Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare News: Gameplay Impressed Before Release Date

Plants vs. Zombies and its sequel have reinvigorated the tower defense genre, and now the Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC spinoff game Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare seeks to do something similar with the multiplayer third person shooter genre. IGN has an extended preview of the game, which will be available on Feb. 18, and the game looks like it could be a sleeper hit in 2014.

The game looks amazing, especially on the Xbox One, and the cartoony plants and zombies are brought to life in amazing 3D for the first time.  The game is multiplayer only, and players have the option of choosing if they want to be a plant or zombie before a match. In addition, players can customize what plant or zombie type they want to be, and create and outfit for their character. Once players figure out what they want their character to look like, they begin slugging it out on one of ten maps.

Normal matches in the game are typical deathmatches, in which whatever team makes it to 50 kills win. Each type of character comes with one basic attack, along with three unique attacks. For example, the familiar Peashooter plant can plant itself into the ground and use the Gatling pea ability to mow down enemies until they run out of ammo. Each different plant or zombies has these unique attacks which helps keeps gameplay fresh and allows every plant to find a way to potentially swing the outcome in favor of their team.

Each plant and zombie type can gain experience, and users can level up their characters. Experience can also be completed by beating the challenges each character type has in a match. Beating these challenges unlocks new customization options as well as variations to the character that may unlock new powers. For example, the Scientist Zombies can level up and unlock the Marine Biologist variant, which gets a shotgun like weapon that shoots electric dolphins.

Besides the hectic deathmatch mode, there will be other modes to play in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. Welcome Mat mode is available for players under level ten only, and will serve as a training mode for new players. The game will also have a co-op mode where players can join their friends and take on challenges together rather than fighting each other. In addition, developer Popcap plans to deliver free bi-monthly DLC for the game to further add to the game once it is available.