- Jul 1, 2001
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Now that EA has bought Popcap games, it was only a matter of time before they released a game that uses every dirty revenue generating trick in the book. Plants vs. Zombies 2 is that new game, unfortunately.
Sure, the game is "free" to play on iOS, but look at all of the ways they added to get you to buy in app purchases:
1) They added these "plant food" powerups that you can buy, which briefly make a plant much more powerful. You can occasionally get them for free, but they (naturally) also add a really simple way of buying them as well in the middle of a level if you are struggling.
2) They also added three other powerups that you can buy, that briefly give you God like powers to wipe out an entire map full of zombies. You would have to be REALLY bad at gaming in general to lose after activating one of these at the end of a level. They might as well add a $2 "instawin" feature and get it over with.
3) They block access to many of the more advanced plants (including favorites from the original, like the Jalapeno) with various paywalls.
4) Want more slots for additional plants? Oh, we'll charge you for that as well.
5) Oh... and only the first episode of the game is really free. They want to charge you for each new section, unless you're willing to replay each level three times to "unlock" the next episode. Think Angry Birds, but forcing you to replay until you three star each level before you can continue. Nobody is going to have the patience for that, which I'm sure that EA is counting on.
Basically, the entire game feels like it was designed by accountants and marketing experts instead of an actual game designer. For shame, EA... for shame! If you want my money that badly, just charge $10 for the game and get it over with.
Sure, the game is "free" to play on iOS, but look at all of the ways they added to get you to buy in app purchases:
1) They added these "plant food" powerups that you can buy, which briefly make a plant much more powerful. You can occasionally get them for free, but they (naturally) also add a really simple way of buying them as well in the middle of a level if you are struggling.
2) They also added three other powerups that you can buy, that briefly give you God like powers to wipe out an entire map full of zombies. You would have to be REALLY bad at gaming in general to lose after activating one of these at the end of a level. They might as well add a $2 "instawin" feature and get it over with.
3) They block access to many of the more advanced plants (including favorites from the original, like the Jalapeno) with various paywalls.
4) Want more slots for additional plants? Oh, we'll charge you for that as well.
5) Oh... and only the first episode of the game is really free. They want to charge you for each new section, unless you're willing to replay each level three times to "unlock" the next episode. Think Angry Birds, but forcing you to replay until you three star each level before you can continue. Nobody is going to have the patience for that, which I'm sure that EA is counting on.
Basically, the entire game feels like it was designed by accountants and marketing experts instead of an actual game designer. For shame, EA... for shame! If you want my money that badly, just charge $10 for the game and get it over with.
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