All unlocks are earnable through 'offline or online play'

The rumors were true and the Plants vs. Zombies universe is coming to Nintendo Switch. Well...

Battle for Neighborville, the third game in the Garden Warfare shooter sub-series, will officially be out for Switch on March 19 with an "everything's included" Complete Edition. It's the system's first Frostbite engine title (co-developed by PopCap Vancouver ??and QLOC), which is wild to reflect on in 2021.

The Switch version of t?he game will support motion contr??ols if you're into that sorta thing.

The prior versions of Battle for Neighborville leaned into scheduled battle-pass-like Prize Maps to dole out rewards?. Here on Switch, you can "unlock all characters and content from the PlayStation, Xbox, and PC Standard Editions, as well as post-launch content, dire?ctly through offline or online play."

In other words, you can earn every cos?metic item and class "without any pr??emium store or currency."

This game has had an interesting rollout (including an early access phase), and while it's not my favorite Garden Warfare entry, it will surely find an eager young audience on the Switch. Even if you have no intention of facing off against other players, there's a lot to like as a PvE fan. I mostly played Battle for Neighborville as?? someone wh??o enjoys tracking down trinkets and secrets in hub worlds. Let me loose!

I would've liked ?to see a Switch port a while back??, but March 2021 is better than never.

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GameFly listing points to March 19 release on Switch

Late ports aren't the most riveting things to play on Nintendo Switch, but if they're gonna happen – and let's be honest, they aren't slowing down &nd??ash; the Switch is my go-to platform for double-dips.

Several EA-published ports have trickled out lately, and there are a few more in store for the Switch. The next one might be Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, the third game in PopCap's Garden Warfare spin-off series. A listing for a Nintendo Switch edition recently showed up on GameFly.

The listing was pulled down, but while it was visible, it offered a couple of noteworthy detail??s. The release date is supposedly March ??19, 2021, and the Switch version is a "Complete Edition."

There's no such equivalent on PC, PS4, or Xbox One, so that's interesting. Battle for Neighborville leaned pretty far into cosmetic items; there are even battle-pass-like Prize Maps to power through. Having a lot of those unlocks accessible from the outset could be a decent benefit for ?this Switch port.

The game didn't reach the same highs as Garden Warfare 1 or 2 (to the point where some fans would prefer a Switch port of either one of them instead), but it's still fairly unique in the shooter space. I'll always appreciate family-friendly multiplayer games with cool worlds like Garden Warfare and Splatoon.

I also can't help but wonder when EA Play will fit into the pict??ure. I feel like these Switch ports make far more sense from a cost/time perspective when viewed through the lens of a subscription service.

[Via ResetEra]

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Unlockable on the March 2020 Prize Map or with 500K coins

The zombies are finally getting a magical counterpart to Rose. In an update preview video for Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, PopCap Vancouver confirmed t?he long-speculated Wizard Zombie character. He's not joining the game until March 2020, but you'll want to start saving you?r coins.

To unlock the Wizard Zombie, Battle for Neighborville players will either need to finish the Prize Map (the PvZ equivalent of a free battle pa?ss) in March, or they'll need to fork over 500,000 coins once the Luck o' the Zombie festival concludes at the end of the month. I can't say I'm surpri??sed by that rollout.

Wizard Zombie Abilities

• Orbracadorbra – Hold [Fire] to charge your staff and release to cast a damaging aura.
• Zee-lixir – Throw a potion that temporarily makes allies immortal and stops enemy jumping and sprinting.
• Spell Disaster – Slam the ground with your staff to summon magical missiles that chase and damage nearby enemies.
• Co-Star – Hover above an ally as a star in an orb to provide extra firepower and grant them armor.

Up until now, the Prize Map model has mostly dealt with alternate outfits and other less-flashy cosmetic rewards, so this is an enticing incentive to keep plugging away ?at the game all month long.

As the video shows, PopCap has several other things lined up for Battle for Neighborville before the roster update. Throughout February, players can strive to unlock the Foodal Lord Draconius legendary costume for Kernel Corn, and t?here's also ??a new Turf Takeover map, Preserve Pastures, to check out.

The Valenbrainz Prize Map has a gameplay-impacting reward up for grabs, too. Players c??an earn the Shogun-Guard upgrade for Kernel Corn, which gives him a personal shield. The ability item will be "available for purchase in Rux's Emporium??" starting March 2, 2020, according to the developers.

I've dropped off this game, but I have to imagine it's still decently pop??ular among families.

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The game's holiday update launched today

It's been December for not even two whole days and I've already watched my first traditional Christmas movie (Jingle All the Way – don't ask). There's no escaping it. Soon, hol??iday cheer will come for us all.

Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville is getting into the spirit with a snowy present-filled makeover of Giddy Park?, a social hub where plant and zombie players can mingle and duke?? it out. Alongside update 1.03, PopCap went ahead and booked Sir Patrick Stewart to recite a festive poem.

You don't need to love Plants vs. Zombies to get a kick out of this. The ma??n has a way with words!

In terms of new content, Battle for Neighborville has a multiplayer map – Oozevoir – that's full of pink goop. It's playable in Team Vanquish, Mix Modes, and Ops. Otherwise, the 1.03 update is cosmetic-centric. Rux's Emporium started selling outfits in exchange for a new type of currency, Rainbow Stars, that's purchasable with real money ($4.99 for 500 St??ars) and earnable in-game. I'm not surprised.

At the high end, there's a bundle that costs $74.99 for 8,700 Rainbow Stars. This might be a good time for any parents in ?the room to double and then triple-check that their console has parental controls.

The developers also made some PvE balance changes – most notably, activities like Bounty Hunts now come with a cooldown – and players aren't thrilled. Keeping up with ongoing challenges can be a grind. If you're still into Battle for Neighborville, the Feastivus Prize Map has begun and there are two big carrots on the ??stick: a Super Rare Abominable Chomper and a Legendary Inspiration Elf Engineer.

I'm here for the legendary Sir Patrick Stewart, the holiday-themed map redesig??n, and tha??t's it.

Feastivus and Patch Notes are Coming to Neighbo??rville [EA]

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But not enough to topple the mighty FIFA

It was a good week for Nintendo this week, as a string of new Switch releases made their presence known in the UK Charts, though all of these titles ultimately failed to dislodge Electronic Arts FIFA 20 from the top slot, which it has now h?eld for four weeks.

CD Projekt Red's Switch port of The Witcher III: Wild Hunt debuted at number four, followed up by the bendy wheel shenanigans of Ring Fit Adventure. Minecraft for Switch also returned to the Top Ten at number 6, while Blizzard's Overwatch fell just outside at number 11. Oddly enough, the highest selling Switch title this week was none of these releases, but 2017's Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which revved back into the number two slot. The debuting Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville launched at number seven.

While FIFA 20 maintains its place upon the throne, the likelihood is that this will all come to and end next week. October 25 sees the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, practica??lly guaranteed to debut at number one, and sit there for quite some time afterwards, such is the way of the winter charts.

U.K. video game sales chart w/e: October 19, 2019
(Chart reflects in-store physical sales only)

1. FIFA 20 - Electronic Arts
2. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Nintendo
3. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Breakpoint - Ubisoft
4. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt Complete Edition - CD Projekt RED
5. Ring Fit Adventure - Nintendo
6. Minecraft: Switch Edition - Mojang
7. Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville - Electronic Arts
8. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - Nintendo
9. Grand Theft Auto V - Take 2
10. Borderlands 3 - 2K Games

U.K. video game charts [GamesIndustry.biz]

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PvP needs more thyme to blossom

It feels like a small miracle that the team-based shooter series Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is now on its third game in five years. The latest, Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, isn't a huge step?? forward as much as it is a continuation, but PopCap Vancouver has done? a lot of streamlining.

And you know w?hat? I'm perfectly fine with that! All t?hree games have their high points.

Some fans are always going to prefer the expertly-crafted map designs and purity of the original game, and I can sympathize. Others will forever cling to Garden Warfare 2's countless character class variants, which ?offered a tremendous sense of flexibi??lity but contributed to long-term balancing headaches.

I can also picture Battle for Neighborville winning over another subset of players: folks who l?ove hanging out in PvE zones and sco??uring for collectibles and secrets without the pressure or stress of PvP.

Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville (PC, PS4 [reviewed], Xbox One)
Developer: PopCap Vancouver
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Released: October 18, 2019
MSRP: $39.99

The developers tried something different with Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville's release model, and overall, I think it worked out ??well. The game was made available for purchase six weeks before launch in a cheaper, not-yet-complete Founding Neighbor edition. That's where I began.

Each week, PopCap doled out more game content, including multiplayer modes – like the new four-on-four Battle Arena – and multiple open-ended PvE story zones, like the Weirding Woods. This gradual rollout prevented me from burning through any single ??area too quickly, which I appreciated. It's also hopefully a sign of what's to come if post-launch content updates or ex??pansions are on the table.

As it stands today, you'll be able to hop into Battle for Neighborville without those ear??ly-access restrictions. Straight away, you can start poking around. The plants and zombies both have their own headquarte??rs, with an amusement park "social area" sandwiched between them, and these home bases are where you'll access everything from PvP and PvE gateways to cosmetic unlocks and even a couple of goofy mini-games. By default, you'll see other players, but you can form your own private lobby.

I had a love-hate relationship with the hubs at first. They're full of personality, which is one of the series' strongest suits, but until you memorize the layout, navigation is a bit of a chore. They're pretty densely packed. Thankfully, I figured out that certain actions – like team switching, cosmetic customization, and character upgrades – can be accessed from the start menu. That saves time.

Battle for Neighborville expands on the Backyard Battleground concept from Garden Warfare 2, and dozens of hours in, that's where the bulk of my time has gone. P??vE really feels like a focal point.

There are three distinct zones – Mount Steep (plants only), Weirding Woods (zombies only), and Town Center (plants and zombies) – each with their own mission?s, collectibles, rewards, and surprisingly intricate boss battles. You can play through all of this stuff as any of the characters, at any time, a??lone or with friends. It's fun to face AI troops and mini-bosses while you roam the maps, even if you're flying solo. The story quests themselves aren't anything too groundbreaking, but the new character designs and all-around silly vibes put a consistent smile on my face. This is such a good "podcast game."

I wouldn't have necessarily recommended Garden Warfare 2 to people who just wanted a solid PvE experience, but I'm much more inclined to make that case with Battle for Neighborville, particularly given its $40 price tag. The scope of free-roaming isn't on the same level as, say, patrolling through Destiny 2, but I've genuinely enjoyed i?t, and I hope PopCap wi??ll continue building. It's not an afterthought.

Just to be clear: this game is online-only.? You won't make it past the main menu without a connection.

As for PvP, to some extent, I'm still making up mind. In a lot of ways, the competitive side of Battle for Neighborville feels like more of the same, albeit streamlined with the removal of class variants and the piece-by-piece booster pack unlock system from before. As a quick aside, you no longer have to spend a single coin on pesky one-time-use consumable defensive items – those now run on cooldowns.

There are 20 chara?cters, all told. Each side has three new classes, two of which are puny but can transform into more powerful forms and even team up with other players, Megazord style.

On the plant front, there's the stealthy Night Cap, the fire-breathing Snapdragon, and the Acorn, which can become a mighty cannon-firing Oak. On the zombie squad, there's the roller-skating Electric Slide, the bow-wielding 80s Action Hero, and the transformative Space Cadet. These fresh faces join the existing Garden Warfare 2 cast including the Foot Soldier, Peashooter, Imp, an?d Rose, ??and the whole gang can full-on sprint now. Sometimes, pinning down targets isn't enough. They're slippery.

Not everyone is fun to play as yet – I truly feel like game balance will be a constant tug-of-war again – but the potential is there. In place of wildly different class variants, every character has stat??ic abilities and equippable "upgrades." You can swap these in and out at will for bonuses like health regeneration for each vanquish, faster XP accumulation, and even homing shots (depending on who you're playing as), but you only have so many slots and potent perks take up more space (a?nd need to be unlocked).

This system is arguably more elegant, but it loses some of the impact. My hope is that with fewer variables to juggle, PopCap will be able to add more characters down the road, not unlike Overwatch. Heck, the character select screen is even divvied up with Attack, Defend, and Support categories.

In terms of modes, it's mostly a repeat with the objective-based 12v12 Turf Takeover, 8v8 Team Vanquish, smaller modes like Suburbination and Gnome Bomb, a??nd a strategic new 4v4 Battle Arena mode in which players have one life per round and they can't pick ??the same character twice.

If this is all sounding very samey, well, it kind of is! Again, Battle for Neighborville feels like a refresh, f??or better or worse. I'm not remotely tired of the formula?? yet, but I also think there's room to grow.

I don't have as much of a desire to level up the whole cast this time around – the "gotta catch 'em all" factor isn't as palpable without class variants – but the free battle-pass-esque Prize Map for unlocki??ng new seasonal rewards is interesting, at least in the early days. I'm also struggling somewhat with charact?er movement and hit detection, neither of which feel one hundred percent fine-tuned to me.

I don't doubt that the developers will try to stay on top of ongoing balance concerns, but I also worry that the power pendulum will swing too far in one team's favor week to week. We'll see how that goes.

That said, reviewing what's in front of me, I'm mostly happy right now. PvP jus??t isn't quite there yet.

Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville doesn't go out of its way to surpass expectations, but it's a silly, strange, joyful game – one I'm glad was greenlit. If PopCap can continue what it started, this stands a fighting chance of becoming my favorite PvZ spin-off. I hope it gets that opportunity.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provide??d by the publisher.]}

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Along with a PvE zone, Battle Arena mode, and Prize Map

I've been having an all-around good time carving my way through Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, the mostly-there-but-not-quite-done successor to Garden Warfare. Today marked another milestone on the road to the game's full release, and if you're a founder's edition player, it's time to hop back ??in. Along with the Battle Arena mode and another PvE story zone, there's a big patch.

Not to be confused with the general concept of battle royale, Battle Arena is actually a four-on-four PvP mode in which players can't pick the same character class twice. If you're taken down (and no one on your team takes enough pity to revive you), you're done for that round. The format leads to these tense moments where wins up front can come at the cost of the overall prize, and snowballing and tilting are a very real concern. It's much less chaotic than the typical higher-player-count PvP modes, and while not everyone is here for ??tactical play, some people are bound to dig this more strategic struct?ure.

The latest PvE zone isn't wholly new – it's the zombies' take on the previously plant-only Town Center area – but there are new story missions. I've only done one so far, a mission to root out the un-zombie infection, but as with the other Battle for Neighborville zones, I'm looking forward to the boss fight.

Battle for Neighborville also has the equivalent of a free battle pass now. As you earn XP, you'll make progress along a track on a "prize map" with regularly scheduled cosmetic rewards. It's a more guided incentive ?than the existing random unlocks from the coin-eating prize machine. The first map, Lawn of Doom, runs for four more weeks. The top reward is a Super Scarab outfit for Super Brainz.

Then there's the patch itself, which brings balancing tweaks and some necess?ary new features.

• There's now a toggle to outline enemy players and teammates. Before, it was easy to lose track of your target in firefights, especially with multiple abilities popping off.
• "Added bullet drag to allow faster speeds from projectile launch and slow down projectiles as they get to max range." From my early experience, shooting feels noticeably better. I was struggling with hit detection before.
• The all-powerful Night Cap and Acorn were nerfed, while zombies like Soldier and All-Star were buffed. The balance definitely needs more fine-tuning (I'm still maining the Engineer for the foreseeable future), but this is a start. Watch out for Super Brainz.
• "Adjusted difficulty in several quests, gnome challenges, and hunts."
• "Fixed some exploits in Regions relating to using key items in split-screen."
• "Made improvements to split-screen stability."

Those are just my highlights. You can find the full patch notes here.

The founder's edition has two more weeks to go, and then Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville will hold its proper release on October 18. If you're just now thinking of coming in, you're a little too late to play – EA is no longer selling the early access Founding Neighbor ??version. You'll have to wa??it.

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I'm really digging the PvE

What's the deal with Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville? Where do I begin!

The follow-up to PopCap's kooky team-based shooter series Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare isn't fully out yet – the launch is set for October 18 – but you can play Battle for Neighborville right here, right now, if you're willing to open up your wallet. The "Founder's Editio??n" is available across PC, PS4, and Xbox One, a?nd it's essentially a brief early access rollout before the finished game lands.

The idea is to release new content on a weekly basis until launch, at which point the price tag will be bumped from $30 up to $40, and PopCap Vancouver will take things from there. We're currently two weeks into the six-week Founder's Edition roadmap, and after spending a dozen hours with Battle for Neighborville, I have some stray thoughts to share. Is it worth jumping in yet? It depends?.

As it stands, the main attractions are two PvE zones – the very on-brand Town Center, for plant players, and the camp-themed Weirding Woods for team zombie – along with a social hub, separate home bases for both sides, and a pair of PvP modes. Whether you're playing solo or teaming up to explore and take on tough AI bounties in one of the open-world levels, Battle for Neighborville is an online experience through and through. Back at base, you can watch people spend their in-game c??urrency to roll the dice on cosmetic unlocks, a concept I'm not thrilled about, even if it's been done before.

Garden Warfare 2 had open-ended spaces, but Battle for Neighborville feels like more of a conscious approach. It's attempting to scratch that Destiny Patrol itch, albeit without incremental loot.

There's an almost overwhelming amount of collectibles to suss out, from treasure chests to hidden gnomes to exercise tapes. (My inner Donkey Kong 64 fan is kind of in heaven.) As you poke around, you'll face AI-controlled foes at regular intervals, to say nothing of story quests with a few genuinely neat boss fights and optional missions that mirror some of the past Garden Warfare modes.

So while there may only be two PvE regions to mess with, there's a lot to sink your teeth into. 12 hours in, I still have a lot of secrets to uncover. Two more levels – the plant zone Mount Steep, an??????????????????????????d the zombie's spin on Town Center – are scheduled for September 24 and October 1, respectively.

If you're strictly into competitive multiplayer, heads up: you'll only have access to the objective-oriented Turf Takeover mode and Team Vanquish right now. Other PvP offerings, including the 4v4 Battle Arena mode, are yet to come. There's also the matter of game balance, something the previous titles struggled to consistently stay on top of. Battle for Neighborville is no exception – Night Cap, the new ninja class, is on just about everyone's shit list – but I'm cautiously optimistic abou??t the future.

Garden Warfare 2 leaned heavily into variant classes (in short: you could have a Fire Pea or a Rock Pea or a Toxic Pea, and so on and so forth), but they're nowhere to be found in Battle for Neighborville. I liked the flexibility of that system, but the grind to unlock those sub-classes got out of hand, and I can only imag??ine what a nightmare it was to keep every variant of every character in check.

The new concept is much simpler, for better or worse. Characters are classified as attack?ers, defenders, or support, and you'll equip perks to tailor them to your preferred playstyle. There's a finite amount of perk slots, with each "upgrade" costing a certain amount of points depending on its potency, and you can unlock new upgrades by leveling your troops in PvE or PvP. As a healer main (hey, someone's gotta!), I'm all about upgrades like Revive Reward and Vampire Flower that regenerate health when I revive teammates or deal damage. Some upgrades are general across-the-board buffs (one is a flat-out XP boost), while others affect ind?ividual abilities, allowing for a slight sense of personalization.

I'm not sure if this kind of approach will keep players engaged long-term, but if the trade-off is more characters and overall better game balance, I'm all for it. Speaking of which, the new roster feels at home in the Plants vs. Zombies universe. Characters like Acorn and Spa?ce Cadet can transform into powerful (but highly conspicuous) forms, and the fire-breathing Snapdragon puts in work.

Aside from certain characters (mostly on the zombie side) feeling weak and a tad underwhelming to play as, I've also noticed some hit-detection issues – or at least the illusion that?? shots aren't quite landing as they should. That haziness, combined with the all-around chaos of players slinging eye-catching abilities like there's no tomorrow, can make it hard to get a read on the action?.

These should be fixable problems. I wouldn't recommend going for the Founder's Edition if you never quite got Garden Warfare, but if this series is two for two as far as you're concerned, by all means – save yourself ten bucks. Garden and Graveyard Ops are lined up for next week (September 17), and I feel like that'll be more of a tur?ning point. That said, there's already ple?nty of stuff to keep you occupied.

[Update: It's out of early access. Consult our Battle for Neighborville review for my expanded thoughts.]

_{[This impressions piece is based on the Founder's Edition build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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The final version will follow shortly on October 18

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 3 is here! (Sort of.) PopCap and EA have announced Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville – the third game in their wacky multiplayer shooter series – and in a semi-surprising turn of events, it's playable today across PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The curr??ent not-quite-finished Founder's Edition is $30 ahead of the game's full $40 launch on October 18, 2019.

I heard chatter about Plants vs. Zombies trying its hand at "early access" this morning and recoiled a bit, but once I saw this gameplay trailer, those thoughts started to slip away. I am too mesmerized by Night Cap, the new ninja mushroom, to say nothing of the bow-firing '80s Action Hero zombie. There's also fun-sized characters like Acorn and Space Cadet, which can transform into a bulky Oak and ??Space Station, respectively, and even let other players hop aboard for team-up attacks. This game looks wil?d.

PopCap has gone on record to say that Battle for Neighborville's "modes and features are already final," and this Founder's Edition run is about "polishing performance." This early-acces?s version will only be purchasable until September 30, and over the next six weeks leading up to the October 18 launch, the game will get weekly content updates to flesh out PvP, PvE, and free-roam. Your progress carries over.

I've been vaguely anticipating the next game from the Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare team for a while now – this series is my jam, through and through – but I didn't expect Battle for Neighborville to? make this good of a first impression. Now they just need to avoid squandering that potential?.

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