As it stands, there is a real balance issue with Garden Warfare 2, and if it isn't addressed, it makes the game impossible to recommend. There's always something to work towards in Garden Warfare 2 - something other shooters like Star Wars Battlefront and even the mighty Titanfall struggled with.īefore we delve into the surprisingly deep selection of modes that stretch beyond multiplayer, though, a warning. New versions of each class can be pieced together with stickers, with new costumes, new weapons and even new abilities ready to be played with. There are six character classes per side initially, from the familiar zombie scientist and football-playing All Star to the new cyborg orange known as Citron, but unlock enough stickers and you can have a roster or over 30 characters. The Rose is seriously overpowered and will hopefully be adjusted in an update.
Mastering when and how to use these is often the difference between winning and losing, and in Turf Takeover only the team that knows how to manage the battlefield with their abilities will win.
You're still earning plenty of coins to spend in the sticker shop to unlock new amusing customisation options.Įvery character has three abilities each, all governed by a generous cooldown. There's a lot less pressure here than in a typical online shooter - perhaps it's the bright and breezy visual treatment (it's absolutely gorgeous by the way, and silky smooth at 60fps) - but death doesn't feel like you're letting your teammates down, and even losing isn't that deflating. Part of the joy of Garden Warfare 2 actually comes from experimenting with those classes. Don't forget about those Cacti and their long-range spikes, either. And you'll need a couple of Kernel Corns to drop air support on the enemy while you're in close. If you're the plants, then even attempting to capture a point without a health-buffing sunflower in your crew is suicide. Essentially, it's a game about pushing back an enemy frontline until you can reach their base, and taking that base over. In Turf Takeover, though, you have to be more tactical. On the smaller modes, the characters with the most killing power tend to crush everything in their path. This is where Garden Warfare 2's character classes really come into play. The Backyard Battleground is rammed with secrets and amusing sight gags.Īgain, the star mode is Garden Warfare's map-spanning combination of Rush and Conquest, now rebranded Turf Takeover, as it encompasses its predecessor Gardens and Graveyards as well as Herbal Assault, where you now play as the plants looking to crush the zombies. Suburbination is Domination - three points to capture and hold - and welcome mat just lets new players jump in and play with each other while they learn the ropes. Gnome Bomb is essentially Search And Destroy, where both teams have to find little explosive gnomes,carry them to the enemy's base and protect them while they count down to their explosive demise. Vanquish and Vanquish Confirmed are standard Team Deathmatch, and Kill Confirmed. This is now a 12 on 12 shooter, playing out across 12 maps (how very imperial), with the action taking place over a smattering of familiar modes. Now, in Garden Warfare 2 everything, as its own tagline says, is bigger, better.
And it's strange that it came as a surprise this second time around, because PopCap already proved itself to be a high calibre purveyor of horticultural battle. About 45 minutes in, three or four matches deep, it said 'hold on, this really is very good, isn't it? No, it really is good'. In both Garden Warfares, this inner voice said the same thing at pretty much the same time.
Availability: Out now on PS4, PC and Xbox One.EA strongly hinted that the game was coming during a recent conference call with investors.įor more on what went down at the Xbox E3 2015 conference, check out the replay. It will be released in Spring 2016 for the Xbox One and PC.
The game is a sequel to 2014's Plants vs. EA confirmed that single-player is available, with AI-controlled squadmates able to make up the ranks. Zombies: Garden Warfare's Garden Ops mode. The battle-taking place in the new Graveyard Ops mode where you play as the zombies-finished with a warning to all zombies on the field to evacuate to the landing zone, much like in Plants vs. The imp was able to call in a large mech, Titanfall-style, piloting the machine to fight a harder wave of plants. Finally Captain Deadbeard was shown, who is the first zombie sniper class. Superbrains is a new zombie melee class who can spin his body to do damage. New zombies shown include the Imp class, who is the smallest and fastest zombie and can fire bullets in a 360-degree spray.
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