Though console shooters were popularized with games such as GoldenEye 64, modern console shooters have taken a more serious turn. With their more militaristic bent, games such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, Halo, and Gears of War are now the face of console shooters.
Fatigue in the face of these games’ serious tones could be why, when EA revealed a light-hearted Plants vs. Zombies-branded shooter at E3 not everyone though it was a dumb idea.
The game, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare looks to be a modern third-person shooter mixed with PopCap’s odd take on the zombie genre. With announced support for 24-player competitive multiplayer, customizable characters (plants and zombies), and plenty of items to use, the game resembles PC shooters such as Team Fortress 2 more than other console shooters.
Today EA officially announced that Garden Warfare will be coming to Xbox 360 and Xbox One on February 18. Microsoft and EA have carved out a timed exclusive period for the game. Though no PlayStation 3 or PlayStation 4 release dates have yet been officially announced, EA did at least state that the game will be coming to PC “at a later date.”
In conjunction with the release date announcement, EA today also released a nine-minute gameplay video for Garden Warfare. The game seems to have a fairly unique play-style that appears at first glance to be barely-controlled madness:
