Wow. I just read through the first page. All you people who are spreading enough FUD to fill half the planet all WITHOUT playing the game please kindly shut it. You are doing no good to anyone. You haven't fully experienced the game and there is no clear explanation to the details. And before you complain about a few plants costing $3, as long as they aren't consumable... Why the heck not? Say you buy 3 of them and leave it at that, I think it is more than fair and reasonable. But without anyone really putting in a sizeable amount of time, every thing being said is nothing more than complete, total assumption. Remember, while Popcap is owned by ea and this is freemium, it doesn't mean it will be as hacked up as RR3 was. Right now, the only confirmation we have is that there are some plants that cost a static, non consumable amount of money. So if you've played the game and have experienced it, please share your experiences. Everyone else that is doomsaying, go create a NZ account, download it and try it yourself. It's simple to do, and unless you do please kindly stop.
Wait a second... PvZ 2 is out in Canada? Downloading! Edit: Nevermind, I somehow was in the NZ store. Sorry!
Glad the sequel to one of my all time favorites is set to launch soon, but my happiness is limited knowing EA has a part in this.
I've read the whole thread. There has been very few negative comments and more knee jerk reactions to any perceived negativity. I have no view on the game, just reading and asking the important q's that'll determine if I spend time on this or not. So far it sounds good even though all anyone seems to know is what the dev said and not what has been accomplished in game. Either way I know my oldest son will want this when it hits the USA AppStore. Hopefully everything is truly unlock able through playing the game as I don't buy anything through IAP.
NZ Release info : The Game is out in New Zealand. It should be out in US at about 11 PM EST and Europe at around 12 AM UK time. Size of the app is 42.9 MB. Price in NZ, AUS is Free. This will be out tomorrow night in the US? I hope so!
No. It won't. If you had read the thread and articles out there you would know this was a soft launch and it won't be hitting US for at least 4 weeks.
Thanks for the hint. I did remove that line since it should be obvious that the Game won`t launch today/tomorrow worldwide.
Impressions: Here goes my imps. Apparently, i cant stand not having the game and not playing it while i know i can already, so i downloaded from the NZ appstore. Gameplay is basically the usual PVZ we know and love. What's different, is that some aspects of the game is OPTIONALLY offered through IAP. From what i've seen so far, there are a few plants that are IAP-only, and each one is at $3. It isnt required, but you'll have a helluva hard time especially if you arent a hardcore PVZ player. I have finished the basic missions in the first map, but there are parts of the map i can only unlock through grinding, or through IAP. These parts of the map that i cant access yet, are optional, BUT they offer new plants to unlock when you get through them. Some of the rewards in going through these optional paths are upgrades which i'll explain in the next few paragraphs. There are also Upgrades that you can purchase through IAPs. From what i see, these'll help you through the game, but not really necessary. I'll list the upgrades below. The game is definitely playable. Going through the other locations will normally require playing through completed missions BUT this time, it requires you meet objectives to increase the number of stars you need to get to the next map. Objectives to gain stars vary a lot, like Must not use any lawnmower, or must not use more than 1250 Sun, or Must not exceed 12 plants, etc. Some of the missions are going to be pretty hardcore i imagine, but i can see myself (since i consider myself a good PVZ player) probably getting through this fine, although some stars may need a replay or two before i can complete them. Sad part is, for the casual player which was the big part of part 1's fanbase, will be forced to go IAP, or abandon the game. During the game, there are now powerups, which are more like cheats, or panic buttons. There's 2 types. The first one, is the plant booster. These are acquired by killing glowing zombies. You can initially have a max of 3, but you can purchase an Upgrade that can increase the max number of boosters you can hold. These boosters are temporary buffs to your plants. From the few plants i have tested it on, it makes you regular pea shooter shoot like 50 bullets in like 3 to 4 seconds which is a good panic button. On a wallnut, it reinforces your wallnut with a metallic armor. On a Bloomerang, it makes it shoot a lot of boomerangs in all 4 principal directions for a couple seconds. The Bonk Choy (the punching cabbage-looking veggie) will punch on all 8 directions around him (but he has short range), while the Cabbage-pult will shoot a barrage of cabbages to enemies on screen. Plant boosters are a nice addition, and could turn the tide if you are struggling a bit. Best of all, you get them ingame by killing glowing zombies. On the other hand, you can use your earned coins (which can be earned in-game or IAP) to buy emergency boosters. Basically, with the booster active, your plants are on crack. The second type, are the powers. These are gesture based powers that are definitely the game's cheat mechanic. There are 3 types of these powers, each one costs coins to cast... Again, to remind you, coins can be acquired ingame, or through IAPs. Each of the powers have a fixed duration. The first power, is pinch. Pinch zombies with 2 fingers to one-shot kill them, and you can pinch as many zombies as you can for the duration. The second power is the swipe. While active, you can swipe zombies to lift them off the ground, and immediately follow up with a swipe-to-the-right to throw them out of the playing field which essentially kills them. You can easily clear the screen of zombies with this one, as you can swipe multiple zombies at once. The third one, is the touch-and-drag. Works like chain lightning in most games. Touch a zombies, and deal damage to it. high HP zombies like buckethead will need to be touched-and-held on til they lose the helmets and they die, then you can chain it to the next zombies. You can do this during the duration of the power. Gameplay-wise, PVZ2 is still top-notch, as they didnt change the main mechanics of the game that made the first one really good. The new boosters are a fantastic addition to the game, giving a good strategic fighting chance on overwhelming odds. On the other hand, the powers, are too overpowered and could break the game. IAP list: Coins (wont list them, but you know how they work, just like in most games with ingame currency) Plants: Squash $2.99 Imitater $2.99 Snow Pea $2.99 Jalapeno $2.99 Torchwood $2.99 Power Lily $2.99 Upgrades: Shovel Bonus (+25% sun refund when shoveling) $1.99 Plant Food Bonus (+1 Plant food slot. This is what i called the plant boosters above) $1.99 Sun Bonus (+25 starting sun) $1.99 Bonus Seed Slot (increase the number of plants you can equip at the start of each round by 1) $1.99 And then there are bundles of these which mostly consists of plant+coins+upgrade. Final Thoughts: Now that i have laid it out in the open, I can say the game is definitely PLAYABLE WITHOUT IAPs, but it could get difficult in terms of completing objectives, or it might require some grinding. One thing i dont like is that it doesnt seem like you can get all the plants without spending IAPs. Since i wanted to buy this game if it was a premium game, i am willing to buy all the plants, but not anything else. That's $18, but it's less than what im willing to spend for a premium game of this quality. Of course i wont buy IAPs til the final version which i can get from my local appstore, and im hoping these prices may change to a more affordable model, to make it accessible to everyone. Bottomline, unfortunately, is that the game is IAP infested, no matter how balanced it might get. Why i do this, i do not know. But i do know i enjoy iOS gaming, and unfortunately, IAP infestation is commonfind in here. Cheers! I love TA!
Deleted after about an hour or so. Having to dodge various ways in which a game tries to screw me tends to get in the way of enjoyment for me personally. On the plus side, it did make me feel like playing the first game again.
App Size The app size is more like 176 MB once installed. The Documents & Data size is 125 MB. So the game download some content in the background while you play.
The sad thing about this whole IAP is that I'd be HAPPY to throw $5-10 at this game for the full experience straight up. The amount of IAP here, though, is just stupid. I'm not even going to download it when it appears on the US store. EA. You suck. The end.
