Board Thread:General discussion/@comment-25083348-20160214233618/@comment-1764483-20160215011828

Highway to the Danger Room Perfect comment which I shall forward: Cavia porcellus wrote: As I've feared, this Endless Zone is broken in all aspects. This is what happens when you haphazardly throw all the zombies in a cooking pot assuming you'll create a "fun" and "never the same" experience when in reality you create a conglomeration that changes very mildly, and when it does, it often doesn't matter.

They don't care about gameplay implications, it seems. In my measly 33-streak before I suddenly got mauled in one level, I have realized that PopCap will never ever bother balancing this game. The first few levels are fun, sure, but the difficulty spike is extremely obvious, moreso than in any other Endless Zone before.

Let's talk about some of the "highlights" from this experience. On the number one spot, Boombox Zombie is unbelievably overpowered. In fact, you will find that several zombies that were of no danger in their home worlds suddenly become a big threat in Modern Day, purely because of their placement on the lawn.

Here are some of the other zombies I've encountered on the run:
 * Ancient Egypt - Explorer Zombie - also overpowered, it will almost certainly burn one plant when it spawns on it. However, it was mostly counterable.
 * Pirate Seas - I haven't had much issue with this, but in the level I lost it started summoning Barrel Rollers. I'm assuming they are overpowered as well.
 * Wild West - Pianists and Chicken Wranglers - This doesn't sound so bad (after all, Big Bad Butte exists), but since HDR levels are extremely rush-rush-rush, something like Chicken Wrangler and its evil twin can quickly destroy in the very start if you're not careful.
 * Far Future - I've only received Jetpack Zombies and Shield Zombies. Nothing to worry about, though some may complain about Shield Zombies.
 * Dark Ages - Jester and Wizard Zombie. Funnily enough, these were the least of my worries and were both very easy to deal with.
 * Big Wave Beach - Surfer Zombie - Broken broken broken. Land Surfers were always broken, so we always try to deal with them on land. However, when you only get land Surfers, you start seeing the implications that has.
 * Frostbite Caves - Weasel Hoarder - It has the same problems as Chicken Wrangler, which are the result of the levels being very rush-like and fast paced.
 * Lost City - Excavator is a mild annoyance at times. Turquoise Skull Zombie poses a threat occasionally. This one is okay.
 * Neon Mixtape Tour - Boombox Zombie - This is completely broken and should be fixed ASAP.
 * Jurassic Marsh - Who cares? Nothing to see here.
 * Modern Day zombies - All-Star Zombie is the OP one. It becomes annoying in large numbers, and in Level 33, the level I lost, it started throwing Super-fan Imps like in regular levels. This was the reason I lost I think. I started losing tempo because my offensive plants were being destroyed.

As you can see, the novelty of "every zombie ever" wears off quickly. The levels are too fast paced and all over the place for this to be even remotely "strategic". It's not uncommon to see zombies from most worlds in one level. Combined with the fact that you never get to see what you'll get, doesn't that tell you that something is terribly wrong with this EZ?

If you want to keep going, you'll have to be more aggressive than the zombies, which sometimes becomes too overwhelming. All in all, I don't think this one is particularly fun or well planned. Something that was potentially good was again ruined by PopCap's indifference. It could've been great. Why can't we know which portals will appear in a given level beforehand? Why can't Boombox Zombie play its music upon being on the lawn for a certain amount of time rather than its X coordinates? Why can't PopCap actually playtest their product?