Story: Plants Vs Zombies 2 starts you off in the present day with your straight forward garden warfare, after a few waves to brush up your basic PVZ gameplay, Crazy Dave shows up and eats a taco, then wants to relive eating the same taco, therefore he uses his time machine called Penny to re eat it, unfortunatly sending the three of you back to 5000BC. I know not to expect a masterful plot here but the plot was quite charming and sets up the various time periods nicely.
Presentation: *Disclaimer: As a experienced gamer, it is set in stone never to judge a game on graphics, and rarely will I ever comment on a games graphics unless they are so charming therefore deserved of praise or are so hidious they break the game* Plants vs Zombies 2's visuals are outstanding Pop Cap really went to town on creating a large roster of plants and time warped zombies and all are animated much more indepth than before. After recently replaying the original the improvements are humungous and really add the game, there's something really special about watching a Peashooter actually pull up a pea through its throat then firing it or watching the new chilli bean make a Zombie pass wind is very flattering and really shows the attension to detail in this game!
A nice reward for completing a stage!
Gameplay:
The core mechanics of the game remain the same as the first game which each plant having its own strengths and weaknesses. Popcap have done a solid job of ensuring the plants are balanced with not one being overpowered. To keep things fresh Popcap have added two new power ups to help the plight against the undead. The first is the plant food which super charges any plant applied too. Plant food is earned by defeating a shiny green zombie. The effects of the various plants are visually fantastic and can really help turn the tide of battle, from turning a Peashooter into a powerful barrage of peas to watching a chilli seed multiply itself to the other lanes. Unfortunatly the money power ups are not as original as the plant food and feel almost tacked on. For 800-1200 coins various special moves are usable, for 800 coins the pinch power can pop off the zombies heads, for 1000 coins the swipe power turns the game into Fruit Ninja for a few seconds, and for 1200 coins the lightning power disolves zombies. While they can be very helpful in a really tough battle they feel almost too powerful and unbalenced and the pinch power is (at time of writing) almost broken!
The Verdict:
Plants Vs Zombies 2 is a fantastic iphone game that deserves to be on anyones IOS device, the high in app purchase prices is what stop this from being a true gem, but the gameplay and presentation are absolutly wonderful and no doubt are worth your time.
8/10
