Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare

Editor's Notes

Xbox One version reviewed.

Introduction

PopCap and EA surprised everyone when they revealed 'Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare' last year. The goofy characters and bubbly atmosphere from the mobile tower-defense titles are an interesting blueprint for making three-dimensional, third-person shooting commandoes, though you wouldn't think to fear at the welcoming smile of an incoming sunflower. A console exclusive for Microsoft, 'Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare' has been set to straddle the company's shooter demographic while also providing a relief from the incessant seriousness plaguing the shooter genre. Apparent style aside, the question remains: as a class-based, ability-focused shooter, does it have the substance to last more than a couple of hours?

The Game Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

My expectations for what 'Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare' should be, from the day they announced it to the first couple days I played it, were at odds with what I now know it is. I wanted it be a somewhat methodical class-based shooter, where small groups of teamwork-concerned people would thrive and the psychotic twitch-mongrels of online-shooter lore might finally fall to my tactics and strategy. I thought that with four distinct and balanced classes per side, each meant to combat the strengths of the enemy while complimenting the weaknesses of fellow fighters, the level of inter-team cooperation on call might rival that of Valve's impeccable 'Team Fortress 2.'

It's not that. 'Garden Warfare' is not a traditional third person shooter, but it's not a far cry from what we've seen in the past. Style and presentation aside, 'Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare' is restrained in its attempts at innovation, but that doesn't make the game any less fun to play. As a matter of fact, it's one of the most polished and entertaining shooters I've played in a while. It reminds me of the good days of 'Gears of War,' before all that judgment nonsense, though the games have very little in common from a mechanical standpoint.

The two competitive modes, Team Vanquish (deathmatch) and Gardens and Graveyards (a combination of Battlefield's Rush and Conquest modes), accommodate 12 players per-team. That's an arena of 24 plants and zombies duking it out.

It's chaos, but it's a good chaos, the kind that makes you itch for it when you've finally set the controller down. That's the difference between what I thought the game should be, rather than what it is. Communication is not key and teamwork won't always prevail, though the common sense stick-with-your-group mentality holds strong. Knowing when to attack, how to attack with whatever class you're using, and diving into the fray at exactly the right moment is key. The remarkable thing is it's actually pretty well balanced.

It's about finding the strengths of a particular class and doing as much damage in that particular way as possible.

'Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare' Class Breakdown

There's no exacting parody between the classes on either side of the battle, but I rarely felt, in any role, outmatched or outgunned. The Chomper might not be able to kill from afar, but his burrow-to-devour ability is immensely satisfying in both its ease-of-use and devastation caused to some zombie trying to wonder off on his own. On the flipside, the zombies' Engineer can stun enemy plants and, more importantly, draw a burrowing Chomper out of the ground and finish it off with his grenade launcher as it shakes off the blow.

More so, the offensively-minded Peashooter and zombie Foot Soldier might fulfill similar roles, but they go about it in different ways. The Peashooter can plant himself into the ground and unleash a holy hell of gattling fire, while the Foot Soldier takes the finishing longshot with his ZPG. Both are capable of reaching massive heights to accrue a premier vantage point.

Each of the eight classes has a distinct feeling. Zipping around as Peashooter, chasing down runners with his AoE cannon fire, is thrilling. Accomplishing a similar feat with a Foot Soldier's longer-ranged Assault Blaster feels like a different kind of success.

Then, of course, you have the healers on both sides, the Sunflower more capable of individual buffs than the zombie Scientist's stationary healing fountain. And they both have wildly different offensive capabilities. These guys are the closest we come to true teamwork, but even they can do devastating damage on their own.

Wrapping up the classes, the Cactus and zombie All-Star classes couldn't be more different, the former a sniper capable of entrenching himself in a net of barriers and landmines, the latter a tank wielding a chaingun, his charge and explosive (punting a zombie imp, of course) an ultimate disruption of close firefights. I found him to be the most challenging class – a dramatic change of pace from the run-and-gun style most prevalent – but more rewarding in those moments where it comes together.

In essence, Every character can kill. The scoreboard at the end of every match emphasizes Vanquishes (kills) over anything else. Healing, capturing points in Gardens and Graveyards and reviving take a backseat to the simple act of virtual murder. That in itself should tell you how PopCap expects people to enjoy 'Garden Warfare.' In that way, enjoy it they shall. Enjoy it I did.

While Team Vanquish promotes your typical shooter tempo, the first team to 50 kills victorious, Gardens and Graveyards dips and rises to greater troughs of frustration and elation. Taking place in one of four sprawling maps, zombies are tasked with overtaking Gardens (capture points) by maintaining a player majority for a certain time period. Take the point and the battle shifts forward on the map. The plants don't want that to happen.

It's great fun as long as you have an objective-oriented team. You'll sometimes find yourself stuck with teammates who would rather set up shop and rake in kills than defend or attack.

The final area of a map asks something different of the zombies, whether it's overtaking Crazy Dave's mansion on Wall-Nut Hills or destroying the Mega Flower on Driftwood Shores. It's clear the classes were designed with this mode first in mind. Plants are generally more defensive, whereas zombies have abilities designed to push forward, a reflection of the original games. That said, these choices thankfully don't affect the fairness in a Team Vanquish match.

Unquestionably inspired is the map design, which takes in the cartoonish and vibrant mythology of the original games and wonderfully stretches it all into the third dimension. With both verticality and a variety of chokepoints, stretches, shortcuts and side-routes, especially in the Gardens and Graveyards matches, a skilled player will find the perfect space for his/her favorite class. There's a lot of room for experimentation on that front.

In spite of these many successes, there are some aspects that seem to scream mistep. Oddly, you're often more apprised of the enemy's position than your own teammates', their names only appearing in tiny text if you're close, whereas an enemy "spotted" icon similar to 'Battlefield' floats on your screen with welcoming life from anywhere in the arena. I've also come across a few control glitches, but nothing game-stopping.

Furthermore, Garden Ops, the game's third and final mode, should have been more than it is., given its close relation to the mobile titles. It's a horde mode/tower defense variant that set four plant teammates against incoming waves of zombies. Fun a few times over, but you're doing little more than mowing down varying zombie classes and reviving teammates as they fall. Boss waves, which might throw a dancing disco zombie or some kind of gargantuan horror at you, mix it up just enough to introduce desperation. Just as in the competitive modes teamwork is encouraged but by no means essential, other than the occasional revive.

It's also a bit weird that you can't play a version of this mode as the zombies, as it's much easier to progress your character in Garden Ops than in Team Vanquish or Gardens and Graveyards. Class progression calls for the accomplishing of various in-game goals and unlocks a specialized sticker pack (We'll get more into that in the Replay Factor section).