When I first took an appointment to play the final version of Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville I asked the developers why this game wasn’t just called Garden Warfare 3? We already had two games getting us used to the idea of this fight between vegetables and the undead spilling out of cute casual mobile tower defense and into full-blown console shooter. So why not just continue that legacy?
But it’s immediately apparent why the team at PopCap felt the gameplay changes required a name change as well. It seems Anthem wasn’t EA’s only attempt to get on the Bungie games as a service train this year. Yup, even Plants vs. Zombies is Destiny now.
I tried as long as I could not to make such a reductive comparison in front of the developers, even if Destiny (regardless of quality) is inarguably one of the most influential games of this generation. But come on, you start this game by hanging out with other players in a huge social hub space. Only this time it’s a carnival, a cool example of how the friendly PvZ skin provides a fun counterpoint to the shockingly hardcore shooter within. You don’t even have to join a fight. Enjoy attractions with friends, find weekly challenges, communicate in pre-approved non-hostile expressions, check out the changing seasons like the current spooky theme, and earn toys and prizes that don’t necessarily force you to spend real money.
Once you venture out into the world though you might as well be a Guardian fighting… whatever the enemies in Destiny are these days. The primary single-player (or co-op) mode has you exploring four different little open worlds taking on missions and aimlessly fighting zombies on the street to level up and prestige. This 3D take on PvZ already looked gorgeous, but seeing it blown out on this living cartoon scale was almost awe-inspiring as a fan of anthropomorphic food fights.
The quest I played had me tracking down a particularly nasty zombie all over the map. I survived waves of bats in an underground garage. I followed my foe on a school bus. And I engaged in a final stand during a concert in the park. As a plant who literally shoots peas, the gunplay may not be as tight as Call of Duty or whatever. But mastering your different abilities, in my case sticking myself in the ground to become a powerful turret, adds appreciated strategy to firefights.
However, as nice as this moment to moment gameplay was in the slick world, already I felt my old issues with Destiny creeping in. Everything feels like little chunks of repeatable content slotted endlessly into the map as opposed to something truly organic and cohesive. The same vague mindlessness also took me out of the upcoming Destiny-like bootleg Avengers game. It’s why I feel that these pseudo-MMO Destiny design principles, while not as immediately aggravating as Dark Souls, have a similarly poisonous effect on games that lift them. The always-online nature is also why I maybe understand why the game skipped the Nintendo Switch, but now Overwatch is here so there’s really no excuse, EA.
Battle for Neighborville features traditional multiplayer modes as well. Because there is no in-fighting within these two groups, don’t expect a battle royale. Instead, multiplayer is about learning your specific class and synergizing with teammates. A mushroom ninja that turns invisible or an acorn who becomes an oak tree have different uses than a beefy 80s zombie with a ghetto blaster or a zombie in a UFO. A new mode, Battle Arena in the Funderdome, actually forces you to use different characters, which is an exciting way to wrap your head around the cast and figure out new strategies.
These Plants vs. Zombies spin-offs have always been about parodying the latest shooter trends (and Hearthstone). Again, they used to call them “Garden Warfare.” So Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville being a riff on Destiny shouldn’t be that surprising. And if that’s your thing, this has that AND a corn cob with a gun.
