Plants vs Zombies 2 available in Australia and New Zealand

In a startling reversal of our usual fortunes, antipodean gamers have access to Plants vs Zombies 2 well ahead of the rest of the world, which will have to wait through the announced delay.

Popcap has released the free-to-play tower defence effort as a "soft launch", testing its servers and systems with a smaller population ahead of the game's official full launch in the next few months.

If you're down under, you can grab it on the App Store.

Because it's a test version, the game is expect to change in the next few weeks, with the cost of various items being adjusted and balanced. Additionally, Popcap intends to keep releasing new plants every few months.

Plants vs Zombies 2 is free to play, but Popcap told Polygon premium features available via in-game microtransactions will also be unlockable via gameplay; additionally, anything purchased will be carried over to all profiles if you start a new game. It boasts various online-only features like cloud saves, but supports offline play.

Now word yet on platforms other than iOS.

Thanks, Shack News.