Plants Vs. Zombies 3 Revealed, Pre-Alpha Version Playable Now

EA has revealed Plants Vs. Zombies 3, the third mainline entry in its garden-based tower defense series. What's more, there's a free-to-play pre-alpha version playable right now.

"At PopCap, we've been working on PvZ for years and want to bring our beloved plants and zombies to current players and the next generation of players everywhere," the developer said. "We're hard at work testing out a lot of fun things that we want your feedback on, and hope you will come on this journey with us!"

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Details on the game's new features are scant at present. The most noticeable change, judging by the screenshots you can see above, is that the series appears to have switched from a landscape orientation to portrait. Otherwise, things look largely familiar, with old friendly plant faces getting in on the action.

The pre-alpha is a limited release--meaning not everyone who downloads will actually get to play--on Android only. If you can't get access, PopCap says to try again another day as it will be opening up the pre-alpha in phases. At present, it appears the game's Google Play listing is only accessible in the US.

A final release date, meanwhile, has not yet been announced; PopCap says it wants "to make sure we have everything ready and in tip-top shape for you to enjoy, so we'll let you know when we have a worldwide release date."

EA had previously listed a new Plants Vs. Zombies game for release in the final quarter of 2019. However, that game was listed as a shooter, so it's unclear if PvZ 3 is that same game launching this year given this appears to be a tower defense game.

The original Plants Vs. Zombies launched on PC in 2009, before later coming to mobile, Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo DS, and PS Vita. The game's success attracted EA, which acquired developer PopCap in 2011. A number of sequels and spin-offs have since launched, including Plants Vs Zombies 2 and the Garden Warfare series.