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If you had told me even just a few months ago that one of my favorite multiplayer games would involve plants and zombies fighting each other, I'd have called you crazy. If you had told me at the same time that the game in question would be a third-person shooter based off of the popular tower defense title Plants vs. Zombies I would have had you committed. Now here we are at the start of September 2014 and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is quickly becoming one of my favorite shooters.
It's bright, it's stylized, and it is a ton of fun. Maybe it's because of the innocuous nature of the game but it's one of the few competitive games where I don't really mind when I'm on the losing side. Let's face it, you're shooting cartoony looking plants and zombies in the face with footballs, chili beans, seeds, lasers, and all kinds of crazy gadgets. The Sunflowers are just so freaking adorable with their permanent smiles that it's hard to get mad when they blast you in the face with a beam of sunlight. Even the levels are just full of crazy geometry, colorful visuals, and an atmosphere that can relax you even in the heat of battle. Filling the air is a stream of calming music that sounds like a happy little tune you would hum to yourself while walking down the street.
PopCap's unique use of the Frostbite 3 engine is honestly one of the most impressive things I've seen since Valve first showed off Team Fortress 2 running on Source. When you think of a Frostbite game, you think of the gritty realism found in games like Battlefield, Need for Speed, or the upcoming Dragon Age: Inquisition. What you don't expect to see from the engine are bright, vibrant colors and characters that look a bit like Pixar had a hand in designing them. Each level in the game has a unique style and theme. On the PlayStation 4 the game runs at a great looking 1080p at a near fully locked 60fps. The only comparison I can make is to the PC version of the game running on the highest in-game settings. Short of breaking out a magnifying glass, I saw no real differences between the PS4 version and the PC version running on the highest settings.
Packed in with your $40 (USD) purchase, Garden Warfare includes a variety of single player and multiplayer modes. However a vast majority of the content is firmly in the "multiplayer" side of things. Really, the only thing you can do on your own is the wave-based survival mode called Garden Ops. As the name implies, it's you against increasingly difficult waves of zombies that are out to take down your garden. I mean, you could play it on your own but the real fun comes from playing with three other online friends or strangers and tackling the harder difficulties. For those that don't have PlayStation Plus, there is also a local split screen co-op mode where it's you and a buddy taking on waves of zombies.
Once you tire of that, it's time to experience the heart of the game found in the competitive multiplayer modes. From the get-go, Garden Warfare includes a variety of game modes and unique class types that will appeal to a wide-array of players. You have your standard team deathmatch but you also have things like Gardens & Graveyards, a stage based mode where up to 24 players battle it out over a series of control points. In this mode the Zombies are constantly attacking a series of gardens that the Plants try to defend. I won't lie, this mode is easily my favorite out of the bunch. The game does offer other modes such as Gnome Bomb where both sides attempt to destroy the other side's bases with a Gnome Bomb. It's a bit like Battlefield 4's Obliteration mode, if you're familiar with that. There is also a Vanquish Confirmed mode where you don't get credit for a kill unless you collect an orb from your fallen foe. There are also some "vanilla" variants for a couple of these game modes that remove all customizations from characters and ensure that every player is on the most level playing field possible.
You can unlock a ton of new cosmetic items and abilities for your characters.
Yes, Garden Warfare includes a huge number of customization options. You can outfit your characters with different gear, different body parts, weapon upgrades, different taunts, some cosmetic tattoos, and even new characters entirely. These are all earned by opening up any number of in-game card packs that you purchase by spending in-game currency. I know what you're about to ask and the answer is yes. Yes, you can spend real money to buy these packs faster but I have not found a need to do so. You will typically earn enough cash from just a few rounds of any game mode to unlock some of the more expensive packs. If you're already just enjoying the game for what it is, this probably won't be much of an issue since the coins will rack up faster than you realize. Even if you lose a round or perform poorly, you are still given a rather substantial amount of coins.
Some of those upgrades and unlocks just add to the goofy nature of the game, such as unlockable glasses or mustaches for your characters. Others change the game up a bit more, especially in the case of unlockable abilities. They all have their pros and cons compared to the default weapons and abilities. The only drawback to this entire unlock system is that it's largely random. The more expensive packs have a higher chance to unlock new characters and abilities but there is never any guarantee that you will get the item that you want.
If I were to find much fault with the game it would have to be just with a few technical issues and one very curious design decision. One issue pops up from time to time when I go to respawn after dying. I hit the button to respawn, I begin to move forward, and the game plays the sound like I died again and it respawns me instantly about a second after I already started to move. I don't know if this is a weird bit of lag or just one of those bugs that will be patched out later. Another issue I've encountered is the dreaded mutual kill. I don't know if it's just a matter of netcode, if it's by design, or if it's just leftover from the networking code in Frostbite, but it does happen from time to time and it's just as frustrating now as when it happens in Battlefield 4. One last issue seems to be one that is by design from the PopCap team. They made it so that you cannot mute other players until you are in the game. Sure, once you're in you can hit a button to toggle a global mute but it would have been nice to see that as a permanent option prior to joining a game.
Set up defenses to fend off waves of enemies in the Garden Ops mode
Even with those minor complaints, I find myself returning to Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare almost every single day since its release. Even when I think about stopping after a few rounds I go, "well, just one more round won't hurt," and before I know it I've played another three rounds. Garden Warfare oozes buckets of charm and is incredibly fun to play. Even better is word that the PlayStation 4 version will soon get the free Suburbination DLC that was recently released on the Xbox and PC platforms. I am honestly impressed by how PopCap turned a top-down tower defense title into one of the most enjoyable third-person multiplayer shooters I have ever played.
Overall: 8.5/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Audio: 8.5/10
Visuals: 8.5/10
Value: 8/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Audio: 8.5/10
Visuals: 8.5/10
Value: 8/10
Related Information
Title: Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC (Reviewed on PS4)
Website: http://www.pvzgardenwarfare.com/
Bonus Gallery
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare was provided to Total Gaming Network for review purposes from EA and PopCap Games. The game is rated Everyone 10+ by the ESRB for animated blood, crude humor, and fantasy violence.
