Is uh.... is this it? All that months of waiting and THIS is the best they could do? Okay, let me rephrase that.
Tecku Talks: Battlez
I have.. almost nothing to say here. I mean really... this is it? Months of waiting, throwing Heroes in the backseat of your resources, and this is what they came up with? I mean granted, its not terrible, but its just... kinda there.
Well, lets start with the gameplay. An okay concept. Get Gold Bloom and a few selected plants and take on the hordes. Get points for beating zombies quickly, and your lawnmowers recharge. Not bad, there's some good potential there. Here the thing though: THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE YOUR BIG PVP MODE?!? This thing, this mediocre thing is what you're counting on to pump life back into PvZ2? Months of working, and this is your big new leaderboard stuff? This is your trump card, your ace up your sleeve, this is your big shocking development?
Here's the thing: "Player versus Player" mode is usually expected to have some sort of a "versus Player" mechanic in it. Shocking, yes, but vital to understanding why this update doesn't work. There's no battle, no fighting, no hide nor hair of the other players excecpt for "get more points before time runs out." And yes, there are some games out there that are all about point where you don't interect. But most of those games are things like Dance Dance Revelotion or carnival shooting galleries, things that have the other players next to you whilst you fight. I do not see, interact with, or care about the other player at all.
You know what I was expecting from Battlez? I was expecting maybe we would get to play as either Plants or Zombies, and duke it out against opponents on the other team. Heck, maybe we could both be plants. We'd have two lawns, sending Weeds out off-screen. But little did I know that not only was that not happening, we wouldn't even get what the title promised. These aren't Battlez, they're minigames with a leaderboard. And it's the same minigame every time. I mean, maybe the tournament changes every week? I don't really care.
So why did PopCap do it this way? I dunno. Maybe they thought facing opponents in real time Plant and Zombie team battles couldn't be done. Except that they did it years ago for PvZ1 DS. Maybe this was just an order from PopCap to promote the Power Plants leveling system, and they just did what would be easy. Well, then congrats, you made a mediocre product that noone can relate to.
...Oh yeah, and I think you have to BUY gauntlets to play online matches? I wouldn't know, I stopped after a couple of games. I got to the top of my league, then quit. I ain't playing this game for a whole week to defend the title so that I might possible get a reward at the end. Say what you want about Heroes, but at least if I win a bunch of matches, I get rewards. At least I don't have to keep playing Heroes every day for a whole week lest I lose my progess. And if anyone complains about the collectable card game having microtransaction (which is still silly, because IT'S A COLLECTABLE CARD GAME OF COURSE IT HAS MICROTRANSATIONS THAT'S THE VERY FOUNDATION OF HOW THESE GAMES WORK), I will kindly point them to PvZ2, and how it has the nerve to charge you for each individual match. Then again, maybe they did that to shut people up about their other microstransactions.