How Plants vs. Zombies 2 works as a free-to-play game so far

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Plants vs. Zombies 2 launched last week on the Australian and New Zealand App Stores, and I've been playing it over the last few days. Since this is a soft launch, however, it feels safe to assume that EA is still doing the final balancing on this free-to-play game's monetised elements before the rest of the world gets to try it out. Rather than go straight to a review, then, we thought it would be best to provide a sense of where the game is at the moment, with a particular eye on how the new business model affects the overall design. The basic structure of this tower-defence sequel presumably isn't going to change that much in the weeks that follow, but the vital details of its economy and how that affects the flow of the missions just might.
Currently, it feels like a surprisingly generous implementation of the new approach to payment. It's still a clever action-orientated spin on tower defence, continuing to dial up the immediacy while losing little of the genre's depth. And the game's main concessions to free-to-play mechanics don't lie with the fact that a handful of specific plant types are kept behind a micro-transaction paywall - although it's a shame that treats like the Squash, the Snow Pea and the Jalapeno are hived off like this - but with the addition of a series of boosts and one-shot power-ups, and in a new progression structure.
Let's look at the structure first. Plants vs. Zombies 2 sends you racing across time and space as Crazy Dave leaps through history to try and re-eat a taco that he's already consumed in the present. Each of the game's three worlds are based on a different period, although with ancient Egyptians, comedy pirates and ornery cowboys on the menu (more areas should follow, with a fourth already being teased), this is hardly Time Team. The art team takes this conceit and really runs with it; from the swashbuckling munchkins who launch themselves at you from cannons, to the mummified zombies who trail toilet roll behind them as they shamble around, it's a pleasure to look at.
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