Time-hopping tower defense combining colorful strategy, playful humor, and powerful plant-based abilities
Time-hopping tower defense combining colorful strategy, playful humor, and powerful plant-based abilities
Vote (235 votes)
Program license Free
Developer EA Swiss Sarl
Version 12.5.2
Works under Android
Also known as Plants Vs Zombies 2
Vote
(235 votes)
Developer
EA Swiss Sarl
Works under
Android
Program license
Free
Version
12.5.2
Also known as
Plants Vs Zombies 2
Pros
- Classic lane-based tower defense gameplay that stays easy to understand
- Time-travel structure with varied worlds like Ancient Egypt and the Wild West
- Mix of familiar and new plants, plus plant food for impactful temporary boosts
- Gesture-based power-ups that feel fun to use in tough situations
- Polished graphics, lively animations, and humorous cutscenes with Crazy Dave and Penny
- Improved orchestral soundtrack with variations across different worlds
Cons
- Heavy reliance on grinding and in-app purchases to unlock some content quickly
- Frequent ads can interrupt play, especially when online
- Occasional ad bug where the close button does not appear, sometimes requiring a restart or orientation change
- Main campaign ending feels abrupt, with an empty world slot instead of a strong finale
Plants vs. Zombies 2 Free brings back the classic lawn-versus-undead formula, now wrapped in a time-travel plot that sends your garden defenses to different eras. It suits strategy fans who enjoy light puzzle planning, anyone who loved the original game, and mobile players looking for something colorful to fill short breaks.
Time-hopping tower defense with clear goals
The core idea has not changed: you plant defenses to stop waves of zombies from reaching your house, using sun collected from sunflowers as a resource. What feels new is the structure around it. Stages are grouped into themed worlds that jump across history and beyond, starting in Ancient Egypt and moving through places like the Wild West, the Dark Ages, a pirate-themed area, and a futuristic setting.
Each world contains multiple stages that you tackle in sequence. Progress is tied to stars earned by completing specific objectives, which then unlock later areas. You can also open up extra stages inside a world by gathering in-game currency, with in-app purchases available if you prefer to speed this up instead of replaying for coins and stars.
Familiar plants, new tricks, and special powers
Fans of the first game will instantly recognize many returning plants such as pea shooters, cabbage flingers, and explosive potatoes. On top of that, the sequel introduces new vegetation with distinct tactical roles. Iceberg lettuce can freeze zombies in place, Bonk Choy dishes out close-range punches, and Bloomerang fires petal projectiles that hit multiple enemies in a lane.
A major addition is plant food. You collect it from certain zombies or buy it with coins, then drop it onto a plant for a short but dramatic boost. A pea shooter suddenly sprays a rapid stream of peas, cabbages launch in powerful bursts, and sunflowers briefly shower the lawn with extra sun. Used at the right moment, these boosts can turn a losing battle into a win.
There are also power-ups that sit along the bottom of the screen for emergencies. These do not use plants at all, but your fingers. You can pinch the display to crush zombies, drag to fling them away, or tap repeatedly to shock them with electricity. These abilities feel playful and satisfying, though they consume a lot of in-game coins, so they work best as rare panic buttons rather than constant tools.
On the enemy side, zombies match the world you are in. Ancient Egypt has mummified foes, pirate stages send in seafaring undead, and each area introduces new behaviors that require different counters. That variety keeps you adjusting your plant lineup instead of sticking with one fixed strategy.
Easy to pick up, with helpful tutorials
Anyone who spent time with the original game should feel at home right away since the basic lane-based layout and controls remain nearly identical. New players are guided through an introductory stage that explains planting, sun collection, and basic defense. If you already know what you are doing, you can skip that opening walkthrough.
As new elements appear, such as plant food or the gesture-based power-ups, the game introduces them with small interactive tutorials. These bite-sized lessons show how a mechanic works in context, so you learn by doing rather than reading long instructions. Touch controls for the special powers are especially intuitive, with pinching, dragging, and tapping feeling natural on a phone or tablet screen.
Colorful presentation and playful humor
Plants vs. Zombies 2 looks more refined than its predecessor. Character sprites have sharper detail, animations are smoother, and both plants and zombies show plenty of personality in their designs and movement. Visual gags pop up regularly in zombie costumes and behaviors.
The sense of humor that helped the original stand out is still very present. Short cutscenes follow the ramblings of Crazy Dave and his time-traveling vehicle, Penny, adding a light narrative thread between worlds. These scenes, combined with the silly enemies and exaggerated plant attacks, give the game a cheerful tone despite the undead subject matter.
Audio also sees an upgrade. The recognizable theme music returns with a fuller orchestral sound, and the score shifts between worlds so you are not listening to the exact same track every time. That variation, together with the energetic sound effects, helps keep long play sessions from feeling repetitive.
Free-to-play structure, ads, and frustrations
The sequel leans more heavily on free-to-play systems than the original. Unlocking extra stages or powering up faster often means replaying levels to earn coins and stars, unless you choose to spend money on in-app purchases. Players who enjoy squeezing the most out of each stage may appreciate that extra grind, while others might see it as padding.
Advertising is another noticeable part of the package. Some sessions feature more ads than many players would like, to the point that some prefer to play offline to avoid interruptions. There is also a known irritation where the close button on certain ads does not appear correctly, trapping you on the screen until you restart the game or switch your device into portrait orientation so the button shows up.
Content length and payoff can feel uneven too. There are many worlds and plants to unlock, which gives the game strong replay appeal, but the campaign finish is not especially satisfying. After clearing the available content you may be left facing an empty slot hinting at more to come, rather than a strong sense of conclusion.
Verdict
Plants vs. Zombies 2 Free successfully refreshes a beloved tower defense formula with new eras, plants, and powers, while polishing the visuals and soundtrack. The core gameplay remains clever and accessible, and the variety of worlds keeps experimentation fun. At the same time, a heavier focus on grinding, occasional ad bugs, and a somewhat flat ending hold it back from perfection.
For players who enjoy strategic lane defense and can tolerate ads and optional purchases, it is still one of the standout choices on Android.
Pros
- Classic lane-based tower defense gameplay that stays easy to understand
- Time-travel structure with varied worlds like Ancient Egypt and the Wild West
- Mix of familiar and new plants, plus plant food for impactful temporary boosts
- Gesture-based power-ups that feel fun to use in tough situations
- Polished graphics, lively animations, and humorous cutscenes with Crazy Dave and Penny
- Improved orchestral soundtrack with variations across different worlds
Cons
- Heavy reliance on grinding and in-app purchases to unlock some content quickly
- Frequent ads can interrupt play, especially when online
- Occasional ad bug where the close button does not appear, sometimes requiring a restart or orientation change
- Main campaign ending feels abrupt, with an empty world slot instead of a strong finale
Fight for your honor as your fate hangs in the balance in Plants vs Zombies 2.
Successor to Plants vs Zombies, Plants vs Zombies 2 offers an unusual rivalry between plants and the undead. As zombies swarm the forefront, plants serve as their kryptonite, crippling what’s left of their already weak, lifeless bodies. Unlike its predecessor, Plants vs Zombie 2 offers a time traveling feature in which players are blasted into an unknown era. Even still, players must use varying types of plants to kill off the creatures. As the plants are faced with impending doom, players must strategically ward off the zombies to protect their land.
Pros
- Great World Diversity
- Short-Burst Gaming
- Power-Ups
- Lots of Humor
- Multiple Challenges
- Tons of Mini-Games
Cons
- Unoriginal
Plants vs. Zombies 2 is the second game in the Plants vs. Zombies series, and the first game was incredibly popular within the tower defense genre.
The object of the game is fairly straightforward. The player has a selection of plants they can use to guard their home against an onslaught of zombies. The plants are basically the defensive towers in the game, and they all have different abilities that serve to protect against zombies.
One of the most detailed elements of the game is the fact that it takes the player throughout all of history and even into the future with their environments. The first level takes place in ancient Egypt, and later levels progress through time so the player finds themselves in the Wild West and even the Dark Ages. Each world is highly varied in terms of challenges and opportunities for protection, and that helps the game stand out from the first.
The player must advance through the levels and worlds in order, much like the popular Mario series from Nintendo. The game includes an in-game currency that can be used to unlock new levels in every world, but that process can be tedious since the player must grind enough currency to do that. Of course, the game allows for in-game purchases of that currency to help the player progress faster if they so choose.
In terms of gameplay, this sequel doesn't expand too much on the previous title. The player has access to plants that can be placed strategically to protect against zombies, and there are sunflowers in the game that give sunlight to the the other plants, which acts as the game's currency.
There are some new additions to the game that make it a bit more involved, like the ability to use plant food to temporarily strengthen particular plants. This plant food can be obtained by purchasing with coins or by killing the right zombies.
Power-ups are another new addition to the game that make it that much more fun. They cost the same coins that must be purchased with real-world currency, but those coins are also slowly awarded within the game without the need to purchase them. Power-ups include the ability to throw zombies off the screen, pinch them to death, or even electrocute them to prevent their advancement.
It doesn't take much time to figure out how this game works, and anyone who played the original will have no trouble at all. There is a tutorial that new players can use to learn the basics, but it is entirely skippable for those that have no interest. The game also includes in-game mini tutorials that help players learn how to deal with new game elements as they arise. For example, the game teaches how to use the touch controls for the power-ups when they become available.
Pros
- Great World Diversity
- Short-Burst Gaming
- Power-Ups
- Lots of Humor
- Multiple Challenges
- Tons of Mini-Games
Cons
- Unoriginal