SINGAPORE — I never understood why Plants vs Zombies was such a big hit. A friend who lived in Jurong took the wrong train and almost ended up in Tampines because she was paying too much attention to the game. After that incident, I tried the game out for myself, and my gaming consoles at home went untouched for a few months until I had annihilated every last zombie in that game.

For the uninitiated, Plants vs Zombies (or PvZ) puts the player at the mercy of a zombie attack. The only way to survive is to plant flora that kill the undead with specific gifts such as shooting peas and lobbing melons. As the level progresses, the zombies get hard to kill and amble faster.

Since completing the game many moons ago, I have been waiting for the sequel with bated breath as few other mobile games have been able to grab my attention the way Plants vs Zombies did. The wait is finally over as the sequel has finally been launched.

In my hands-on demo session, I was treated to three worlds — Ancient Egypt, Pirate Seas and Wild West — and developers PopCap Games have promised that more worlds are on the way.

The zombies themselves are much tougher this time round. The Ra zombie in the Ancient Egpyt world will steal your sun power, preventing you from planting more defences while piano-playing and bull-riding zombies in Wild West will push your strategy skills to the limit.

But the developers have kindly added more varieties of plants to help you fight off the enhanced zombies. The Snapdragon shoots fireballs, the Bloomerang fires banana-like boomerangs at the zombies and the Bonk Choy — my personal favourite — punches zombies to pulp.

And if that was not enough, the new addition of Plant Food, which offers a temporary but powerful boost to your plant attacks, might help. You will also be able to use touch-screen power-ups that let you pinch, flick and zap zombies off the grid.

Those who complete the game before new worlds are released can also indulge in the game’s many side-missions and mini-games. Challenge Zones will also be made available at the end of each world for those who desperately need to kill zombies.

Plants vs Zombies 2 is now available only on iOS devices for free on the App Store.