Plants vs. Zombies is a genuine gaming phenomenon, an oddball concept that worked so well that the original PC game was ported over to many, many different platforms. It spawned its own shooter (two of em), and a so-so mobile sequel that was tainted by Electronic Arts being… well, Electronic Arts. Now, though, EA and developer PopCap have a chance to do the sequel thing right. Plants vs. Zombies 3 has been announced and (some) players are invited to test it.

What the game involves, though, isn’t known. You’re going to have to be part of the test to find that out but we’ve got a little info via the Plants vs. Zombies 3 announcement page. The game will be free-to-play, and “There are no microtransactions during Pre-Alpha.” Which basically screams that there will be microtransactions in the final game. We’re already less than impressed. There’s precious little detail on any gameplay changes. At this point, we’re just hoping the microtransactions aren’t as odious as they were in Plants vs. Zombies 2.

You just lost The Game

There’s a pre-alpha of the game going, for fans who can’t bear to wait. If you’re in the antsy-for-zombie-slayage column, you’re… still going to have to wait. There are “…[a] limited number of downloads…available for players in phases”. And we’ve checked, there are no downloads left available for the current phase, unless someone’s stuck a Wall-nut in our paths. Head here to see if you can get access to the pre-alpha. Today probably isn’t your day, though.

Those that do get access will need a smartphone running Android 6.0 or better, but that’s not all. The phone also has to be rocking Samsung Galaxy S7 or better specs. If you’re running anything less than a Snapdragon 820/an Exynos equivalent, and 4GB of RAM in your mobile, you are probably out of luck. You’ll also have to play while logged into the Google Play Games account used to access the pre-alpha. So much for side-loading an APK.

There’s no test available for iOS players and there’s also no firm release date for the game itself. Since it’s still pre-alpha, it’s hardly surprising. Early players are basically acting as unpaid quality assurance testers at this point. Which is still EA being EA, but if it gets us some PvZ 3 action early… well…

Source: Electronic Arts