Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville grows out of early access
Only some of it is corny
Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville, the latest shooter spinoff to the goofy tower defense original, released proper yesterday after a short stint in early access. Popcap have been carefully watering it with content updates for a few weeks, and now it’s ready to blossom into its final form. They’ve released a pun-filled musical trailer to celebrate.
There are a bunch ways to live out the ongoing battle between veggies and zombies, from a 4v4 elimination mode to an objective-based territory defence. You can also traipse around the map to find PvE areas, fashion spots, and multiplayer questing. But the splitscreen couch co-op that’s available for console folks in every mode hasn’t made it to PC, unfortunately.
There’s 20 classes to choose from, with the plant side looking a bit more obvious. It’s easy to tell the difference between a Night Cap and a Sunflower. But look closely and you’ll see that not every zombie is alike. “Choose between classic fun-dead characters or new brain biters – gnaw-rly 80s Action Hero, boogie-bolting Electric Slide, or team player Space Cadet,” they say. The dating on these references, and the undeads’ shambling oldness compared with the plants’ youthful joy makes me wonder if Plants Vs. Zombies is in fact a metaphor for generational conflict.
Regardless of its underlying themes, it’s been a long while since Plants Vs. Zombies stuck to its tower defence roots. Before this their latest announcement had been Plants Vs. Zombies 3, but that’s going on your mobile phone and it’s free to play, so you’ll have to dodge the microtransactions.
Still, the story lives on, even if the genre changes. Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville is available now for £35 on Origin.