Plants vs. Zombies 3: Welcome To Zomburbia
| Plants vs. Zombies 3 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | PopCap Games |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Series | Plants vs. Zombies |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | January 17, 2024 |
| Genre(s) | Tower defense |
Plants vs. Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia (shortened as Plants vs Zombies 3, acronym as PvZ3) is a 2024 free-to-play tower defense mobile game developed by PopCap Games and published by Electronic Arts. It is the 3rd installment of the Plants vs Zombies tower defense series, and was released on iPhone and Android devices in selected regions on January 17, 2024.
Plants vs Zombies 3 was released in a limited alpha test on July 2019 and was soft-launched in selected regions in February 2020.[1] The game was redone completely and was soft-launched on Android in Australia and the Philippines.[2] The game was re-released in April 2022,[3] and another soft-launch was released on October 2022.[4] On January 17, 2024, EA announced the game will be soft-launched in more regions until being launched worldwide.[5][6][7]
Development
[edit]Plants vs Zombies 3 had started its development as early as 2016, with various concepts created by digital artist, Jason T. Brown.[8] The game was expected to be released in the 4th quarter of 2017 according to the China Licensing Expo 2017. On July 16, 2019, PopCap announced the existence of the game and that a pre-alpha was coming soon for players to give feedback. The pre-alpha was closed on February 10, 2020 and was soft-launched to select countries in February 25, 2020.
Due to criticisms of the game, PopCap decided to redo the game from scratch, which was soft-launched on September 7th, 2021. The game would release soft-launch updates from then to October 12, 2022. The game went silent for more than a year, some speculating the game was cancelled. However, the game would receive another soft-launch on January 17, 2024 with the name "Plants vs. Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia".
Premise
[edit]![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2024) |
Crazy Dave sent his niece Patrice to summer camp. After watching her leave, Dave was attracted by a smell and found a taco and ate it. However, the taco was a bait for zombies. Dave fell into a coma immediately after eating it. Three months later, Patrice returned to Neighborville, only to find that it had been occupied by zombies. With the help from Mo, the player and Patrice help restore Neighborville from Dr. Zomboss.
Criticism
[edit]In the game's 2019 pre-alpha phase and the 2020 soft-launch, the game already received a lot of criticisms. The artstyle shift from 2D to 3D models turned a lot of long-time players away, and made it very difficult for low-end devices to run. The game running on portrait orientation made it very difficult for long-time players to adapt. And the game not having a proper level system, and unfair progression issues made progressing increasingly difficult without paying for microtransactions.
PopCap would take these criticisms and take Plants vs Zombies 3 off app stores until September 7, 2021. The game received a full rework taking all of the criticisms from the first soft-launch. The orientation was reverted, and the art style was changed to a 2D-3D hybrid. The game also had proper levels. However, the game still had some criticisms. The 5-lives system wasn't received well by players, and the uncanny similarities to another mobile game, Homescapes.
References
[edit]- ^ Bashir, Dale (2020-02-27). "Plants Vs Zombies 3 Soft-Launched in the Philippines". IGN Southeast Asia. Archived from the original on 2020-09-28. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
- ^ Arts, Electronic (2021-09-07). "A New Vision for PvZ 3 Has Taken Root!". Electronic Arts Inc. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
- ^ Arts, Electronic (2022-04-05). "LIMITED TERRITORY TESTING FOR PVZ 3!". Electronic Arts Inc. Archived from the original on 2022-10-13. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
- ^ Arts, Electronic (2022-10-11). "Even More Limited Territory Testing For PvZ 3!". Electronic Arts Inc. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
- ^ Roth, Emma (2024-01-17). "EA is finally launching Plants vs. Zombies 3". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2024-01-24. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
- ^ Arts, Electronic (2024-01-17). "Plants vs. Zombies™ 3 Soft Launch!". Electronic Arts Inc. Archived from the original on 2024-01-30. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
- ^ Plants vs. Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia - Official Trailer - IGN, 2024-01-17, archived from the original on 2024-01-23, retrieved 2024-01-21
- ^ "jtbrownart.com - Plants VS Zombies Previz". web.archive.org. 2018-06-19. Retrieved 2024-08-28.