The Plants vs. Zombies franchise has always had great gameplay with an overlay of goofy charm. The series underwent a transformation into a multiplayer third-party shooter with Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare. After getting a chance to play Garden Warfare 2 at PAX Prime, I’m really looking forward to jumping into that wacky universe again.
While the first Garden Warfare had a focus on the plants, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 switches things up with a focus on the zombies. There’s still a cooperative mode where you’re trying to defend your base against multiple waves of enemies. Now you play as different classes of zombies protecting graveyards from the plants. You could play as zombies in the online multiplayer modes of the first game, and some of those same types of zombies have made their way into the second game. But there are also some new types of zombies that are lots of fun.
One of the imp’s special attacks is the ability summon a mech to help him out.
During my time playing the game, I played as a scientist and an imp. The scientist plays the same way he did in the first game, but the imp is an entirely new playable character. You may recognize the imp as riding on the back of the gargantuar in the original game and serving as a special attack for the all star zombie in the first Garden Warfare. Now he’s all on his own. He launches rockets from his back and even uses an absurd-looking cell phone to summon a giant mech. The mech has attacks of its own, including the ability to stomp into the ground, killing all the plants around it.
There are more new types of zombies and plants in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, but I didn’t get a chance to play around with those. Still, though, the imp was enough to whet my appetite for the game.
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 is scheduled to be released on Xbox One, PS4, and PC in the spring of 2016.
