The game includes multiple online multiplayer game modes which can support 24 players per game. There is also a story mode which includes missions given by Crazy Dave on the plant's side, and Dr. Zomboss on the zombie's side. A hub world is introduced called the Backyard Battleground, which consists of a town called Suburbia, split down the middle with plants on one side, and zombies on the other. Each side has a base for either plants or zombies, and in the middle of the town is a park which includes a King of the Hill match called the Flag of Power. The game takes place after the events of Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, which shows Dr. Zomboss taking over parts of Suburbia and renaming it to Zomburbia. Crazy Dave and the plants go to war with Dr. Zomboss to reclaim their home.
The game received "generally favorable" reviews on Metacritic. The game sold an estimated 279,000 units, and the retail version was the second best-selling game in its week of release in the UK.
Gameplay
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 is a third-person shooter, similar to Garden Warfare. Gameplay largely remained the same as its predecessor, with the addition of 10 (6 are immediately accessible, 2 which must be unlocked through a series of tough trials and 2 which can only be played within the game's endless mode) new plant and zombie classes, a zombie version of Garden Ops, titled Graveyard Ops, and a new mode called Herbal Assault, a swapped version of Gardens and Graveyards where the Zombies must defend the bases and prevent the Plants from capturing them, which supports a maximum 24 players per game.[1] Different classes have different abilities. Most characters and modes (Team Vanquish, Garden Ops, etc.) from the original Garden Warfare returned, as well as a new "remix" music from the original Garden Warfare for the Zombies. New abilities for returning characters were also introduced in Garden Warfare 2. The new plant characters are Citron, Rose, Kernel Corn and Torchwood. The new zombie characters are Imp, Super Brainz, Captain Deadbeard, and Hover Goat-3000. The old plant characters are Peashooter, Sunflower, Chomper, and Cactus, while the old zombies are Soldier, Engineer, Scientist, and All-Star.[2]
Unlike the original Garden Warfare where players can play solo only on Garden Ops, via private mode, in Garden Warfare 2 every mode in the game that is not a mystery portal exclusive (Capture the Taco, Soil Survivors, etc.) can be played solo.[3]Split-screen multiplayer, private servers, twelve maps and forty different characters are included.[4] Free additional content was also released regularly upon the game's release.[5]
A new mode called Backyard Battleground is also introduced. It serves as a hub world that is free for players to explore.[6] In Backyard Battleground, players can access portals that are connected to missions, view unlocked characters' bobbleheads, collect collectibles scattered in the world, and join King of the Hill-style matches known as Flag of power matches against artificial intelligence at will. When playing Backyard Battleground, the game will send waves of enemy heroes, although the game will also send crates, containing either an AI ally or coins. There are also plant pots or places where the player can build either plant turrets or Zombie bots.[7] A shooting gallery[8] and moon-based missions are also featured.[9]
Plant and zombie variants earned in the original Garden Warfare could've been transferred by interacting with the mailbox in the Backyard Battleground. This included rewards based on your level in the first game, and for players who reached max ranks, a unique character variant. This feature was available from release until February 28, 2017.[2] The UI has been improved, with Crazy Dave and Dr. Zomboss shown talking in 3D model of themselves (rather than appearing as 2D designs from the original Plants vs. Zombies).[6]
At the bases of both the Plants and the Zombies, there are several common features, including a Customization Room allowing the player to change and accessorize characters, a Quest Board with different objectives for Plants, Multiplayer, and Zombies, sticker Shops, a Multiplayer Portal, a Mailbox, and a special Garage, with quest missions for both sides.[10]
The game also includes many exclusive rewards for players who have played the original Garden Warfare. The player can use their Mailbox in either side's base to import all of the unlocked characters and abilities that they have unlocked in Garden Warfare, depending on if they actually played the first game. They can also use their rank from Garden Warfare 1 to get loyalty rewards, which rank from sticker packs to an exclusive character for those who reached the max rank of 313, the Unicorn Chomper.[11] The Unicorn Chomper, however, was only available for the first year after Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 was released. Players who either pre-ordered or purchased the deluxe edition of Garden Warfare 2 will get many exclusive items, from emoji customizations to an exclusive Mass Effect-themed character, the Z7 Imp.[12]
Modes
Most of the game modes from Garden Warfare returned to Garden Warfare 2 (the only mode not returning is Taco Bandits, although it was slightly altered into the Capture the Taco game mode), while several new modes have been added, including a zombie version of Garden Ops, Graveyard Ops, and an alternative of Gardens and Graveyards, Herbal Assault, in which the plants attack and the zombies defend.[13]
Single Player
The game consists of a hub world for the player, which is a large map divided in two, with the plants on one side of the Backyard and the zombies being on the other. In the middle, the plant and zombie forces fight each other constantly. The player can access the Garden Ops and Graveyard Ops modes through Crazy Dave's time-traveling RV named penny, or Dr. Zomboss' blimp in each side's base, and can access every other mode through the Multiplayer Portal, where they can choose to play any mode solo, private with friends, or go online in multiplayer.[13] The player can pick up daily quests from a Quest Board to complete, can buy sticker packs from a Sticker Shop, customize their characters in the Customization Booth, promote leveled up characters in the Stats Room, complete quests around the Backyard, and can also take part in solo story quests for either Crazy Dave or Dr. Zomboss from any NPC characters.[14][15] There is also a sewer system where the player can find hidden areas and a timed shooting range.[16]
Co-Op
There is a garden ops and a graveyard ops where up to four players take control of either the plants defending a garden through ten zombie waves, or as the zombies defending a tombstone through ten plant waves, with the fifth and tenth waves being boss waves.[17] There is also a split-screen option where up to 2 players can play together locally.[18]
Multiplayer
Team Vanquish is a team deathmatch variant, where two teams representing plants and zombies fight against each other to take down opponents where the first team to 50 kills wins. Vanquish confirmed is the same as team vanquish, but opponents drop orbs that you have to collect to receive credit for the kills. Herbal assault and gardens and graveyards include capturing various objectives as either plants or zombies respectively, while the other team tries to defend them.[19] Suburbination is a domination style variant where the objective is to capture three areas as a team. If all three are captured, "Suburbination" occurs and the team who captured them all gets bonuses until they lose an area. Gnome bomb is where players attempt to secure a bomb shaped as a gnome and detonate them at various bases.[20]
Setting
The game takes place after the events of Garden Warfare where, after a long war, the Plants have been defeated by the Zombies. The Zombies use it to turn the tide on the Plants and conquer Suburbia, which they rename Zomburbia. The Plants go to war against the Zombies to reclaim their home and fight for what is left of Suburbia.[21]
In July 2015, it was announced that a three-part tie-in comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics was scheduled for release in October 2015. It is set before the events of Garden Warfare 2 and explains how the Zombies defeated the Plants and conquered Neighborville (Suburbia).[22] The comics were successful, and now 31 total comics have been released.[23]
Development
A new Plants vs. Zombies video game was revealed in Electronic Arts' annual earning reports.[24] A sequel to Garden Warfare was teased on June 8, 2015.[25] A trailer for Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 was presented for the first time at E3 2015 as part of the presentation given by Microsoft and on August 22, 2015, during Xbox Live's webcast of the Miss Teen USA 2015 beauty pageant.[26] A mashup with Mass Effect called Grass Effect was announced at Gamescom 2015. Players who pre-order the game would receive a Mass Effect-inspired mech-suit for the new class, The Imp.[6]BioWare assisted PopCap with developing the Grass Effect mech-suit.[27]
An open beta testing for the game was held from January 14, 2016, to January 18, 2016, for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. However, this was largely for multiplayer tuning, and many of the game modes and Backyard Battleground secrets were disabled.[28] A trial version of the game was released by the end of April 2016. This version of the game allows players to play the game for up to ten hours.[29]
They have released their first free content update called The Graveyard Variety Pack. It was released on March 8, 2016, and it contains some character balancing, a new map Aqua Center, and some Backyard Battleground changes and additions.[30] Another pack, titled Trouble in Zombopolis, was released in June 2016. It adds a new map called Zombopolis, and several new characters.[31]Trouble in Zombopolis: Part Two was released in June 2016, introducing new features such as community challenges, delivering challenges, platforming elements, and new spawn points.[32] EA partnered with Diamond Select Toys to release action figures featuring Garden Warfare 2 characters.[33]
Critics praised the new additions to the game that weren't found in the original Garden Warfare. Multiple critics enjoyed the new single player campaigns that the original didn't have, which also did a good job of introducing the 6 new character classes,[38][39][40] although Shoemaker from GiantBomb said that they don't usually get especially elaborate and are mostly built out of modified versions of the existing multiplayer mechanics.[44] Critics also enjoyed the goofy nature of the game compared to other shooters.[42][37][43] Even though the game looks childish, the game mechanics are stated to be like those of the Battlefield series.[1] The game received favorable review about the inclusion of more zombie playtime than the original, making both plants and zombies teams feel equal,[46][44] but Gies from Polygon said that playing as the brain-craving Zombies just isn't quite as fun as the Plants.[1]
Some critics disliked the microtransactions to buy in-game coins to get cosmetics for characters, but believed it wasn't bad for the game to have.[45][1] Even though microtransactions can be found in the game, there are no advertisements to spend money for the game. Campbell from Electronic Gaming Monthly said that he never felt compelled to purchase any in-game currency.[39]
The game's retail version was the second best-selling game in its week of release in the UK, debuting at number 2 in the UK retail software sales chart, behind Far Cry Primal.[47]
Follow-up game
A successor, Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville was released in October 2019 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and in March 2021 for the Nintendo Switch.[48][49] The game included 9 more classes with 4 different groups: attackers, defenders, supporters and swarm.[50]
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