EA unveils Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville

It's available starting today for those who buy the Founder's Edition, with the full game set to land in mid-October.

Plants vs. Zombies is back, and it's coming sooner than you might have anticipated, with EA and Popcap confirming that the newest entry in the series, Battle for Neighborville, is launching, well, today.

That's right, the plants will once again resume hostilities against the zombies in an online experience that looks to build on the Garden Warfare spin-off series, this time with fully customisable characters (20 at launch), six online modes (including a Battle Arena), a new social area for players to hang out in, and split-screen co-op (on console only, sorry PC players).

The game itself is due to launch on October 18, however, eager beavers will be able to pick up the Founder's Edition starting today, and doing so will get you early access to the game as it comes online in waves, as well as some exclusive in-game cosmetics (including "a Fire Defender item set for Snapdragon, Ultimate Champ Star costume for All-Star Zombie, and Pea of Valiance costume for Peashooter").

Over the six weeks between the two launch dates, early birds will get access to the 20 character classes in one social region, three free-roam regions, the Ops mode, and half a dozen multiplayer modes (including the aforementioned Battle Arena). With regards to the regions, you can see all four in the images below

From left to right: The Cheese Mines, Dreadwood, and Town Center.

And this is the new theme park themed social area.

On top of the Founder's Edition being cheaper than the Standard Edition (it's $30 instead of $40), rewards will unlock over four weeks for those who keep on logging into the game. Running alongside that there are several content updates planned, and you can see the schedule below:

Finally, EA addressed the matter of cosmetics, and as they told to us during a presentation at Gamescom, there will be in-game items unlocked via a lucky dip system called the Mr. Reward-A-Tron 9000 - and that part of the game will be microtransaction free. Players will also be able to grab things from Rux's Emporium, where players will also be available to buy stuff using the game's premium currency, Rainbow Stars. You'll be able to earn some of these through play, we're told, and we're also told that the microtransactions won't be in place at launch.

If that's not enough Plants vs. Zombies for y'all, the GRTV team has taken a look at all the gameplay that EA has shared with us, and they have edited some clips together to give you a better look at what Battle for Neighborville has to offer at launch. Enjoy.