Just log in for 80,000 coins

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare was one of my most-played ga??mes last year. What a fun shooter! I won't get back into it, but I don't see the harm in opening a f?ew card packs. As a celebration for passing the eight-million-player mark, EA is giving out 80,000 coins on all platforms.

Depending on which packs you choose, that'??s enough money to unlock two character classes (two Spectacular Character Packs a??t 40,000 coins each). Or you could just spend it all on bling.

After logging in, I also had a holiday pack waiting for me. It included some Christmas-themed cosmetic items and, hell yes, 20 Skip Challenge Stars for quick character leveling -- not that I'll need them. I'm done playing, after all. Yep, that's the plan. Definitely not straying fr??om it.

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Down to $20

If you haven't picked up Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare yet and even remotely enjoy shooters like Team Fortress, the newly minted $20 price drop is a perfect excuse to take the plun??ge. That pric?e will be in effect for PC, PS4, PS3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360.

I still play Garden Warfare to this day, as it's a perfect pick-up-and-play shoo??????????????????????????ter, and at this point there have been enough free content updates and DLC packs to make it even more worthwhile.

Plants vs. Zombies [Twitter]

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Do you want to taco 'bout it?

Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare has already done right by its users by providing good post-launch support via free downloadable content, and it is continuing on that path with tomorrow's Legends of the Lawn update.

The DLC features a host of character variants that add options to both sides of play. Additionally, a ??new? mode called Taco Bandits is included, which is described as capture the flag, but with tacos instead of flags.

Legends of the Lawn shou??ld release for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One tomorrow, a??t the low price of zero dollars. You can't argue with that.

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Cheetos is really doing this

I was prepared to get mildly annoyed at this Cheetos partnership with Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, despite the fact that it's not the first time the game has dabbled in brand-sponsored character variants. (There were two free Aquafina classes for the plants, previously.)

But then I saw this video. That "Chester Chomper" is so horrific, so dumb, that I'm not even mad.

You'll need to buy Cheetos at Target of all places for the characters. Full details are here.

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Europe: June 27

Third-person shooter Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare is already on Xbox One and Xbox 360, but now it's shuffling over to PC, with a North American launch date set for ??June 24, and Europe to follow on June 27. 

The PC version will include all content from Garden Variety Pack and Zomboss Down, an update (wild west themed) wi??th eight new playabl?e characters. A Cactus Canyon map will also be included.

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Dibs on Sun Pharaoh

I'm not sure which alternate dimension Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare came from or how it got here but PopCap's wacky third-person shooter has been a pleasant surprise. Against all odds, the game keeps on giving: another free DLC pack called Zomboss Down is out toda????y, adding eight new characters and the Cactus Canyon map for Gardens and Graveyards mode.

The character level cap has also been increased to level 30, complete with new challenges to conquer, and there are 200+ customization items for the new cast of plants and zombies. Even though the ?last DLC release was free, I'm still surprised to see this one follow the same plan and PopCap not ove??rwhelm players with microtransactions. Gosh, what a terrific game.

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EA is giving out free DLC without microtransactions?

I really enjoyed Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, which was a pleasant surprise amidst a sea of "me too" shooters. I enjoyed it so much in fact that I still play it, and I find myself spending more time with it lately than Titanfall. Garden Warfare has legs, especially with the first DLC pack that dropped this week and without the existence of microtransa?ctions (knock on wood).

As the first add-on, Garden Variety updates the game with a brand new mode, a new map, more customization o??pt?ions, and best of all -- it's free.

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare: Garden Variety pack (PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One [tested])
Developer: PopCap Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Released: March 18, 2014 (Xbox 360, Xbox One) / TBA (PC)
MSRP: Free

The most obvious addition the Garden Variety DLC pack brings is the Gnome Bomb mode, reminiscent of many "bomb the base" gametypes from old-school FPS titles. At the start, each map is broken up into three "A, B, and C" points for each side, and a bomb is placed in the middle. Teams fi??ght over the bomb and attempt to set it at each point, defending it as it ticks while the opposing side tries to defuse it.

It's as simple as it sounds, and it's pretty fun to play -- especially since there are only two competitive game modes in the retail version. There's always action going on since you can see where the bomb is at all times, so there's never a dull moment. With a few more additions like Gnome Bomb, Garden Warfare will only get better and better with time.

The new map is Chomp Town, which is similar aesthetically to Garden Center but with a completely different layout. It's probably the closest to a traditional Call of Duty map, with ton??s of rooftops to survey and pick people off from. Chomp Town doesn't feature the most original of designs, but it's a great level to add to the rotation, and can be played with Gnome Bomb as ??well as Team Vanquish.

The rest of the wardrobe additions are pretty nominal, but there are a lot of them -- which is good news f?or people who like to customize their character to the max. Instead of just granting you all 100 costumes though the game makes you ear??n them by way of 20,000 Coin packs, which are custom tailored to either Plants or Zombies. It's not much, but it's something to strive for and earn while you're having fun online.

I highly recommend picking up Garden Warfare, as both the Xbox One and the Xbox 360 versions are a ton of fun. As long as EA doesn't screw things up a?nd add microtransactions to t??he mix, I'll be playing this one for quite a while.

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A downgrade, but still absolutely worth playing

It's as if we slipped into some alternate dimension. The long-awaited Plants vs. Zombies 2 went straight to mobile, passing over PC fans, a?nd?? while it wasn't bad -- not at all -- I sure lost interest.

Instead, it's PopCap's third-person multiplayer shooter Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, a thing which inexplicably exists, that has been dominating my free time. And I do mean dominating.

Chris reviewed the Xbox One version, but I've been wanting to share my thoughts on the cheaper, less-pretty Xbox 360 version since not nearly enough of you are playing Garden Warfare.

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (PC, Xbox 360 [tested], Xbox One)
Developer: PopCap Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Released: February 25, 2014 (Xbox 360, Xbox One) / TBA (PC)
MSRP: $39.99 (Xbox One) / $29.99 (Xbox 360)

Now, Chris already went over the primary differen?ces between the Xbox One and Xbox 360 versions in his review. Let's dig into those and other inconsistencies in-depth.

The big disappointment on Xbox 360 is a lack of split-screen cooperative play in the Garden Ops base defense mode. Even then, its implementation on Xbox One left a lot to be desired: co-op is only playable offline and player two can't earn coins, the currency of unlocks in Garden Warfare, or Xbox Live Achievements, the currency of life. A shame to have no co-op on 360 nonetheless.

Another lost feature is SmartGlass support. Xbox One players can influence matches from an all-seeing, all-knowing overhead view in Boss Mode. It's essentially Commander Mode from Battlefield 4, which I found to be way less entertaining than simply playing as an on-the-ground soldier. I'm sure it's the same with Garden Warfare -- fun for a few rounds and that's it.

Visual fidelity. The obvious one. While the game doesn't look as good on Xbox 360, that's not to say it doesn't look good generally speaking. Garden Warfare uses the Frostbite 3 engine, after all. The attention to deta??il and personality present in character models ??is impressive.

There are issues with texture loading, however -- when first entering maps, much of the environment will appear blurry until the textures "pop in." While this isn't always ??th?e case, when it happens, it's ugly as sin and takes you out of the experience.

I can live with all of these just fine. My big issue with Garden Warfare, and the reason I wish I were playing on PC instead??, is the time spent not playing the game due to load?? times.

Team Vanquish, a deathmatch mode in which plant and zombie teams race to 50 kills (err, knockouts), is usually over in less than ten minutes. Many of the matches I play take five to six minutes. Then you hit a loading screen and have to wait in the lobby for a full minute, followed by another load into the next match. This adds up. Gardens and Graveyards, the final, more tactical mode in Garden Warfare tends to last longer, thankfully.

With all of that said, I don't feel like you can go wrong with any of the platforms. For its faults, the Xbox 360 game is $29.99, down from the Xbox One version's $39.99 price point. And while Garden Warfare hasn't been dated for PC y??et, that'll likely be the superior version in terms of performance. (If you don't mind playing via Electronic Arts' Origin, that is.)

Do you enjoy Mass Effect 3's multiplayer or count Team Fortress 2 among your favorite online games? This is worth looking into. And for those of you with children, Garden Warfare is an excellent choice if you aren't comfortable with the??m playing more mature titles. But, for the love of all things holy, tell them to not ??permanently leave their mics on. Dumb kids...

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Plants rule, zombies drool

Plants vs. Zombies has been on one wild ride since PopCap was acquired by Electronic Arts. What started off as a grassroots (hah) series with humble beginnings on the PC has become an exclusive-heavy franchise -- with Plants vs. Zombies 2 originally launching on iOS, and Garden Warfare launching on Xbox platforms and the PC.

In many ways EA has hurt the overall image of PopCap, but there are some benefits to being owned by a major publisher. Most notably, an in-house engine ripe for the taking, and the resources to create one of the most oddball third-person shooters ever made. While it's not everything it could be, Garden Warfare is most definitely a successful experiment.

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One [reviewed])
Developer: PopCap Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Released: February 25, 2014 (Xbox 360, Xbox One) / TBA (PC)
MSRP: $39.99 (Xbox One) / $29.99 (Xbox 360)

Garden Warfare at its core is an unconventional shooter similar to Team Fortress 2. There are classes that fulfill specific roles, skirmishes mostly involving two teams, and of course -- there are hats. Garden Warfare looks great with its use of the Frostbite 3 engine, as every single character model has an alarming amount of detail, as do the wonderfully crafted maps. It's weird to see the Plants vs. Zombies cast come to life in ??full 3D, but I think it's worked out for the best.

Typical Call of Duty-style progression schemes are generally eschewed for a more interesting method of earning new skins and abilities -- opening random card packs. Immediately when I heard "EA" and "random packs" alarm bells went off in my head, but thankfully, there are no microtransactions involved. All of the packs are bought by way of coins, which are earned entirely in-game and are performance based. Depending on how well you do, you can generally buy a mid-tier pack every two to th??ree games.

Cards can yield partial unlocks of new characters (which generally need a few pieces to open up), hats, other cos?tume pieces, and consumables to use in both co-op and competitive modes. It can be a relatively slow burn sometimes -- especially if you're on the losing end of a few games and have nothing to show for it -- but if you just sit down and play the game for a while, you'll see the rewards start to pile up.

One of the most brilliant aspects of Garden Warfare though is how easy it is to pick up and play. All you need to do is aim and fire like any other third-person shooter, and learn the three special abilities of each class. Most of them are self-explanatory: the Soldier Zombie can rocket-jump and fire?? off heavy artillery, the Sunflower can heal allies and drop healin?g hubs, and the Cactus is basically a sniper with a few tools at his disposal.

As simple as?? it sounds, there's lots of tactical nuance here. To be blunt, it's much more than I expected, and once I played a ton of online multiplayer against other human opponents, the game really opened its wings. As expected, class diversity is the key to success, and PopCap went through great lengths to balance them. Although it's good to have a number of standard Peashooters on hand for any plant team, having at least one or two Sunflowers to heal, a few Cactus classes to snipe, and a number of Chompers is also a good idea.

With all of the classes on the board at once, things get hectic and you'll constantly be cla??shing with different counters and other players. For example, Chompers are formidable units with a lot of health, and they can also employ a special one-hit kill stealth move if they chomp zombies from behind. But their Achilles heel is that they're extremely slow and basically can't jump worth beans, so taking to high ground and always watching your back is a perfect counter.

When you're skitt??ishly looking around for Chompers, a Peashooter could easily toss a bean grenade your way, a Cactus could hit you from above with a flying drone, or you could walk right into a p?otato mine. It's that sort of orchestrated insanity that happens nearly every spawn, and in the game's 12-on-12 online modes, it can get extremely chaotic -- in a good way.

The maps are one of the best parts of the game, and they're not only the perfect size, but fun to look at and play in. They're just as playful as you'd expect from the Plants vs. Zombies&nbs??p;series, ranging from a giant pirate ship theme park, to a shopping center, to a giant sub??urban sprawl with its own giant playground. There's tons of detail here, from hundreds of breakable objects to graffiti that states "plants R stoopid" -- to the point where I found myself roaming around arenas just to find Easter eggs.

They remind me of some of the best Twisted Metal or Tony Hawk levels in that there's a certain amount of diversity to their design and a practicality to it, which is quite the accomplishment. Sadly, there's only a scant few for use in two of? the three game modes (??five to be exact), and even though a few offer day and night cycles, you can't help but shake the feeling of deja vu after a while -- even if the maps are so well done.

So what are the three modes you can play? Well, Garden Ops is basically co-op base defense for four players -- in other words, it's literally plants versus zombies 3D. Waves of zombies will come your way with various modifiers to mix things up each session,?? and multiple difficulty modes help keep replay value high.

In the end it eventually suffers the same fate as many oth?er horde modes in that it becomes predictable to a fault, slowly shuffling you into the other two gametypes. This is also the only mode you can play by yourself -- so if you're planning on not playing online, you may get bored really quickly. Be warned, this is a multiplayer affair at heart, and the meat of the game most definitely lies with the other core game modes.

Team Vanquish (team deathmatch) and Gardens and Grave?yards (Garden Ops with two teams) both support 24 players, which helps bring out some of that consistent chaos I was talking about earlier. I've been playing shooters all my life, but to see two armies of plants and zombies go at it is something else. Every single class looks and feels utterly different, and constantly picking your battles with certain players doesn't really get old.

Although Vanquish is fun all on its own, Garden and Graveyards can often yield some of the crazier matches. Here, Plants are on the defense, with Zombies slowly acquiring base after base until they reach the end goal, where an all-out war happens. If the Zombies make it all the way to the last point they have to fulfill a unique objective?, like destroying a giant boss plant or invading a mansion with its own security measures.

Since there's no AI element to this it feels fresh every time, and almost every match I've played was filled with intense moments that had me on the edge of my ??seat. If you're not keen on any upgrades or customization options, "Classic" matchmaking choices are there to keep things on a completely level playing field.

In terms of platform differences, the Xbox One version sports improved visuals over the 360, and it has a split-screen mode as well as SmartGlass support. Sadly, split-screen is limited to a pared-down Garden Ops mode that's only playable offline, and player two can't earn coins or achievements. While it is nice that some sort of concession was made to even allow split-screen in the first place, it's a shame that the second player can't earn their own rewards or play online in general. With those options, Warfare&n??bsp;would be a force to be reck??oned with in terms of local play.

With a few more tweaks, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare would be a must-buy for pretty much any shooter fan out there. But even with its blemishes, I was incredibly surprised by the amount of depth the game has to offer on top of all of its charm. Hopefully EA will ease off the microtransactions in the future and even more content will pile in, because with the right moves and support, Garden Warfare will be s??omething special for quite some time.

The post Review: Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare appeared first on Destructoid.

Surprisingly

As soon as I booted up Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (published by Electronic Arts) for the first time, I saw that there was a currency system. But before I could groan, I found that there was no way to purchase said currency by way of microtransactions. That's right -- Garden Warfare won't launch with them. Phew!

Speaking to GameSpot, PopCap producer Brian Lindley confirmed this outright saying, "we're not going to have any microtransactions at all at launch." Now, we're not out of the woods yet, because Lindley also comments that PopCap will "look at in-game metrics and player feedba?ck" in the future, and in-game payments could be offered at some point down the road.

Stay tuned for our full review n??ext week that explains exactly how the currency works, among othe??r things!

Plants vs. Z??ombies shooter has no microtransactions at launch, probably doesn't run in 1080p [GameSpot]

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Why can't plants and zombies just be friends?

When you're engaged in war with the likes of plantlife or the animated undead, you can't just rush into the fray. Only a fool would do that. No, you have to study your enemy, and more i?mportantly, know thyself.

This gameplay video of Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare should help ??with that. It explains the abilities of each class type, some of the different modes, and how the game's economy works. So, now you have no excuse to not be as prepared as possible for this self-proclaimed weird shooter.

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I know dolphins and porpoises are different, but work with me here

Every time I think that Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare can't possibly do anything else to leave me speechless, it goes and does j??ust that. Maybe I should've dropped the expectation of any semblance of rationale the very second this game got announced. In fact, I'm going to do that right now.

Regardless, this live-action advertisement chides you to "put?? down the shotgun, pick up a dolphin." I'm not sure exactly where dolphins fit into the scheme of the on-going struggle between botanical life and the undead, but hey, I'm going to stick by that first paragraph and not worry about it.

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Botany vs Necromancy

How weird was it seeing that reveal trailer for Plant vs Zombies: Garden Warfare at last year's E3? Plants vs Zombies was known for its ?focus on strategy and quirky humor, so it was a pretty surprising move for the developers at PopCap Games to bring such an interesting twist to their hugely popular franchise. As a fan of the series, I was mostly curious to see how it would translate from a tower defense style game to an online focused shooter.

But strangely enough, the transition worked out surprisingly well. And then some. Using the Frostbite 3 engine, PopCap Games took a chance and made its first foray into 3D, bringing along many of its characters from the series. EA invited some the press out to try a new build of the class-based shooter Garden Warfare and it turns out i??t's? still just as strategic as ever.

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (Xbox 360, Xbox One [previewed], PC, PS4)
Developer: PopCap Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: February 25, 2014 (Xbox 360, Xbox One) TBA (other platforms)

If you need a narrative to help make sense of all this, here it is: plants have attained sentience?? and combat effectiveness, the dead have risen from their graves, and both sides must battle each other for dom?inance. Oh, and a crazy human gardener with a speech impediment is helping the plants. That's pretty much all the story you need, and it fits perfectly along with the other entries in the series.

Taking cues from modern shooters, Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is a third-person action game that utilizes a class and group based d??ynamic across several battlefields. Each side must work together to overcome the opposing players, and knowing you??r army's strengths and the enemy's weaknesses is the key to victory.

Let's be clear, even though this is now a shooter, str?ategy and coordination is the name of the game. While you can manage to take out some enemies all by your lonesome, you can easily be overwhelmed by the opposition if you don't use yo??ur arsenal of support plants and work with your team. Much like the previous games, picking and setting vital plants is necessary for success.

The game's primary mode is the multiplayer, which is also the only way to play as the zombies. Players take on the role of either the Plants or Zombies and have to battle it out for dominance. Consisting of 12 on 12 skir??mishes across 10 different maps, players will engage in game-types such as Gardens and Graveyards, where they can capture enemy points, and Team Vanquish, a take on the classic Team Deathmatch.

?Along with the core character types are different variations of them. For instance, players can unlock fire and ice versions of the Cactus, which can do long-range status effect damage on the zombie force. In addition to these variations, players can unlock perks and skills that add new abilities and ??buffs for their classes. This not only helps to add more much flavor to the game, but gives more options for players and how they use their favorite class.

In addition to the robust multiplayer mode, players can also engage in the Garden Ops mode. Playing as the plants, Garden Ops is this PvZ's spin on the horde mode game type. Players can team with up to three others online or locally to defend key points from AI controlled zomb??ies across several map?s. With a smaller group of players on your side, placement of the support plants is even more vital than in the competitive multiplayer mode.

Scattered across the field are plant pots, which can be used to summon support forces from your current arsenal of plants. Placement of the support units is key??, as the zombies can easily overwhelm players. Many of the favorites return, su?ch as the Wall-nut, Potato Mines, Gatling Peashooter, Fume-Shroom, Bonk Choy.

In keeping with previous entries of the series, Garden Warfare has a deep focus on maintaining your arsenal of plants, and after each battle players must keep their li??mited stock of characters in healthy supply. Players will gradually acquire coins from taking out enemies and completing dynamic match objectives, whi??ch can then be spent in the game's sticker shop.

All this may sound odd, but stay with ??me on this one; stickers are collectable items that can be used to upgrade your characters and customize the?ir appearance. In the shop, you can buy unique packs of character cards and sticker pieces ranging in price, and you will randomly receive a set to strengthen your reinforcements. Similar to packs of baseball cards, the content of each pack is unknown to the holder. Moreover, when you collect enough sticker pieces of the same type, you will unlock a new variant of that particular character.

The packs range in price, some focusing on cards or stickers, so players can spend coins only on what they need at the moment. If you only wan to refill support placements, then you can purchase the basic ??packs. Though if you're feeling lucky, you can take your chances on the premium packs that drop rare stickers and cards for a high price.

It's clear that Garden Warfare wishes to expand upon the characterization of each plant types, and this allows for players to customize their plant and zombie armies as they see fit. Character customization is deep and robus?t, and it shows how the devs at PopCap Games went to great lengths to flesh out the characters of the series. There are many unique variants of each class, and honestly you'd be surprised just how many different ways you can make the Sunflower character plant look. Many of which include hats, facepaint, and other quirky access??ories.

The developers at PopCap Games have shown some extra at??tention to the Xbox One release of the game, including making split-screen play an Xbox One exclusive feature. I can imagine this will disappoint many fans, as it should, because playing local co-op and ??coordinating with my partner was a lot of fun. It's definitely a missed opportunity to not include this with the other versions.

Another exclusive feature for the Xbox One is Boss Mode, where another player can use a tablet device and sync with SmartGlass to offer support for players during the Garden Ops gametype. While on the tablet, you'll be playing as the returning character Crazy Dave, who will be able to offer support for players in battle. You get an overhead view of the map, similar to classic PvZ, and you can assist by dropping health pickups, place radar plants on the lookout for nea?rby zombies, revive downed players, and you can even call-in devastating air strikes.

After spending about an hour playing the Garden Ops game type locally, I came away impressed with Garden Warfare. In many ways, it feels like a fully-realized and expanded version of a Plants vs Zombies game. While many fans may turn their nose up at the focus on shooting, if the??y give it a chance they'll likely see tha?t the quirky humor and strategic gameplay that they've known and loved are still here.

While it's very disappointing to see that the split-screen mode is only for the Xbox One release, I can still see much to like. In many ways, it felt like PopCap took some serious notes from Valve's Team Fortress 2, as Garden Warfare is brimming with style and humor. On the surface, it looks to be a major shift into a new direction, but when you get down to it, it is very much in line with the series' f?ocus on strategy and character. ??And that's all I needed to know.

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