MANILA, Philippines – Plants vs. Zombies 3 (PvZ 3) is here, and 3 countries are getting first dibs on the next installment of the popular franchise: Ireland, Romania, and the Philippines. 

Publisher EA made the announcement Tuesday, February 25, US time. 

After several spinoffs, the series makes a return to its classic gameplay, last seen in 2013’s Plants vs. Zombies 2. An army of zombies appear from the right side of the screen, and the player attemps to stop their march by populating the player lanes with various kinds of zombie-destroying plants. 

But there are improvements.

“For this game, we wanted to incorporate social play, faster combat, and deeper synergies for the plant team. These changes meant that some of the old elements (sorry, Lawn Mowers) were reworked to fit this new vision,” said Bruce Maclean, executive producer at PopCap Games, the developer. 

“Additionally, you’re no longer required to place Sunflower on your lawn to keep your plant army pumping. We decided to build strategy into the game in other ways, like providing multiple options to improve your sun production, which we think will make your battles more tactical and exciting. In this game, Sunflower’s role has been expanded in new ways and will be a key part of your strategy.” 

The Lawn Mower was the last line of defense for a player, which mowed through the zombies if the zombies got to it. Sunflowers produced sun, the game’s currency which lets you “buy” plants. 

The game is now in portrait mode as opposed to the original landscape orientation, which was done to make it more phone-friendly, according to Maclean. And the art style has changed from 2D to 3D “to show off the characters in better detail, so you can truly appreciate their wackiness,” said the producer. 

Like the previous main games, PvZ 3 will be free-to-play with optional microtransactions. To play the game, an Android Galaxy S6 tier-device with KitKat (4.4) or higher is required, or for Apple devices, at least an iPhone 6S or higher with at least iOS 13.1 or higher. 

The developer said there’s no specific release date yet for the final version. The soft launch version is meant to give the development team time to acquire more feedback, which may result in changes in the final version.

In EA’s press release, only the Philippines is identified as the country where the soft launch will take place, but another developer in the EA forums has said that it will also be available in Romania and Ireland. – Rappler.com