Plants vs. Zombies

About

Plants vs. Zombies is a single player and multiplayer tactical shooter game with warfare and comedy themes. It was developed by PopCap and was released on October 18, 2019. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

In Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, players engage in a turf war as either plants or zombies in a variety of multiplayer modes. Explore three free-roam regions and customize your characters with unique abilities and upgrades. Team up with friends in online cooperative play, or compete in objective-based and deathmatch modes in this charming third-person shooter.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Skip User Reviews

78%

Audience ScoreBased on 5,642 reviews

story84 positive mentions

stability64 negative mentions

story
256 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
61%
6%
The story in the game is generally considered light and somewhat repetitive, primarily consisting of fetch quests and simple missions across three colorful regions. While some players appreciate the fun and charm of the narrative, others find it lacking depth and replay value, with many quests feeling generic. Overall, the story mode is seen as a fun addition, especially for those new to the franchise, but it may not satisfy players looking for a more complex or engaging storyline.
- “The game introduces three distinct regions to explore, each packed with colorful environments and an array of missions.”
- “Loved this game because of its diverse storyline and PvP along with its wide variety of characters and possibilities.”
- “Each story mode region will take you a couple of hours to reach 100% completion, and are really the main selling point of the game.”
- “Considering it’s PvZ, there's not much to the story.”
- “As much as I hate to say it, the game is repetitive; every single main quest is just 'collect 3 things, put things together, fight the main boss of the area.'”
- “This is the bare bones of what Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare was; it removes one of the funnest things in the game, the sub-classes to all of the characters, which is really disappointing. It lacks variety in its story/single player mode and is very repetitive.”
gameplay
228 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
53%
8%
The gameplay of "Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville" has received mixed reviews, with some players enjoying its fun mechanics and smooth combat, while others criticize it for being repetitive and lacking the depth of previous installments. Many note the presence of bots in multiplayer matches, which detracts from the experience, and express disappointment over the removal of character variants and certain gameplay features. Overall, while the game offers enjoyable moments and a whimsical art style, it struggles with balancing issues and a less engaging gameplay loop compared to its predecessors.
- “From the moment I stepped into the whimsical world of Neighborville, I was captivated by its quirky humor, delightful art style, and addictive gameplay.”
- “The gameplay mechanics are incredibly smooth, making battles feel both strategic and exhilarating.”
- “Classic Garden Warfare gameplay plus some new features make for a great sequel.”
- “Greedy business practices, gameplay that is worse than the previous installment in the team-based shooter franchise and not just ugly but boring graphics suck the joy and life from this game.”
- “The beautiful variant system (each character having a lot of variants which are different in gameplay) was replaced with a boring and underwhelming upgrade system, which you just pick a few upgrades for your character.”
- “The gameplay is really nothing to write home about, mostly being made up of the same types of missions and battles.”
graphics
222 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58%
37%
5%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many praising the vibrant and colorful art style as a significant improvement over previous installments, while others criticize it for being cartoonish or lacking detail in character models. Overall, players appreciate the stunning visuals and creative design, although some report issues with optimization and graphical glitches. Despite the divided opinions on the art style, the graphics are generally regarded as a strong point of the game, contributing to an enjoyable experience.
- “From the colorful and vibrant graphics to the diverse array of characters and maps, every aspect of this game exudes creativity and charm.”
- “The graphics manage to make up for a lot of the lacking gameplay however because of how crisp and authentic they are and really make you feel like you're in the PVZ universe.”
- “Its beautiful graphics and fun interactions lead to an enjoyable experience especially when playing with friends, making teamwork happen.”
- “Greedy business practices, gameplay that is worse than the previous installment in the team-based shooter franchise, and not just ugly but boring graphics suck the joy and life from this game.”
- “This game is the biggest downgrade I have ever seen; just stick to PVZ GW2, don't spend your money on this, it's really not worth it. The only good thing is the graphics; everything else sucks, no variants, some poor upgrades, and characters have way too much unnecessary detail.”
- “This game is so unoptimized I have to restart it every few hours if I want to play without random freezes and lags, glitching graphics, resolution and FPS drops, and crashes.”
humor
74 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is widely appreciated for its quirky and whimsical nature, with players enjoying the funny dialogue, character designs, and overall goofy aesthetic. Many find the humor charming and entertaining, although some critics feel it could be improved in certain areas, such as animations and actions. Overall, the game successfully combines humor with engaging gameplay, making it a fun experience for players.
- “From the moment I stepped into the whimsical world of Neighborville, I was captivated by its quirky humor, delightful art style, and addictive gameplay.”
- “There's loads of extras to collect and puzzles to solve, as well as the hilarious dialogue.”
- “The single player content is also very nice; plenty of quests to do, areas to explore, and funny dialogue to read.”
stability
70 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
4%
5%
91%
The game's stability has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting frequent crashes, freezes, and various glitches that hinder gameplay. While some users note improvements and a more enjoyable experience post-patch, others continue to struggle with significant issues, including unresponsive loading screens and game corruption. Overall, the game is described as buggy, with a notable portion of the player base expressing frustration over its stability.
- “People are too hard on this game about the class variants being changed to perks. While that sucks, I don't see the big problem regarding everything else. Matchmaking works fine, it's not buggy, doesn't lag all that much, and overall has funny and charming singleplayer content.”
- “The game isn't full of bugs and glitches.”
- “The game is bug-free.”
- “Game glitches and I can no longer play; I just get a black screen. Good gameplay, but there's a good 50% chance that 10 hours in, your game gets corrupted.”
- “Seems like there's an unfixable startup and crash issue. I only got through the intro partway trying, and troubleshooting the issue through guides didn't solve it either.”
- “This game is so unoptimized I have to restart it every few hours if I want to play without random freezes, lags, glitching graphics, resolution and FPS drops, and crashes.”
grinding
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
16%
79%
The grinding aspect of the game is a significant focus, with many players noting that achieving 100% completion or leveling characters can be extremely time-consuming, often requiring 60-100 hours of play. While some find the grind enjoyable and rewarding, especially for cosmetics and character progression, others criticize it as tedious and boring, particularly due to the lack of developer support and a dwindling player base. Overall, the game appeals to fans of grind-heavy experiences, but it may deter those seeking a more casual or varied gameplay experience.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Grindy (60 - 100 hours).”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Even if you want to play casually, it becomes boring due to the amount of grinding just to get something.”
- “If you're a fan of the originals then I suggest just keep playing them, even Garden Warfare 1 is still more active than this game. As much as I wanted to enjoy it, it's just hard to get invested when useful upgrades are locked behind tedious paywalls and new characters require several hours of the same boring game.”
- “I was willing to overlook the overhaul they did with the variants system being turned into stupid perks, but oh my god do they ever make them grindy to get.”
optimization
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
62%
24%
The game's optimization has received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with players reporting frequent crashes, lag, and performance issues, particularly on PC. While some users noted better optimization on consoles, many expressed frustration over the lack of graphical options and the game's tendency to overheat their systems. Overall, the consensus is that the game is poorly optimized, leading to a frustrating experience for many players.
- “The graphics are very good, and, unlike Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2, this game is more optimized and I can play it normally.”
- “Performance hiccups and crashes are rare now, just be aware that this game looks amazing and runs on a demanding modern engine; expect to run it on lower settings on older hardware.”
- “The game is really well optimized on consoles, but because of anticheat and some other issues, it scales noticeably worse on PC.”
- “This game is so unoptimized I have to restart it every few hours if I want to play without random freezes and lags, glitching graphics, resolution and FPS drops, and crashes.”
- “It would've been a good game... if it wouldn't be optimized so poorly.”
- “This game is very unoptimized for PC and I would not recommend it.”
music
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
55%
7%
The music in the game is generally praised for its nostalgic and enjoyable qualities, with many fans appreciating the series' signature soundtracks. However, some reviewers feel that the current soundtrack lacks the personality and charm of earlier titles like Garden Warfare, noting a reliance on reused tracks and a less engaging audio experience during gameplay. Overall, while the music is considered good, it doesn't quite reach the heights of previous installments in the series.
- “Phenomenal music as always for the whole series.”
- “An amazing and nostalgic feel when I hear the theme song start.”
- “Everyone can remember the melodic backyard music of the original PVZ, setting up pea shooters and sunflowers, and defending Crazy Dave and his house.”
- “The intro song to this is mid, not very good.”
- “In battle, there is no music.”
- “The soundtrack in this game is fine, but after playing GW1 and GW2 more, I realized it has way more personality than whatever this is.”
monetization
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
38%
53%
The monetization model of the game has drawn significant criticism, with many reviewers labeling it a cash grab, particularly due to the prevalence of microtransactions and high prices for cosmetic items. While some players appreciate that the game is not pay-to-win and that cosmetics can be earned through gameplay, others feel that the overall experience is marred by intrusive monetization practices and a lack of meaningful content. The sentiment is that the game should be free given the extent of in-game purchases required.
- “Easy to progress in battle when I can play and the in-game purchases can be ignored since everything, including the battle pass, can be easily unlocked through play.”
- “Not pay to win; the only microtransactions are cosmetics or things that get you more cosmetics.”
- “There is no point at which you have to buy anything, and the fact of the matter is that after you get all the variants, everything else is cosmetic, which you can also get for free by just playing the game.”
- “Except this time it sucks because it’s either microtransactions or cosmetics for very high prices or using a rare currency.”
- “Just an example of EA being a cash-grabbing soulless company.”
- “This game should be free with how many in-game purchases there are, and the game is extremely bad; the controls are way worse than the two previous games.”
replayability
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
56%
25%
The game's replayability is a mixed bag; while many players find it endless due to numerous activities and character options, others criticize the lack of engaging content post-story campaign, leading to boredom. The absence of character variants and meaningful upgrades detracts from its potential replay value, especially compared to previous titles in the series. Overall, the addictive gameplay keeps some players returning, but significant improvements are needed for broader appeal.
- “The replayability is endless with so many things to do.”
- “This game is very good; even though it does not have character variants like Garden Warfare 2, it still has a lot of replay value.”
- “The replayability factor was really there, unlike for BFN.”
- “Proper variants with more interesting upgrade and tweak trees (and a slight change in style, why are we back in suburbia after the events of GW2 where we literally travel through time?) would've given this game a lot more replay value; hell, it would've possibly saved it from its cancellation.”
- “- no replay value for story campaign”
- “There's no replayability; for example, after you do all the story missions, it's just boring at that point. I liked this game series before EA said, 'Hey, you can't make good games anymore!'”
character development
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
Character development in the game is praised for its hero shooter influence, featuring unique and visually appealing designs that emphasize distinct roles and abilities within a team. Players find the character designs to be original and enjoyable, contributing to the overall fun of the multiplayer experience.
- “Space Cadet is the peak of multiplayer shooter character design.”
- “The new character design is just beautiful.”
- “I think the character designs are super neat and original.”
- “It definitely went for more of a hero shooter touch to the character design, with some having shields and set roles on a team.”
- “Space cadet is the peak of multiplayer shooter character design.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's atmosphere is consistently praised for its vibrancy and liveliness, even in 2022, creating an engaging environment that enhances the overall experience. Players appreciate the combination of a challenging gameplay experience with a captivating atmosphere, although some express a preference for other games like Guild Wars 2.
- “Even in 2022, this game's atmosphere still feels so alive.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is largely perceived as lacking, with users expressing disappointment in its failure to offer new or engaging experiences. The overall sentiment suggests a sense of detachment, as players find themselves merely waiting for the game to load without any compelling motivation to interact.