We’re at that time of year where we’ve played through the games we got in the madness that was the holiday season and we’re now waiting, semi-patiently, for the big hitters of 2015 to land in our grubby mitts. So, while we’re waiting for Bloodbourne, The Witcher 3 and Uncharted 4, what’s worth playing?

Well, I’m here to tell you that Plants Vs Zombies Garden Warfare on PS4 could be just the filler to plug that gaming gap of yours… so to speak. Is it a perfect game? No. But it is a very well designed and, most importantly, fun game to play. Let’s get started shall we?

2014, like any year since, I don’t know, the dawn of time, was full of gritty, military shooters. Your Battlefields, your Killzones, your Call of Dutys. Plants Vs Zombies (PvZ from here on out) does not fall into that category. Anyone familiar with the mobile games of the same name will probably recognise some of the characters, but that’s as far as the resemblance goes. I can best describe it as a mash-up of Team Fortress 2 and Mass Effect 3, which sounds bizarre , but the similarities will become obvious as I go on.

PvZ features two distinct playing modes; Garden Ops and Multiplayer. The former is a co-operative PVE mode which pits a team of four, human controlled Plants against AI Zombies, while the latter is your standard PVP fare.

Personally, I think Garden Ops is the more enjoyable of the two modes, which is probably due to it being so similar to Mass Effect 3’s brilliant co-op mode. The set-up is simple; four player-controlled Plants must establish a garden at one of several pre-determined points on the map. Once that’s done, the team must then defend that garden from waves of Zombies who will try to attack and destroy it.

There are 10 waves to endure, each one ramping up the pressure, with larger and more powerful hoards of Zombies. There are also special ‘Boss’ and ‘Kill Target’ waves periodically as well. And, just like with ME3, if all the waves are completed, the team must then fight their way to an extraction zone and await pick-up, even nabbing a bonus if all team members make it out alive.

The points earned during these rounds can be spent upgrading your Plants through the purchasing of Sticker Packs. These act much like ME3’s ‘Supply Packs’ and once purchased confer a selection of random items. Some are purely cosmetic, like new hats or sunglasses, some are new Plants and some are consumables that can be used in the next round.

Things get a bit Team Fortressy when it comes to the different Plant classes. There are four; The Peashooter (assault), the Chomper (melee), the Sunflower (medic) and the Cactus (sniper), each with specific abilities that lend to their classes play style.

They all have a unique feel to them and are equally enjoyable to use, which means you will find yourself regularly switching between them as you play. The best teams include one of each class, though at a push you can live without the Cactus in Garden Ops mode, but expect a tough time without a Sunflower on your team.

I also particularly like the expendable consumables in this mode. Once your team has established it’s garden, a number of empty flower pots appear dotted around the map. Using your consumables, you may grow special plants in these pots.

There are loads of different varieties, such as the Pea Cannon, which acts like an automated turret shooting at any Zombies that come within it’s range. Especially useful if you don’t have a Sunflower on your team is the Heal Flower consumable, which constantly generates the life giving sundrops used to replenish health.

The controls are excellent and intuitive, meaning that new players will generally be able to contribute to the team effort right from the get-go. The game also looks great, with vibrant colours that really pop, especially when the action gets crazy and things are blowing up all around you. It’s super smooth and slick to look at.

Unfortunately, the similarities between PvZ and Mass Effect 3 don’t only extend to the positive parts. EA have some of the worst servers around and just like in ME3, it can sometimes become infuriating just trying to get into a game lobby. I often had to attempt connecting three or four times before finally getting in.

Most annoying of all is trying to create a custom lobby with friends. Again, just like with ME3 the servers do not seem to want you to do this. The only way we were able to play together was to trick the game into putting us in the same lobby by both searching for the same, very specific lobby at exactly the same moment. Simply creating your own lobby and inviting a friend in does not generally work.

Mercifully it only takes about 15-20 seconds to make a connection attempt, but it does rather detract from what otherwise would be a stella experience.

As I mentioned earlier, PvZ also features a Multiplayer component. This is the competitive PVP mode featuring matches of up to 24 players, pitting the Plants against the Zombies. The four Plant classes return here and are opposed by four Zombie classes. These are the Foot Soldier (assault), Engineer (engineer), Scientist (medic) and the All-Star (tank).

Having played extensively as both the Plants and the Zombies I can attest that both are equally fun to play and, just like in Garden Ops mode, their nuances are easy to pick up.

Multiplayer includes an impressive number of game modes in itself. You have the standard deathmatch in ‘Team Vanquish’ but more interesting are the other modes, such as ‘Gardens and Graveyards’, which acts much like ‘Rush’ from the Battlefield franchise, and sees the Zombies attempt to turn the Plant’s gardens into graveyards. ‘Vanquished Confirmed’ copies COD’s ‘Kill Confirmed’ while ‘Mix Mode’ apes Kill Zone’s ‘Warzone’.

All this is to say that while Plants Vs Zombies doesn’t necessarily bring anything new or innovative to the competitive shooter genre, what it does do is give you all the game modes you like from other franchises, but with it’s own cheesy, fun, cartoony style.

To sum up, Plants Vs Zombies Garden Warfare is a feature packed, fun and entertaining game. In these cold winter months while we await the biggest games of the new generation, there are certainly worse games to while away the hours on. It suffers certainly from poor server support, and at about £35 it’s on the spendy side, but in terms of shear fun and playability, it’s hard to pass up.

Currently the game is on sale on the PSN for £11.59 (£10.43 with PS Plus), so really there is no excuse not to pick up this little gem.

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