I soon forgot all about "Garden Ops" when I dove into the real meat of the video game: 24-player online skirmishes and capture-the-base lawn wars where real players likewise regulate the zombies. The 12-on-12 matches are splendidly frantic and fantastically diverse, partially because the big environments (including cartoony towns, suburban areas, and a castle) are well laid out, and partly since each of the four various plant and zombie heroes have unique, satisfying playstyles. There's likewise the Sunflower, a support class that recovers with concentrated beams of light, and the Foot Zoldier Zombie, which can rocket jump up to the tops of buildings and deal fatality from above.
If it seems like I'm describing Valve's famous cartoony action shooter Group Fortress 2, that's no accident: Garden Warfare manufacturer Brian Lindley easily admits that a mix of PVZ and TF2 was one of the video game's original goals. Where TF2 is a mirror match of identical character courses, though, the plants and zombie groups each feel special. As you might expect, the plants are at their most powerful went into the ground, and not simply figuratively. The zombies don't have a sniper like the Cactus, and the other three plants can burrow into the earth to turn into effective stationary turrets-- or in the case of the Chomper, a huge purple piranha plant that ingests adversaries whole, to avoid detection by tunneling with the ground. The zombies, meanwhile, have capabilities that offer them improved mobility and devasting single use attacks, like a jackhammer that the Engineer can ride into battle like a motorized pogo stick, or the All-Star Zombie's dashboard take on which sends out opponents flying with the air. The zombies and plants make excellent foils for one another, both separately and as a group.
If you ask the development team, the zombies were the greatest obstacle to turning PVZ into a online shooter. "Individuals were really stunned that we went from a tower defense video game to a 3D shooter ... but the plants were constantly shooting," mentions franchise business manager Gary Clay. To make the previously one-dimensional zombies suitable for a player to control, Lindley says the team spent months creating and upgrading characters to be the best mix of beneficial and funny.
The very best part is that the capabilities truly match each character's playstyle. While the Cactus is sniping, it can safeguard its flanks by dropping blowing up Potato Mines and Wall-nut barricades, and even pilot a flying hunk of garlic that can drop exploding ears of corn on opponent positions. (Don't ask exactly how.) The Scientist can close the distance to adversaries with a short-range teleporter, drop a sticky grenade, then deform out once again. Some of the abilities can also be ravaging when used en masse, such as a pair of Sunflowers healing one another while putting down cover fire, or an Engineer dropping an airstrike into the middle of a Zoldier's smoke grenade, where opponents are unlikely to observe the pen beacons soon enough to react. Particularly in the Gardens and Graveyards mode, where the zombies have to record a series of plant yards and can summon added computer-controlled zombies to their help, there's plenty of space for clever co-op techniques.
As I alluded to earlier, however, Garden Warfare isn't quite as sticky a video game as its peers. There isn't a lots of content, and the development system that works so well in Call of Duty and the initial Plants vs. Zombies isn't really completely force below.
It falls almost totally flat, because the 3D version doesn't let you carefully cultivate a strategic mix of plants to deal with the oncoming mob: you are the plants, and you'll be mindlessly gunning down zombies with little approach to speak of. Where TF2 is a mirror match of identical character courses, though, the plants and zombie teams each feel unique. The zombies don't have a sniper like the Cactus, and the other three plants can burrow into the earth to turn into powerful stationary turrets-- or in the case of the Chomper, a gigantic purple piranha plant that swallows enemies entire, to stay clear of detection by tunneling through the ground. The zombies, meanwhile, have abilities that offer them enhanced mobility and devasting single use attacks, like a jackhammer that the Engineer can ride into battle like a motorized pogo stick, or the All-Star Zombie's dash take on which sends adversaries flying with the air. Especially in the Gardens and Graveyards mode, where the zombies have to catch a series of plant gardens and can summon extra computer-controlled zombies to their aid, there's plenty of room for smart co-op techniques.
No comments:
Post a Comment