In the pantheon of epic showdowns, plants
versus zombies would have to be somewhere between rocks versus rainbows
and Labradors versus raptors (also known as Tokyo Jungle).
That’s the point, of course; it’s a deliberately daft concept, driven
entirely by the charm of its presentation and the robustness of its
gameplay.
For the long-awaited sequel, PopCap hasn’t
reinvented the gameplay wheel, instead opting to expand upon the
original’s tried-and-true mechanics, while moving to a free-to-play
pricing structure. Gamers wary of sequelitis and aggressive in-game
monetisation need not fear, however - the gameplay changes are
thoughtful and a great deal of fun, while PvZ2 offers up an enormous
amount of content for free. You can get to every single level without
spending a cent, with only a handful of optional plants and perks locked behind a paywall.
If
you’ve played Plants vs. Zombies before then you know the basics of the
sequel: grow plants to defend against the waves of zombies jonesing for
your sweet, sweet brain. Many of the classic plants return, as does
Crazy Dave – alongside some kind of sentient food truck – but instead of
fighting around the house you’re taken on a trip through time and
space. It’s a safe change. The new themes – Ancient Egypt, the Wild West
and the Pirate Seas – are nothing if not archetypal. Thankfully,
they’re executed with the bubbly personality the series is famous for,
and each setting introduces its own twists on the core mechanics.
In
Pirate Seas levels, for instance, zombie pirates attempt to board your
ship. The number of full lanes is often cut right back, with murky
depths lurking to either side of the gangplanks. You may have less room
to plant, but you can also use the Spring Bean to bounce zombies into
the nearby water, which can be a hugely rewarding one-hit-kill tactic.
These seas are certainly heaving.
The
Wild West, meanwhile, introduces railroad tracks. These also reduce the
amount of space you have to work with, but being able to plant atop the
mobile mine carts that can shift lanes on the fly opens up a host of
new possibilities, and PopCap's design very much takes advantage of
them.
The zombie bestiary changes with each world too,
and – as you’d expect – many of the designs are adorably goofy. In the
Wild West alone you’ll face grizzled prospectors propelled deep into
your garden by dynamite, battle pianists that summon dancing cowboys,
and fight a dude with a flock of chickens strapped to his body. Why? Who
knows! But they leave a lasting impression.
Plants vs.
Zombies 2's new plants are great fun to experiment with, too. Take Bonk
Choy; this fist-fighter has a limited range but packs a wallop, and can
still be devastatingly effective from behind a defensive Wall-nut.
Lightning Reed is fun too – this plant fires electricity down its lane
and adjacent lanes, and the lightning strikes chain between zombies.
It’s a low-damage attack against one enemy, but can be quite effective
against crowds.
Riding the lightning... less rock'n'roll than it sounds.
The
new arsenal is greatly enhanced by the introduction of Plant Food;
useful plant steroid collected during levels which can be banked until
you want to use it. Then, when the moment is right and the zombies are
closing in, you drag it onto any plant to trigger a unique super attack.
A standard Peashooter, for instance, unleashes a concentrated burst of
peas down one lane, while the Melon-pult lobs a volley of watermelons
all over the screen, and the Bloomerang sends boomerangs flying
horizontally and vertically. It’s a solid inclusion that adds another
layer of tactics – you’ll need to consider each unit’s Plant Food
ability at the selection screen, as these supers can be the difference
between victory and defeat when used effectively.
As in
the original, there’s no right way or wrong way to play, allowing a
rewarding sense of freedom in your zombie-killing strategy. Maybe you
like to plant offensive units as early as you can, building your arsenal
slowly but steadily, or perhaps you prefer to get your sun economy
humming as quickly as possible, using stalling tactics during the first
few waves for a bigger pay-off later. Maybe your strategy is built
around multi-lane attackers, or maybe you’re into high-impact,
single-lane strike forces.
Of course, you’ll have to
adjust your tactics depending on the zombies in each level and the rules
in play, meaning that while you’ll have favourites, you’ll wind up
using a fair slice of the available arsenal over the course of the
campaign. You should use them all too, if for no other reason than to
see the animations. Zombies and plants alike are crisply drawn and
brimming with personality, and you can really see the love that’s been
poured into every frame.
The train tracks in the Wild West are designed to be a mixed blessing.
I
appreciate the way PvZ2 mixes up the gameplay as well. There’s a heap
of ways levels are shaped to create a new challenge – some have a
standalone design, such as making you match symbols to kill zombies or
plan your defensive formation in full before the enemies start rolling
in. Others simply tweak the rules a little, limiting you to a specific
set of plants, a certain amount of sun, having no more than a certain
number of plants active at one time, getting through a level without
losing more than X number of plants, or defeating a certain number of
zombies within a set period of time. Most levels will throw a few
stipulations at you simultaneously, creating some nicely challenging
combinations.
While there’s a fair bit of variety on
offer here, it certainly doesn’t match where the original game is at
right now, with all its mini-games and additional modes. Also note the
absence of night levels, as well as fog. That’s fine though – Plants vs. Zombies 2 is doing its own time-travel thing, and PopCap has said that new worlds and content will be released on an ongoing basis.
Fingers crossed for a distant future setting. Robot zombies anyone?!
Besides,
it’s not like you’re short on content out of the gate. There’s a huge
amount of gameplay here – I’m talking 50-odd challenges in each world
and dozens of hours of play. You don’t need the perks and plants behind the paywall,
but if you want to spend a couple of bucks to get the Snow Pea, you
can. Hell, if you want to pay to open up every world and every level
right from the start you can do that too. It’s up to you, but I
personally got an enormous amount of enjoyment out of Plants vs. Zombies
2 for next to nothing.
There's one unnecessary and unfortunate
byproduct of the switch to free-to-play, however, in the Power Up
attacks. These cost in-game coins to use (which can be earned at a slow
but fair rate or bought for real money) and offer up three new means for
dispatching enemies: frying them to a crisp, popping their heads off,
and flinging them off the screen. Each is wildly overpowered and
essentially lets you buy your way to victory. I don’t want a “get out of
jail free” option – I want to win because I’m a badass gardener.
Thankfully, I found I could completely ignore the Power Ups, and cutting
them out of the picture left an excellent challenge that ramps up
smoothly.
The Verdict
Like the beloved original, Plants vs Zombies 2's gameplay never
stands still – it’s always evolving, layering in fresh plants and new
twists. No matter how you play, the gameplay is founded on the tension
between your game plan and the fact that you’ll almost never have enough
sun or space to fully execute said game plan. But that’s the point:
when things invariably go wrong, the fun is in scrambling to adapt and
emerging battered but victorious. Plants vs. Zombies 2
sometimes forgets that with its overblown Power Up system. Even so,
it’s an excellent – if overly safe – sequel, and as beautifully
presented as it is absorbing to play.