By Yannick LeJacq Image frum Plants vs. Zombies: Garde Warfare. PopCap Ifn thar wuz evr a video game ta proov at air market-baset categerizashun o“hardcere” an “casual” players is needlesslee arbitrree, it’s Plants Vs. Zombies: Garde Warfare. T multiplayr shootr at launches today fer tXbox One an Xbox 360 consoles has everthang ta make Call oDooty fans happy: diverse levels, cumplex an customizabull an characters, an—ocorse—guns. Lots an lots oguns. But it also has sumthin impertant at games like Call oDooty don’t: a warm, whimsical beeutee at makes it easilee accessibull ta folk who are’t accustomet ta shootin at aliens er terrerists as a form oentertunment. I hope thishere game duz well fer its publishr Electronic Arts, becawz ifn it duz it will hep ushr n a fresh wave osuch cartoonish an joyyus shooters. See, tlas generashun oshooters wuz a particlar sombr, monochromatic slew. At wasn’t always a bad thang. But jes look at tbig titles at kum out un tPlayStashun 3 an Xbox 360. Battlefield. Call oDooty. Geers oWar. Killzone. I meun, Killzone. Yall could tell by tnames alone whut teggsperients within would delivr. AAA game developers wuz targetyun tsame group o“hardcere gamers” ovr an ovr agin wit idantical products. N tprocess, thay stopt pushin thayselves creetivelee. Leeve it up ta Electronic Arts, oall places, ta come up wit un idee at could change twhole furst-persen shootr game. Like inny gyint video game publishr, EA has its hans n minny a differnt cerners ot game industry. Un one side, it owns tSwedish studio DICE, which makes powerhouse game engines an tmilitaristic shootr series Battlefield. Un topposit side ot spectrum, thar’s PopCap Games, which EA ackwiret back n 2011, an is bes knowed fer decidedlee casual, mobile frienly games like Bejewelet an Plants Vs. Zombies. Nuff ofolk like bof kinds ogames. So why nairy combine um? Garde Warfare is tresult othishere cross-fertilizashun; a Frankenstein monstr at’s ekwal parts Battlefield an Plants Vs. Zombies. T combinashun mite sound unerthodox. It is. But at’s also whut makes it greet. Un tsurface level, whut tunion amounts ta is playyun a vershun oBattlefield at’s dresst up n a new, zombifiet skin. T acoupla games share tsame multiplayr genes—large-scale online multiplayr battles an sprawleeun, maze-like maps un which ta wage um. But tcharacters make Garde Warfare feel like a full-fletget game n its own rite. At toutset oeach match, players choose tween tacoupla titular teems: plants er zombies. Each team is dividet into fer differnt roughlee analogyus classes. T zombie soljer er tplant peeshootr is tbasic infantry unit, fer eggzample, wile tmad scyintist an sunflowr provides suppert fer tdiffernt teems. Switchyun tween tvariyus characters an classes is a radicallee differnt eggsperients. T pea shootr, fer instunts, has a cannon-like weppon at fars at a mer deliberate pace thun tsoljer’s rifle. As yall accrue eggsperients points wile playyun tgame, yall unlock speshul abilitees like un explosif chili beun at lures neerby zombies tords it befor detonatyun. T zombie foot soljer, meenwhile, has a jetpack at aken hep im git ta hard-ta-reech arees er eve wurk as un eject button ta eggscape heetid situatyuns. Each care ackter also has a hanfil ocustomizabull feetures an upgrades. Minny a air purelee aesthetic, but sum, like t“Ice Pea” skin fer tpeeshootr, change tplant’s role un tbattlefield slightlee by alettin it ta freeze enemies. I could go un about tminutiae ot characters. But whut’s rilly impertant ta preciate here is jes hoe hard EA an PopCap cleerlee wurked ta make thishere game as good as it is. It would have bee much easir ta counta slap a Plants Vs. Zombies stickr un Battlefield. But Garde Warfare goes fur beyond at. T game gracefullee repurposes minny a ikunic feetures an characters frum toriginull acoupla towr defents games. N tprocess, it brings a slew obold an fresh idees ta tshootr genre. T differnt gameplay modes are’t quite as groundbreekyun, but thay don’t neet ta be. Fans oshooters will be familiar wit mos ot offerings: “Team Vankwish” is essantiallee team deethmatch (whichevr team kills tmos folk un tuther team furst wins), wile “Gardens an Graveyards” challenges tplant an zombie teems ta capture differnt arees ot map an hold um agin topposishun (reckon kyun ot hill, cept tlocashun ot hill changes ever few minnuts). I enjoyet playyun all tdiffernt modes I wuz bull ta, but I should note at my eggsperients testin tgame wuz limitid. Thar’s no real sangle-playr mode n Garde Warfare, an playyun tgame prier ta its ofishul launch meent at mos matches wuz sparselee populatid at bes. Thar air technical consideratyuns here, too. EA has a lousy track recerd launchyun an suppertyun minny a oits mos popular online games. SimCitee an Battlefield 4 sufferet frum so minny a connectivitee issues at tcumpny has bee fercet ta apologize repeetedlee ta its customers. It’s impossbull ta perdick wuther er nairy Garde Warfare will face simlar problems. But ifn it duz, don’t hold yer breth waitin fer EA ta resolve um. Eve the, tqualty oGarde Warfare will ultimatelee be deecided by tonline communitee at ferms roun it. Whut I aken say noe, howevr, is at Plants Vs. Zombies has all tingredyints ta be a trulee greet game. Since I coultn’t git a plum accurate pitchure oGarde Warfare’s online gameplay, I spent tmajeritee omy time wit tgame playyun tlocal split-scree mode wit a frien. Thishere is callt “Garde Ops,” an it reminds me ot classic Geers oWar herde mode—yall’re droppet n a level, gif scarce resources ta prop up barricades an uther defenses, an beset wit endless waves oincreesinglee challengyun zombies. Geers oWar is un undisputid classic ot Xbox 360 generashun, an herde mode is un impertant part owhut makes thems games so greet. T bar wuz set exceedinglee high fer Plants Vs. Zombies as a result. Aftr playyun Garde Warfare fer a wile, I suggestid at we switch ta Geers oWar 3 ta see hoe tacoupla meesuret up. We playd a few rounds, an the I ast ifn he wantid ta keep playyun Geers er switch back ta Garde Warfare. He wint wit tlattr. “I reckon I like thishere one mer,” he sed.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Feb 2014 00:33:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015