Plants vs. Zombies 2

Plants vs. Zombies 2 builds on the successful foundation of the first game and sends the gardener's plants on a journey through time — to ancient Egypt, pirate seas, and the future — where dozens of new abilities and plant combinations fight against zombie hordes. The core principle stayed the same: drag a plant card onto the lawn and defend the house as long as the sun lasts for further planting against increasingly strong waves of enemies from each world.

The key difference from the first game, though, lies in how it's paid for. While the original was a one-time purchase, the 2013 sequel bet on a free-to-play model with virtual currency, time-limited events, and plants locked behind payment or long grinding through repeated levels. New ideas and locations are still visible, but the pacing of play is governed more by the commercial calendar of games-as-a-service than by the first game's pure game logic. Its release under Electronic Arts, which had by then acquired PopCap Games, clearly left its mark on this shift toward the games-as-a-service business model.

On touch controls the game runs just as smoothly as its predecessor and offers much more content, just at the cost that the full experience without waiting or paying requires considerable patience. For players who appreciated the honesty of the first game's approach, free of pressure to spend, the sequel clearly heads in a different direction. Over the years, seasonal events tied to the real-world calendar were also added, so the game today feels more like a long-maintained service than a self-contained title with a fixed ending.

Why play it: Try it if you don't mind a free-to-play pace with timed events and want more content than the first game — anyone looking for a clean game with no pressure to pay may be disappointed.