JAKE CURNOW PRESENTS
Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare
Playstation 4 Version
Although the title itself may fool gamers into thinking Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare is a sub-par experience, the reality is that the game has a lot going for it. The third consecutive title in the Plants vs Zombies franchise has changed genres this time around, but not to the point where key elements get left in the dust. The original Plants vs Zombies is one of my all-time favorites; it was an overhead, third person, tower defense game with the ability to select a wide range of different plants and utilize their unique abilities to defend a designated zone from an onslaught of zombies. The originals depth, technical mechanics, creepy atmosphere, and wide range of gameplay modes helped to set itself apart from other tower defense games. Garden Warfare continues PVZ success with even more innovation, and even a change in genres.
Looks like a beautiful day for a war between Plants and Zombies...
Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare is an online only, class based, third person shooter, with tower defense mechanics, and gameplay modes. The games Co-Op mode, called Garden Ops, features four-player tower defense while using the plants attempting to protect a garden from consecutive waves of zombie onslaught. Garden Ops can be played online, or locally with friends using split screen. Similar to the original Plants vs Zombies, Garden Ops has players protecting a specific area using potted plants as defensive mechanisms; all of which have different abilities. The difference with Garden Warfare, however, is that players are able to get down into the action as they would in any third person shooter.
Even though the Co-Op can be an interesting change of pace, the heart of the game is in its competitive modes. One of the best aspects of Garden Warfare is that the developers include downloadable content with the Playstation 4 version, even offering the game itself free of charge on Playstation Network for a limited time. As of May, 2015, the competitive gameplay modes are Welcome Mat, Team Vanquish, Gardens and Graveyards, Classic Team Vanquish, Classic Gardens and Graveyards, Mixed Mode, Gnome Bomb, Vanquish Confirmed, Suburbination, and Taco Bandits. Although the titles of these modes may differ from other first and third person shooters, their core objectives remain the same, which is both good and bad.
At the beginning of each game, players are able to choose from either the Plants or Zombies team; each with four selectable classes. On the plants team, players can select from a Chomper, Cactus, Sunflower, or Peashooter. Each class has their own unique weapon (or melee attack) along with three abilities. Perhaps the most unique class out of the eight is the Chomper, which is primarily designed as a melee character. Although one of the Chomper’s abilities lets him fire a gooey substance; to limit an opposing players ability usage and movement, the core of his attacks are up close and personal, designed to either eat his opponent, or chomp them to death.
In addition to the Chomper is the Cactus, which is one of the best classes in the game provided the player knows how to operate at range, since the Cactus is essentially a sniper. Out of the other two plants, there’s an assault class (Peashooter), and a healer class (Sunflower).
If I were to give my analysis of which team I think’s better, I’d have to give an edge to the plants, exclusively because of the inferior healer on the zombies (Scientist). Along with the Scientist, players can choose from a Foot Solider, Engineer, and All-Star class, each with their own primary weapon and set of special abilities. The All-Star is the power house of the bunch, resembling a football player, and complete with an automated hand canon. Even though three of four zombies feature effective characters, the Engineer is possibly the most dominant. With a primary weapon similar to the Peashooter, both in damage output and mechanical function, the Engineer also features an ability to pilot a drone, quickly escape from tricky situations on a jackhammer, and even stun his opponents.
One of the most used zombie’s online is the Foot Soldier, which resembles a standard military grunt. Don’t let the character’s appearance fool you, however, since elite players use him with devastating precision. Although the only class on both teams is the healer class; the Sunflower on plants and the Scientist on zombies, the Footsoldier’s primary weapon has similar range to the Cactus’, despite the fact that it’s not as damaging.
On the plants, the Sunflower’s healing abilities are far superior to the zombie healer. Each character has similar tools: the Sunflower can throw down a potted plant of healing energy for team mates, and the Scientist can throw out a healing station. Each character can revive “vanquished” team mates faster than the other classes, and the Scientist’s healing station has a better healing rate than the Sunflower’s healing pot. Two fundamental differences between these characters, however, is the difference in primary weapons, and the Sunflower’s ability to release an infinite stream of healing energy. Unfortunately, the Scientist doesn’t have the dominant healing abilities of the Sunflower. In addition to this key difference, the Sunflower also features a fully automatic assault weapon, whereas the Scientist has a far slower (and harder to land) plasma-style shotgun. In the final equation, these differences give the plants a slight advantage in combat, since an effective healer can sometimes be the difference maker in a close battle.
New players may wonder why each character’s special abilities are not accessible right from the start. This is because the game features a leveling up system, requiring players to perform “Challenges” to progress through the system. Fear not, because each characters standard abilities can be unlocked quickly, especially if new players stay in the Welcome Mat game type. If players become frustrated with performing level progression challenges, they can always bypass this system by using a “Skip Challenge” card, unlockable in the games sticker shop. Garden Warfare features a coin earning system, which players can then spend on various sticker packs at the sticker shop. The shop let’s players purchase packages of randomly generated items that feature anything from consumables, to brand new character pieces. If players happen to collect all of the pieces to a brand new character, that character is then permanently unlocked and available for use in certain game modes.
Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare also gives players the ability to customize each character with their own methods, or by using one of the development team’s pre-designed characters, such as the “Fire Cactus”, or “Chester Chomper”. These different characters are only unlockable by collecting all related character pieces from the sticker shop. Some of these character properties can be dramatically different compared to their standard model. For example: the standard Chomper has three character abilities and close range melee options… But there are unlockable variations that can shoot out fire and electricity as projectiles. Even more interesting is the fact that damage output can change between variations, such as with the Ice Cactus. The only problem with this over-customization is that it takes an extended period of time to unlock many of these characters. This means that you can play for weeks, possibly even months, against other players who have superior character builds. Since Garden Warfare has an excellent development team, however, the option to avoid all of this customization is there, provided you choose games types such as Classic Team Vanquish, instead of its standard version. So if you want to get straight to the point on a level playing field, you only need to spend a few matches in the Welcome Mat to gain the abilities of each class. But what the heck; even if you want to stick it out on the Welcome Mat, you’re welcome to play in that division as long as you want. As you continue your evolution through character unlocking and knowledge of the game, however, you can view all character properties from the in game “Stickerbook”. In addition to the Stickerbook explanations, players can use the digital instruction manual for more information on the game in general.
Possibly the longest gameplay mode in the game, Gardens and Graveyards is also the most interesting. This is a tower defense gameplay mode, with the plants on defense, and the zombies on offense. Each of the access points are similar on every map, but the final point has something uniquely designed for each map. Final access points require zombies to do anything from destroying a giant sunflower, to pushing a giant golf ball into a hole, and as goofy as these things may sound, they’re incredibly fun to perform. Plants can also build defenses around the access point with the use of planted pots able to perform a wide range of abilities. Zombies have a similar gameplay mechanism, where they can spawn a wide range of offensive zombies, each with tricks of their own.
Other than Gardens and Graveyards, players can also choose from game types such as Team Vanquish, Welcome Mat and Vanquish Confirmed. Welcome Mat and Team Vanquish are (essentially) Team Death Match under a different name; with Vanquish Confirmed being nearly identical except for the added perk of having to collect a small icon after a vanquish.
In addition to the four characters on each team, there’s also an option for player’s to enter into “Boss Mode”. Entering this mode gives players the perspective of a battlefield commander, with an overhead view of the battle. Operating from this perspective, it takes a skilled observer to gauge what’s happening on the battlefield to determine what of your four abilities to use and when. From Boss Mode, players need to gather up (either sun or brain icons) floating around the map, which are then spent on healing team mates, resurrecting team mates, spotting enemies, or performing an airstrike.
Aside from its gameplay, Garden Warfare has some very interesting character designs, excellent sound, and solid graphics. Being the third person shooter that it is, the ability to attack and defend are vital to successful gameplay. Since there isn’t a way to lock yourself into cover, players have to be observant of enemy firing angles, so they can react with better positioning of their character. Although it isn’t game breaking, the game doesn’t allow for lightning fast moves, such as quickly blocking off enemy firing angles with a reposition behind cover. If you’re at a critical level of health and try to get behind cover at the last second, there are cases where it drags your character back into the fire. In addition to these technical problems, players may run into the occasional situation where their character gets stuck walking in place. And although situations like these aren’t extremely rare online, they also aren’t that much of a nuisance.
For Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare, all of the positives far outweigh the negatives. The game did a spectacular job of evolving its original PVZ formula, and by taking a risk in changing genres into a class based, tower defense, third person shooter. Although the vibe of the game may come across as goofy, the developers were able to put together a title with awesome gameplay, while setting themselves apart from other companies by including free DLC. Building off of Garden Warfare’s momentum, I look forward to seeing a fourth game, preferably with better technical mechanics and a solo campaign.