Plants vs. Zombies: Empires/Gameplay

In the Plants vs. Zombies: Empires, there are many gameplay mechanics that players can do. These involve capturing tiles, building a city, and training plants and zombies.

Tile Capturing
Tile capturing is the way to have space to construct new buildings in your city. Tile capturing is similar to regular Plants vs. Zombies games, except more than five waves can occur, new zombies and modes have been added, and picking plants is slightly different.

First, choosing plants in a level is more complex than before. Players can pick up to five plants at the beginning, but can expand this limit to twelve through upgrading specific buildings. Plants the players pick then contain plants that they have grown. For example, a Sunflower nicknamed Jerry that has the Heal Flower upgrade, along with all other seven Sunflowers that the player has, are all used in the level. Each new plant put down is from the player's army, and are selected randomly. If a plant is eaten, they can be revived for a small fee of the in-game currency, coins. Upgrades and items attached to specific plants are retained in battle. For example, a Peashooter nicknamed PshootR4000 that has the Big Pea Shot upgrade and the Nut Helmet apply in battle. There is also a system on the right that shows deaths from plants or zombies. For example, Peashooter [Pea Shot] Snorkel Zombie.

Second, zombies that spawn are pseudo-randomized, which essentially means that zombies are random, but tie into the difficulty of that tile. For example, if a tile its twenty-seven miles away from the center of the map, harder zombies will spawn randomly, but only certain zombies will actually spawn. Some zombies are locked to specific tiles, like Grass and Water.

Construction
Buildings are the heart of your city and are required for progression. Some buildings contain certain plants, like the Peashooter Greenhouse, and can be upgraded to expand in capacity of plants. These are called "Storage Buildings". These buildings can be upgraded to expand capacity of plants, and allow the buildings to store new plants. Seeds and watering is required to grow plants. For example, when upgraded to level three, a Peashooter Greenhouse will unlock two Repeater capacity, and upgrade the Peashooter capacity to four. The same applies for zombie Storage Buildings.

There are also other types of buildings. "Material Buildings" either store materials- like Paper, Seeds, and Brains- or produce materials- like Fertilizer and Coins. There are also "Special Buildings" that have unique effects, like changing the maximum amount of plants a player can have in a level or crafting new plants or zombies.

Plant and Zombie Customization
Both plants and zombies are able to be customized in various ways. First, plants and zombies can be put into "Storage Buildings". Each "Storage Building" can be named for organization. Second, plants and zombies can be named themselves. For example, a Burst-O-Pea named BurstBomb or a Newspaper Zombie named *That Close*. Both classes can also be given upgrades through various means and be given items.