Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 Review

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 is the latest iteration in the Plants vs Zombies games from Popcap and EA. Garden Warfare 2 draws all of the best parts of the first title and improves them greatly. Garden Warfare 2 is available on Xbox One, PC and Playstation 4 and was reviewed on Xbox One.

Garden Warfare 2 is a very nice looking game. It’s colourful and bright which makes a change from other more serious games that are arriving in the future. Both the Plants and the Zombies classes have been lovingly crafted to look unique and stick to the art style of the game. Garden Warfare 2 keeps the cartoon aesthetic of the first game and makes it look sharper. There was very little texture popping when I played and I only experienced when first loading into maps.

Garden Warfare 2 is the most fun I have had in a multiplayer game in a long time. Each of the 12 classes each player very differently and on top of that there are modifications for each of the classes that change how they play again. There is so much variety that I could never decide who to play as because all of the characters are great fun to play. The game is broken into 2 sections PVP and Co-op. The PVP is amazing. There are a number of modes to play that have different objectives from Team Vanquish which is a simple team deathmatch mode to Turf War which is playing as either Plants or Zombies to defend a point. The co-op survival mode is also fantastic as it lets you test classes and earn coins with friends or strangers. I spent equal amounts of time in each and did not get bored of either.

Garden Warfare 2 brings an interesting lobby system into the game in the form of the Backyard Battleground. This is where you do everything in the game such as find games or buy packs. The best part about it is, it’s not a menu, you can walk around as any of the classes and explore a huge area full of secrets and AI enemies. This is also where you can join games with friends and run around your Backyard with them (or against them) until you decide to join a game. The Backyard Battleground was the feature I didn’t know I wanted and more games need this. Garden Warfare 2 also has an extensive customisation system with hundreds of items to make each of your classes look unique on the battlefield. One in particular was a Popcorn maker hat for Kernel Corn that make me chuckle. It’s a very satisfying feeling opening these card packs and becomes almost addictive. Only one problem I found with the game is that I could only play in short bursts before getting a little bored and I can see it being a game to play in between other games but that’s not to say I didn’t thoroughly enjoy the game when I was playing.

The game is full of great sound design, from the ravings of Crazy Dave to the Batman-like puch sound of Super Brainz. Each of the sounds are very cartoony and almost slapstick. I never tired of hearing the happy chirps of my Peashooter every time I defeated someone. The music is also very iconic to the franchise and hearing the Plants vs Zombies theme when loading the game is also welcome and I would find myself humming to it every time.

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 is currently priced at £39.99 which I would say is a little high at the moment but with the constant free updates that include new maps and class modifications, it definitely worth picking up.