What I'd wanted next from Plants vs. Zombies was a tower defence sequel not all guffed up with mobile microtransaction-y stuff. What EA gave us was a third-person multiplayer shooter, Garden Warfare. I'm sure they thought they knew something we didn't. They still do, as EA today announced Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 [official site].
The sequel will take the action to suburbia, bringing new characters and weapons and whatnot. And an orange who doesn't seem at all perturbed that he's partially flayed.
]]>Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare has been out on Xbox One since February. It's still coming to PC - and soon, in a couple days, in fact - but it's awfully tardy at this point. Perhaps it was actually developed by Ents, creatures known for their gnarled hardiness and deliberate approach, but hardly their sense of urgency. Regardless, it's finally almost here now, and PopCap believes it will be worth the wait. Why? Well, for one because it's apparently not a port despite an initial console focus and how hilariously long it's taken to get out the door. Hmmm.
]]>The PC release date trailer for green-thumbed shooter Plants Vs Zombies Garden Warfare is utterly preposterous. Of course it is, you might be thinking, it's a video promoting a third-person shooter Plants Vs Zombies spin-off. The trailer doesn't show the actual game though, choosing instead to put the Origin logo front and centre. This is a video in which a zombie logs into Origin, has a conversation with Origin in which the store offers to load up a Match 3 game, and then finds out that Garden Warfare is due for release on June 24th. The good news about the delayed launch is that we won't have to speculate as to whether the game was designed to allow for the introduction of microtransactions at a later date - they're arriving next week.
]]>I sure do love the fact that Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare is suffering an arbitrary delay on PC. Makes savoring each promotional morsel all the sweeter, yes indeed. Who needs dumb anchors like a release date and payoff when you can praise the heavens for every little crumb that tumbles your way instead? Wait, no, the other thing: ugggggggggggggggggggghhhhh.
Oh but Garden Warfare's Battlefield-inspired Gardens and Graveyards mode looks kinda neat I guess.
]]>Everybody, stop whatever you're doing. Just stop.
DOLLLLLLLLLLLPHIN GUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN.
Go. Go watch it do both dolphin and gun things in the latest video of Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare. It makes high-pitched squealing sounds and blasts bubbles and everything. This is what Ecco The Dolphin would be like if Sega rebooted it as a gritty plant-centric zombie shooter. It is, in other words, the one thing that's always been missing from your world - the puzzle piece that your heart and soul ached to find lodged between life's sofa cushions - given shape and form. It is a dolphin gun, you guys. Let that just sink in for a moment. A dolphin gun.
]]>My anger issues with team-based multiplayer shooters are well documented in the Logitech Warehouse. I'm cool until things are unbalanced, then Red Craig emerges. Red Craig is my inner Stephen King character. He is who the mice and keyboards in the warehouse warn their little transistors about. He's why they sacrifice mice lasers to gods of Support Services. He's the angry Glaswegian I keep hidden away, just in case I'm ever mugged or someone shoots me online, then he emerges. Watching the Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare zombie trailer made my palms itch. It looks really lovely and atmospheric, and I'm sure I'll enjoy playing it. But as I do, I'll give off the impression of hating every single second I am doing so. Trailer beneath.
]]>Oh man, phew. I was worried there for a second, but now I see that I was getting all worked up over nothing. I mean, seriously: what if Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare and Peggle 2 had come out on PC at the same time they debuted on Xbox One? It probably would've spelled the end of all videogames - and, let's face it, life - as we know it. The Xbox certainly would've sold markedly less than one unit as a result. That's for sure. Thankfully, Microsoft and EA have teamed up to save the day, pushing the PC (and, I suppose, other platform) versions of Peggle's second coming and PvZ's green-trigger-finger-twitching reinvention into even murkier depths.
]]>Plants vs Zombies is boldly going where no popular gaming franchise has gone before: to a land of over-the-shoulder camera angles and gleefully bobbing crosshairs, whereupon things will be shot mercilessly. OK, maybe it's not the boldest move ever in the grand scheme of things, but Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare is quite a departure for PopCap's vegetable stew of a tower porch defender, and it's looking admirably silly. But so far, all we've seen is a quick bit of co-op. What about large-scale (24-ish player) competitive multiplayer and the ability to play as zombies? Also, stepping back a bit, why make a shooter out of Plants vs Zombies at all? I spoke with creative director Justin Wiebe to find out.
Perhaps the most surprising news from E3 is that puzzle-masters PopCap are making a full-on 3D action game. It's called Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, and features co-op and multiplayer action in the world of Plants Vs Zombies. Yes, you play as plants blasting zombies. It looks pretty incredible, frankly.
It also has the best trailer ever.
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