The Verdict
As you could see from the previous page, there isn't a whole lot to dislike about Popcap's latest foray into flora versus the undead. It takes the core foundations from the previous game, such as the tight controls, and great gunplay, and adds a plethora of layers on top of that, with the inclusion of more modes, a solo option for us loners, and even more classes to play as.
The online multiplayer works like a charm, and we never had any sort of connection or lag problems. We did however find that despite being in a party, the game would place us on opposing teams far too often, which ruined our dynamic.
If for some reason you decided to skip on Garden Warfare back when it originally released, do yourself a favor and indulge in Garden Warfare 2. It's fun, it's crazy and absolutely jam-packed with content.
The Positives
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First and foremost, I tip my hat to Popcap's dedication in ensuring that solo players have a plethora of stuff to partake in, without ever stepping through the multiplayer portal. This is mostly accomplished due to the fantastic Backyard Battleground zone which is split into three sections, the Zombies and Plants on either side, and the middle being the clashing battleground between the two. But aside from just taking out your opposing faction, there are missions and bounties to partake in, chests to open, secrets to uncover and so much more. I've honestly spent more time in this mode than any other so far, mostly thanks to its fantastic design.
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The hub for each faction in Backyard Battleground does a fantastic job at presenting the player with everything there is to do, whether you want to hop into multiplayer matches, start a Garden or Graveyard Ops mission, help out Crazy Dave or Zomboss in strictly single player missions, take on daily quests to gain stars, or even enable split-screen multiplayer, a feature that many will be happy to have included.
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One of the fantastic activities to do in the middle of Backyard Battleground is raising the Flag of Power once you acquire it through a quest. This starts a sort of defense/horde mode where whoever controls the Flag of Power, also gains an increased amount of damage. The downside is that you also get a lot less XP per kill. This goes on for a set amount of rounds, ultimately culminating in an Endless onslaught of enemies. While this is pretty easy when you and your teammates are on the same team, you are allowed to join the opposite team, which makes the matchup a lot more interesting.
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Even though Popcap did a fantastic job at including the solo players this time around, Garden Warfare 2 still very much excels when you're playing with friends, or when you're taking warfare online against other players. I will admit that my online play has been somewhat limited due to the scheduled multiplayer sessions that I could barely find time to join, but from what I've played, they're a hell of a lot of fun. (I will update the review once the game releases and the game's official servers are fully live, to see how well multiplayer holds up)
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The original game had four classes per faction, with a bunch of variants per class. This time around, there are seven classes with even more variants to unlock. The new classes are both hilarious and genius in their design. On the plants side, you have Kernel Corn, a popcorn machine gun toting badass, Citron, an orange with a deadly laser beam and the ability to go full morph ball, and Rose, a magic wand wielder who can transform her enemies into goats. On the flipside, the zombies have Super Brainz, a super hero melee based class, Captain Deadbeard, the long range specialist, and the Imp, whose small size is countered by its ability to call in a mech, Titanfall style. They really add a lot more variety to the gameplay.
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It's also great that Zombies got a lot more love this time around, as they're able to partake in their own Ops missions titled Graveyard Ops. Likewise, Plants now have a mode called Herbal Assault, which flips the attack and defense roles. The new Turf Takeover mode combines both Herbal Assault and Gardens and Graveyards, which has both factions fighting over an ever expanding map. It's great stuff.
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What's great about Garden Warfare 2 is that it isn't simply just a team-based shooter. Sure, while a bulk of your multiplayer matches will resort to shooting the other faction square in the face, there are a ton of unique events during the matches that set it apart from being just another third-person shooter. For instance, a match in Zomburbia will end in the plants having to stop a zombie graduation in Z Academy by throwing toilet paper, and ruining the festivities.
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This game was made for collecto-philes. Just one look at the massive sticker book and it's apparent that Popcap and EA want you to play this for a long time. From character variants, to customization items, there are pages upon pages of unlockables to acquire. And the best thing, at least to my knowledge, is that even though the unlocks are random, you're never bound to get a double, at least outside of consumables.
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The currency system seems to be balanced pretty well, with earning anywhere from around 5k to 10k per match/mission. Considering the most expensive packs cost you 75,000, and those guarantee a character, that's a pretty great rate of acquiring coins.
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We played a bunch of online matches last night, and never had any problems with connectivity, which is refreshing in this day and age when online components launch with constant issues.
The Negatives
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For some reason, I find the Plants more enjoyable to play with. While this is a subjective complaint, I fear that many might feel the same. Even with Popcap trying to make the classes more varied with new inclusions like the Super Brainz, I can't help but feel like the variety between the zombies is smaller than the Plants.
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Also, Rose is extremely overpowered. Not only are her standard shots homing, they also do 10 damage per hit. I was absolutely murdering others halfway across the map since all the shots connected, and ended up being first in kills in most of my matches. NERF ROSE!
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The quests you get from Dave-o-Tron or Zomboss, depending on what faction you're playing as in Backyard Battleground, are stricly single player affairs. That's a shame, because there are some truly awesome missions to go on, but sadly you'll never be able to take friends with you along for the ride.
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Similarly, your friends that join your world don't really benefit from it all that much. All chests are only available to you, meaning that they can't ever open any of them while playing when connected to your Backyard Battleground, thus, discouraging them to actually play with you.
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Despite having no issues connecting and playing online, we did find that in our group of four players, who were all partied together within the game, it would constantly keep placing us on opposing teams. Sometimes 1 person, sometimes 2. It was a miracle if all four of us ended up on the same team. We're hoping that this gets fixed ASAP.
The original Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare was a surprise when it first launched back in 2014 on Xbox paltforms, and eventually making its way to PC and PS4. It managed to capture my attention with its cute visual aesthetics, that masked a rather fun multiplayer experience with a bunch of varied classes, taken straight from the hit mobile game. At that point, plant on zombie warfare wasn't anything new, but we've never seen the battle from this perspective, and it ended up being both really fun, and immensely satisfying, no matter what front you chose to defend.
In the sequel, Popcap and EA have significantly upped the ante in almost every single way. The class count was nearly doubled from the original game, a new Backyard Battleground open-world map to explore with missions to complete was added, and tons of stickers to collect that unlock everything from new class variants to accessories and consumables. But that's just scratching the surface.
Let's dive in and see what the sequel to one of EA's weirdest shooters excels in, where it falls flat, and our final verdict.
