Surprised there is no first play thread for this so here it goes. I'm playing on Xbox One and have to say, although I picked this up not expecting too much I've been thoroughly enjoying it this far.
First of, this game is a budget title on both Xbox 360 and Xbox One, I picked it up locally for $44au (its $40us) so I would assume the UK price tag will be similarly enticing. The first thing that surprised me is at that price its pretty feature complete. It ships with 10 maps and 3 game modes along with a load of unlocks you obtain throughout (more on that later).
The game modes split down into two main categories. You've got the co-op Garden Ops mode which is basically Horde mode which fits in well with the series' tower defence roots (ho-ho). On Xbox One this mode includes a two player split-screen option which is pretty decent, but given the mode is 4 player co-op online its a pity they could squeeze in guest play where 2 players could play locally with 2 others online.
I've only played this mode for about 20 mins but it was great fun playing online. Lots of tactics, some pretty cool boss battle rounds and also, it isnt easy... you really need teamwork to succeed.
The other two game modes are Vanquish and Gardens & Graveyards and this is where the asymmetrical team classes really excel. Vanquish is basically TDM and G&G is BF4 Rush mode and as this game is built on Frostbite it shares more than a little of its mechanics with Battlefield. All classes can revive for instance but each all have their distinct roles to play with the emphasis being on teamwork throughout. If you lone wolf this game you'll pretty much get destroyed.
Each side has four classes breaking down loosely into Assault, Medic, Utility, Sniper yet each side has some differing themes on that structure. On the plant side of things you have the Peashooter which is your generic soldier, Sunflower which has healing rays of sunshines, Chomper which can burrow an eat enemies in one gulp and the Cactus which can snipe with its spines from afar. Conversely the Zombies have the foot-soldier which has an RPG strapped to their backs., the scientist who has a type of shotgun and can drop healing cannisters, the Engineer who can traverse the map quickly on his pogo-stick jack-hammer and the all-star who is an American footballer who can tackle and fire rapid footballs.
Bizarre for sure, but once you get to play each class you'll soon unlock their full abilities and specials which add several layers of tactics onto the otherwise basic play. For instance the peashooter has single shot firing but by using their gatling gun ability they can root to one spot and become a rapid-cannon for a short time, and their hyper ability allows them burst of speed and the ability to jump to higher positions. Similarly the foot soldier on the zombie side can use his ZPG to rocket jump up to higher vantage points, throw a smelly dust cloud grenade and fire an ZPG rocket into a crowd for multi-kills.
Its this mixture of abilities between the classes (and sides) which really gives this some legs. Whilst the maps/modes will repeat the tactics and teamwork involved really keep this interesting far after you?ve seen all the locales. As well as this you get a series of challenges per class which act as the mechanic for ranking up and unlocking newer abilities. I haven?t gotten this far yet but later abilities just seem to be versions on a theme. Such as the cactus firing electrical spikes for more damage/slowing effect etc? Most of these challenges seems fairly straightforward as well so it should be too taxing or a grind to get each character up to level 10 (the max).
As you play you also earn coins which you use to buy sticker packs, which in effect unlock customisable options for your characters. These have no micro-transactions linked to them either, they can all be unlocked through normal play and it seems that one match tends to net you around 1,500-4,000 coins with the base packs being about 5,000 for the good stuff. Not bad.
Last but not least. It looks cartoony and it plays from a 3rd person perspective but this performs great on Xbox One. The character animations and models are excellent and it all moves fluidly at 60fps. There?s also quite a bit of destruction in the environments even though its all just cosmetic (blow up cars, fire hydrants etc?). All things considered it looks really crisp and keeps that charm seen in the original games. The controls are also spot-on. I soon bedded into the 3rd person perspective and it all feels really accurate. I also got into servers really, really quickly in this? matchmaking was near perfect. Had a couple of tiny bouts of lag here and there but otherwise a solid performer.
My only negatives with it. Only two modes online in the proper multiplayer may get old fast but I am sure Pop Cap could bolster that with a couple more, or some new maps to keep things fresh. At this price point though it is hard to argue with the overall content. Time will tell but already it?s a favourite in my house and its charm is alluring and different.
Oh and it installs and is playable at 25% which is nice for Xbox One, total size installed is only 10Gb as well.
First of, this game is a budget title on both Xbox 360 and Xbox One, I picked it up locally for $44au (its $40us) so I would assume the UK price tag will be similarly enticing. The first thing that surprised me is at that price its pretty feature complete. It ships with 10 maps and 3 game modes along with a load of unlocks you obtain throughout (more on that later).
The game modes split down into two main categories. You've got the co-op Garden Ops mode which is basically Horde mode which fits in well with the series' tower defence roots (ho-ho). On Xbox One this mode includes a two player split-screen option which is pretty decent, but given the mode is 4 player co-op online its a pity they could squeeze in guest play where 2 players could play locally with 2 others online.
I've only played this mode for about 20 mins but it was great fun playing online. Lots of tactics, some pretty cool boss battle rounds and also, it isnt easy... you really need teamwork to succeed.
The other two game modes are Vanquish and Gardens & Graveyards and this is where the asymmetrical team classes really excel. Vanquish is basically TDM and G&G is BF4 Rush mode and as this game is built on Frostbite it shares more than a little of its mechanics with Battlefield. All classes can revive for instance but each all have their distinct roles to play with the emphasis being on teamwork throughout. If you lone wolf this game you'll pretty much get destroyed.
Each side has four classes breaking down loosely into Assault, Medic, Utility, Sniper yet each side has some differing themes on that structure. On the plant side of things you have the Peashooter which is your generic soldier, Sunflower which has healing rays of sunshines, Chomper which can burrow an eat enemies in one gulp and the Cactus which can snipe with its spines from afar. Conversely the Zombies have the foot-soldier which has an RPG strapped to their backs., the scientist who has a type of shotgun and can drop healing cannisters, the Engineer who can traverse the map quickly on his pogo-stick jack-hammer and the all-star who is an American footballer who can tackle and fire rapid footballs.
Bizarre for sure, but once you get to play each class you'll soon unlock their full abilities and specials which add several layers of tactics onto the otherwise basic play. For instance the peashooter has single shot firing but by using their gatling gun ability they can root to one spot and become a rapid-cannon for a short time, and their hyper ability allows them burst of speed and the ability to jump to higher positions. Similarly the foot soldier on the zombie side can use his ZPG to rocket jump up to higher vantage points, throw a smelly dust cloud grenade and fire an ZPG rocket into a crowd for multi-kills.
Its this mixture of abilities between the classes (and sides) which really gives this some legs. Whilst the maps/modes will repeat the tactics and teamwork involved really keep this interesting far after you?ve seen all the locales. As well as this you get a series of challenges per class which act as the mechanic for ranking up and unlocking newer abilities. I haven?t gotten this far yet but later abilities just seem to be versions on a theme. Such as the cactus firing electrical spikes for more damage/slowing effect etc? Most of these challenges seems fairly straightforward as well so it should be too taxing or a grind to get each character up to level 10 (the max).
As you play you also earn coins which you use to buy sticker packs, which in effect unlock customisable options for your characters. These have no micro-transactions linked to them either, they can all be unlocked through normal play and it seems that one match tends to net you around 1,500-4,000 coins with the base packs being about 5,000 for the good stuff. Not bad.
Last but not least. It looks cartoony and it plays from a 3rd person perspective but this performs great on Xbox One. The character animations and models are excellent and it all moves fluidly at 60fps. There?s also quite a bit of destruction in the environments even though its all just cosmetic (blow up cars, fire hydrants etc?). All things considered it looks really crisp and keeps that charm seen in the original games. The controls are also spot-on. I soon bedded into the 3rd person perspective and it all feels really accurate. I also got into servers really, really quickly in this? matchmaking was near perfect. Had a couple of tiny bouts of lag here and there but otherwise a solid performer.
My only negatives with it. Only two modes online in the proper multiplayer may get old fast but I am sure Pop Cap could bolster that with a couple more, or some new maps to keep things fresh. At this price point though it is hard to argue with the overall content. Time will tell but already it?s a favourite in my house and its charm is alluring and different.
Oh and it installs and is playable at 25% which is nice for Xbox One, total size installed is only 10Gb as well.
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