Its should come as no surprise that Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 is a whole lot of fun. If you’ve ever played any of the PvZ games, you’ll know what to expect… and for those who haven’t, shame on you. The world of PvZ is silly and addictive; in a word: zany. If anything, PVZ:GW2 is a fantastic yard stick to explain what the word zany really means.
I have to admit, when I first found out Plants vs Zombies was getting a full FPS release I thought there was no way it would work. An FPS tower defense game full of insanity? So yeah, I’m an idiot. This gameplay fits so well not only with the tower defense aspect the series is known for but crazy characters that seem like they were always originally intended for a game like this.
In PVZ:GW2 things have changed since the first game. Its a little bleak, but the zombies have won. Devastating, right? Fear not; it just means this time the roles are reversed and the plants are on the attack while the zombies are equipped to defend. In my preview I played as Captain Deadbeard because that’s apparently how I identify myself. Deadbeard is one of six new characters added the the roster and I definitely made the right choice for my play style. He’s best played at range but can do some decent damage up close — or deranged as I came to think of it, seeing as it was so fitting for this crazy character.
A pirate is nothing without a parrot pal and Captain Deadbeard is no exception. He has the ability to summon his parrot, who acts like a drone dealing damage from the air. Deadbeard’s barrel blast attack allows him to dive into a barrel and set up for an explosive finish. It’s really useful for dealing with swarms of smaller plants and will devastate an oncoming horde if its well timed. His final ability setts up a cannon in a stationary spot and fires it at oncoming enemies like the Peashooter’s gatling gun.
Local-play and split-screen is available for all modes so your only problem will be deciding what to do. I played a 4 player co-op version of graveyard ops, a zombified twist on the garden ops defence game from the original Garden Warfare. We were given a little time to sett up and prepare for the impending attack and then its was show time.
There were two decent sized waves of vegetation right of the bat to overcome allowing plenty of time to fully explore the Captain’s abilities and get a feel for the character. My favourite thing other than his amazing attacks was his limp. Having a peg for one leg gave him a really drawn out walking animation. He wasn’t slow by any means but his silly waddle made me laugh for the entire preview.
Once the first two waves were over, Crazy Dave was nice enough to entrust us with a gift to help us on our way. Then, it was straight back into the action with a third wave of plants. Once the final wave was defeated a huge flaming tree stump boss known as Giga Torchwood spawned and started wrecking things up like only a tree stump can. The boss was not overly difficult but without teamwork we would surly have been wiped out. Communication is key for all of the match but never more so than when fighting a boss.
Once the tree was dead it was time to evacuate the map and sadly it was time for me to evacuate my preview session. In only one match I’d come to love Captain Deadbeard and his antics and easily imagined hours lost playing PVZ:GW2. It was short but sweet and I know I’ll be back for more as soon as I get a chance.
Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 will be available for PS4, Xbox One and Windows PC in 2016.
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