released in 2013 as a freemium nightmare.
EA has announced that "Plants vs. Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia" has soft-launched in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia, Philippines, and Ireland on Android. More countries will be added to early access in the coming months, but a full launch date hasn't been revealed.
This is the third time "Plants vs. Zombies 3" has entered an early testing phase. The game was originally announced in 2019, soft launched in 2020 then subsequently removed, then soft launched again in 2021 with robust alterations.
Head of the "Plant vs. Zombies" team, Matt Townsend, revealed that the third game wants to take the game back to its roots. Classic gameplay elements mixed with new puzzle elements are expected to make every battle unique.
The game is still in development, and levels are being built. Some level of in-app purchases are expected, but we're hopeful it's a step back from the travesty that was "Plants vs. Zombies 2."
While we're sure there are fans of the sequel game, it was inundated with elements that invaded the mobile gaming industry circa 2013. For example, users can buy gems, in-game powerups, and different seed packs for battle upgrades.
The original game, still available on iOS, simply launched into the storyline where the player fought through increasingly difficult tower defense levels. New plants and upgrades were earned as a part of gameplay, not with the player's wallet.
We hope "Plant vs. Zombies 3" can live up to the promise of returning to a classic experience. Freemium gaming hasn't changed in the past decade, but customers are surely tired of the nickel and diming these games can represent.
A release window hasn't been provided since "Plants vs. Zombies 3" is still under development. Android users in the countries mentioned above can join the early access program to test the game and provide feedback.
Marko Zivkovic
Andrew Orr
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
Andrew O'Hara
4 Comments
"The original game, still available on iOS, simply launched into the storyline where the player fought through increasingly difficult tower defense levels. New plants and upgrades were earned as a part of gameplay, not with the player's wallet."
Uh... you know they completely mucked the first one up like five years ago, right? It's now a parade of "click here to watch this video to earn this rake" and crap like this. God those popcap games were so perfect; you paid your amount, got great gameplay and were never bugged again. But after EA they actually went back and completely messed up even the non-freemium original.
I keep hoping for the day that Apple gives them money to put it on IOS arcade, where they don't allow any of that crap.
If Apple were still customer focussed as it used to be, it would add a warning label for any game, that essentially requires virtual coin for every move you make in the game (i.e. that is unplayable unless you pay a continued stream of money to play, like in the 80's arcades).
Instead as a customer I always have to search the very small button that tells you about the in-game payments. If that contains hit-sellers like 'a stack of gold' or 'bag full of coins' etc. I am definitely not interested. ... while the other way around 'offer it for free' including a decent amount of free play (as a test for the customer), before you pay the full amount once for a game you like, maybe with additional level packs later on, is so much better.
Instead we get Apple sponsored games of the rip-off mentality, because Tim Cook needs a new villa. Sorry to say but Apple starts losing customers if they continue their current path.
I can tell you that Plants vs Zombies is freely available for IOS and iPad users in the Netherlands. I just downloaded the game on my iPad and iPhone.