Chess ∙ vs Plants vs. Zombies™ 2

How do Chess ∙ and Plants vs. Zombies™ 2 compare on difficulty, ad pressure, in-app-purchase pressure and what real reviewers say? A side-by-side look, grounded in App Store data.

	Chess ∙	Plants vs. Zombies™ 2
Genre	Strategy	Strategy
Price	Free	Free
Difficulty	variable	medium
Ad intensity	high	high
In-app-purchase pressure	low	high
Typical session	medium	medium
Rating	4.5 / 5	4.7 / 5
Ratings count	203,904	432,148
Reviews say	What players like Modern graphics and sound Customizable player names AI with configurable difficulty Common complaints Ads block gameplay and cannot be dismissed Unskippable ads prevent starting games No tutorial or move hints for beginners	What players like Hundreds of collectible plants and zombies with varied designs Engaging tower defense gameplay that's satisfying to watch Excellent animation and visual design of plants Common complaints Frequent crashes and stability issues on mobile devices High volume of ads, especially unskippable/buggy ones Expensive premium plants ($5 each) gating content

Chess ∙ — A free chess game with modern graphics and AI opponents, marred by aggressive advertising that frustrates players. (rated variable difficulty, high ad pressure) Plants vs. Zombies™ 2 — Deploy an army of plants to defend against waves of hilarious zombies across time periods in this award-winning tower defense strategy game. (rated medium difficulty, high ad pressure)

Data: Apple App Store, as of 2026-07-10. Last updated 2026-07-10.