The first reviews for the new Plants vs Zombies FPS offshoot are out and they are surprisingly good. It seems like PopCap has actually made a fun and accessible game. I didn’t expect that.
This come-one, come-all aspect of PvZ: GW’s gameplay works perfectly with its bright and colorful presentation and style. From a myriad of humorous graphical details to its ridiculous, yet creative weapons and characters, everything about the game feels good-natured and fun. The end result is a thoroughly entertaining, super-competitive, high body count FPS that also manages to be accessible, fun, and easy enough to play so that it can be enjoyed by players of all skill levels. Brilliant stuff.
“Different” doesn’t always mean good. Unexpected combinations of action and subject matter don’t always work out. But here, they’re elevating factors in often tired genres. Garden Warfare could have been an underwhelming exercise in missing the point, of mismatched agendas. Instead, it takes the best parts of PVZ to make an experimental shooter that feels freed from tired conventions or compromise.
Garden Warfare respects its roots by preserving its characters and their humor and skillfully adapting their charm to a third-person shooter. A few clever twists on the standard modes give the action some fresh personality, and the co-op survival mode is a fun homage to the original games. Plus the solid controls, fun modes, and varied map design make it a good shooter to boot.
While the unlockables fit right in with the whimsical spirit of the Plants vs. Zombies franchise, you’re left feeling like Garden Warfare needed a little something more to make it a meal rather than a side salad. Still, it’s that rare shooter whose world and characters might put a smile on your face, making it a refreshing entry in a genre that usually takes itself really seriously.
I tried 2 games of Garden Ops by myself. Once on Normal difficulty then one on Easy difficulty. I got stomped both times. Though I made it to a farther wave of zombies on Easy. This game was clearly designed for more than one person to be fighting against the zombies. Problem is, I don’t really want to play with strangers and none of my friends have an Xbox One yet.
So I’ll be returning this to Gamefly sooner than I thought. However, I did like what they did with the gameplay. It almost feels like a game of PvZ tower defense planted into a 3D field. Very cool. I’d definitely like coming back to this game once I have friends who also own it.
I’ve been playing a ton. What sticker packs are folks saving up for?
After sampling one of each, I bought 3 40k packs, but have settled on only 20k packs now, plus some occassional 1k consumable packs. The wife does the same.
What a game. The kids and I ended up playing it pretty much non stop all week-end. Always feeling the draw to play one more match, buy one more sticker pack. It’s really addictive and an enjoyable experience.
As for packs, my kids mainly only have enough patience to save up for 10K packs, with the odd 20K one. I’m going to aim for mostly 20K ones. I think. The draw to collect outfit pieces and character stickers is strong in this one. The weapon upgrades help too.
I saw this in the Tv the other day. This looks like fun?! I’m rather amazed and will have to download it soon I think. Much impressed by all the various gamemodes. One thing - The “commander” mode is Xbox one only, correct?
Remember the Panini sticker books you probably used to buy stickers for as a kid (I did)? They are part of what makes this game so addictive.
The stickers do indeed mostly add cosmetic stuff: New faces, wearables, headgear, cosmetic changes to weapons, …
There are also marginal weapon upgrades (higher fire rate for the All Star weapon, more damage for the sniping cactus, faster reload for the zombie scientist, …).
Finally, you also get characters made of 5 or 6 stickers. Once you get all 5 or 6, you get a variant to your class. For instance, the All Star can becomes the Rugby Star, Cricket Star, Hockey Star, … : Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare: All-Star Variants Guide – GameSkinny . They are all slightly different versions of the class. Opening a pack and completing that class variant sticker set really brings me back to those old sticker albums. :)
Razgon,
I think the split screen zombie wave co-op mode is exclusive to the One. I’m not quite sure what the boss mode does (we never really used it). I don’t know whether it’s XBox One exclusive only.
