I’m just gonna come out and say that I’m not a really big shooter guy. I grew up playing the classic Apogee, 3D Realms and ID Software shooters like Blake Stone, Duke 3D, Shadow Warrior, of course DOOM (both old and new) and the old Wolfenstein 3D where your friends *don’t* get their brains sucked out of their heads.

Those are always going to be my favorite for being arcade-like experiences that didn’t require much story, just fun action. They were the perfect fit for those of us whose idea of action movies star guys like Schwarzenegger, Ford, Stallone, Norris, or even Bruce Willis before he started hating every movie he filmed.

So with all of that being said, I really like the Plants vs Zombies shooters. See, my favorite games don’t always take themselves seriously. I like a game that’s got great action, bright colors, and a good dose of humor that tricks me into thinking the developers had as much fun making it as I do playing it.

I got the 1st Garden Warfare for free back when EA did their presentation at E3 and announced on stage that the game was free to download. It was a great idea because it got me hooked and I was a day one buyer for Garden Warfare 2, which did not disappoint at all. So picking up Battle for Neighborville’s Founders Edition was easy for me. And for the most part, I’m really happy with it.

Let’s start with a quick synopsis of what this is about. You have the plants, lead by Crazy Dave, to defeat the Zombies, lead by Dr. Zomboss. They fight for control of, well, everything. The world, the tv set, your mom (that saucy old harlot)… It’s the classic Hatfields vs McCoys feud, but with lots of foliage and rotting flesh. It’s Spy vs Spy, with bean guns and goo blasters…you get the idea. It’s one of the funnest and most original stalemates in gaming.

So What’s Popcap and EA done to bring you back this time around? Thankfully, a lot! As far as I can tell the game’s a few steps forward and 1 step back. Let’s start with the steps forward first.

There’s a nice assortment of new characters this time around that play pretty differently from previous additions to the series. On the Plants side, you’ve got the Acorn, the SnapDragon, and the Night Cap. For the zombies, you’ve got 80’s Action Hero, Electric Slide, and Space Cadet. The Space Cadet and Acorn are able to combine with other players for added firepower, however when one goes, they all go, so there’s a risk in doing that if you want the added firepower. I’ve seen people do this in multiplayer and the carnage these team-ups can do is pretty huge.

The greatest variety in characters this time comes from the Night Cap and 80’s Action Hero. Where the Night Cap can stealth for short periods of time and brings a sort of “ninja” element to the game, the 80’s Action Hero uses crossbows to charge up his shots, and has an evasion move that simultaneously drops dynamite. It’s very effective as I have been killed by it many times. Because I’m awful.

There’s a nice assortment of new characters this time around that play pretty differently from previous additions to the series.

The new hub and main battleground is Giddy Park and with it comes a ton of single player content that expands on what was available in Garden Warfare 2. Where in that game you were able to fight it out in a single large area and take on quests in there, this time you can actually travel to different themed areas – 2 per side – and take on quests to further the storylines in those areas.

In addition to that you’re fighting NPCs, hunting down treasture chests, and earning gold and whatever the themed currency is in that area to purchase more vanity items or even just exchange them for gold. It’s a great way to still have fun when you want to play but you’re not in the mood for multiplayer just yet, or if you want to get used to playing with another character.

There’s also “hunts” or bounties in each area where you’ll be tasked with defeating a particular enemy for a reward, and you’ll randomly come across other enemies like the treasure yeti. There’s a ton of fun surprises in store and I’m taking a wild guess that PopCap will continue adding more over time.

Giddy Park itself I found to be kind of boring. You can run around there and fight enemies from the other team, but then you’re just limited what’s basically a team deathmatch with no timer or goal. The people online in your session will vary at any given time so jumping down there usually means getting ambushed by multiple players and being outnumbered. So in that case I just didn’t see the point in playing there when I could play multiplayer instead for more rewards and an even match. Maybe that’ll change or maybe I missed something.

Customization is different this time around. When you’re picking a character, you’re not just customizing their vanity items anymore but also you get to choose their upgrades up to a certain slot limit. The fancier upgrades take up more slots, so you’ll have to prioritize. Promoting characters is back from the last game and with those promotions come newer upgrades as well. There’s everything from getting boosts after reviving allies to faster reloading or boosts to certain skills. Like to play different ways? Well you’re in luck because you’ve got a few loadouts you can save your choices to as well.

Multiplayer is back and it’s largely unchanged. You’ve got your Team Vanquish, Garden Ops, Turf Takeover, and one I really like called Rando Ops, where everytime you die you respawn as a different character. I thought this was a great way to try out different characters without having to make the decision myself. It’s also a great way to get your butt kicked in if you don’t know how to play with someone. Winning and losing matches gets you coins, and you use those coins at the Mr. Reward-O-Tron 9000 for emotes and costume items. I personally think the price is a little steep at 30,000 coins to use it, but then they also don’t want players getting everything the first month the game is out either.

So what’s the step back I mentioned? So this is just a personal gripe but I can’t imagine I’m the only one who’ll feel this way. In Garden Warfare 2, some of the character skins included changes to weapons. So for example my favorite zombie last time was the soldier, but my preferred costume was the Centurion, and with that came a flaming crossbow that would do damage over time when I hit an enemy. The scientist’s goo blaster was replaced with some other sort of gun. You get the idea. Anyways, in my experience playing, none of that is there this time and the costume items are simply for vanity and that’s it. I was really disappointed to see that because the added variety to weapons was really fun last time. Hopefully they’ll get added back in later.

So my verdict on this one. The game’s got a ton to do, the new characters are great, the game is just as colorful and funny as ever, and the upgrade system brings an extra element of strategy to how you play. Also, this game doesn’t have the usual stink of EA’s microtransactions all over it – at least not yet. All of this totally overshadows my gripe about the lack of weapon customization and my boredom with Giddy Park. It’s a GREAT shooter that’s not military-themed or one of the battle royale clones out there. Go buy it and have fun.