Reviews

Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville is a disappointing game which fails to hold up when compared to its predecessors and other games in its genre.  On the surface, the game seems good with its variety of playstyles, familiar characters, and vibrant artstyle.  However this exterior quickly dissipates upon further playing the game.  One of the first things I noticed was the balancing problems.  Healing and movement seems overpowered with healed enemies being unnecessarily hard to vanquish and certain characters having the ability to fly around with ease.  The biggest issue with this game is the lack of charm and content that was present in the first two shooters in the franchise.  For starters, the maps feel uninspired and boring.  They simply feel like something you would find in any generic shooter game.  Contentwise, the game is also disappointing given the fact that it stopped getting updates only a year after its release.  For perspective, the first shooter in the franchise Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, has 68 playable characters.  The sequel, Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2, expands on this by keeping most of the characters and adding 46 more characters.  Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville completely ditches this formula and only has 20 characters.  This makes the game significantly less replayable and interesting which is upsetting because it would have been interesting to see a game further expand on the foundation laid by Garden Warfare.  When taking all of these factors into account, it is no wonder the game stopped getting updates so soon.  I rate Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville 2/5.