In the aptly named Backyard Battleground, I took the plant or zombie character of my choice into the embattled no man’s land in between the two suburban camps. It is a hub of options and customization, and the best part is that it’s also a privately instanced battlefield. The workmanlike menu of the first game has been replaced with the much more interactive Backyard. The only map I didn’t particularly care for was Time Park, a time travel-themed amusement park that has a lot of teleportation and makes it more difficult to apply teamwork.
There aren’t quite as many things to get stuck on now, or awkward hills that pose an issue for chompers. The maps are big and vertical, but more importantly have been optimized for ease of movement. Arguably the best part of the game, Garden Ops, has been expanded with new maps, objectives, enemies, and for the zombie enthusiasts, their own horde mode called Graveyard Ops. All of the great gametypes have also made the jump, although some are better than others (gnomes, I’m looking at you).
It’s so much like it that almost all of the character progress can be carried over for each plant and zombie character, so longtime players can still enjoy their awesome Peashooter variants without having to grind for coins and stickers. Some tropes of the genre were converted, such as the MOBA-like class abilities, while others were subverted or abandoned in favor of fast-paced action. But far from being just another clone, it brought its own formula to the table, like the wonderful Garden Ops tower defense/horde mode. The first 'PvZ: GW' preserved the zany spirit of the original 2D tower defense and infused it with capture the flag, king of the hill, and lots of other things that ship with just about every multiplayer shooter.