Table of Contents 64q43
Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville arrives on Nintendo Switch a year and a half after being released for other consoles (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One). With an edition that contains all the previously released additional content, the adaptation to Nintendo's hybrid console is the first title of the graphics engine Frostbite, Electronic Arts (EA), arriving at the platform. 6o193w
Concessions had to be made for the game to run on the Switch, but the result is not bad and runs well, both in portable mode and on television. The game, in turn, goes from highs to lows, but remains a good option for multiplayer (only) online in the console library.
Knowing the franchise 6o546j
Plants vs. Zombies started out as a game of “tower defense” (or tower defense, as it is better known) for cell phones. The genre consists of defending an area from constant onslaughts of enemies, and for that a good dose of strategy is needed.
In the first two games, (Plants vs. Zombies e plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time), both released for mobile devices, the player took control of plants and had to manage resources and allocate each plant to a location in the arena (top-down view with two-dimensional graphics). Each chosen plant used its abilities automatically to attack and defend against zombies that threatened to take over the gardens.
Each plant and each zombie had its own characteristics and abilities, so it was essential to know how to make good use of the resources available to succeed in each of the game's stages. Eventually, both games made their way to PC and consoles.
After double success, the popcap games, the series' developer, created third-person shooters for consoles, and was relatively successful. Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, the first of them, kept the characteristic of each unit, whether plant or zombie, having a unique skill, but instead of strategy, three-dimensional games require more motor skills from the player, and the confusion in battle arenas makes them very dynamic games .
The style remained in Plants vs. Zombies heroes.
Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville 3x2t3l
Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, as usual with EA published games, is built to be played on multiplayer online and, for that, on consoles, it requires a subscription to the online service — in the case of Big N's platform, Nintendo Switch Online.
There is also an offline mode, with a generic story, but which aims to make the player get used to the style of play and start facing real people over the internet. Unfortunately, Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville is not successful in this mission, although he manages to entertain for a while.
The Battle for the Neighborhood 6g2k19
Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville It is structured with two large areas that can be explored freely. From them, the player, who takes control of a plant or a zombie, each in their respective area, can perform basic activities, such as buying cosmetic items with money earned in other activities in the game or equipping skills acquired by advancing the level. of the characters.
By choosing to control a plant or a zombie (and each of these “classes” has several characters at their disposal, with the possibility of unlocking many others), the player can head to two other areas, each with its own story and missions, and here we have the first problem of Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville.
Right off the bat, there are many characters to choose from, and each one can be customized both in of aesthetics and with their own abilities. As you progress through quests, used characters level up and new skills are unlocked. There is a large amount of information that floods the player who, if he is not a veteran of the three-dimensional games of the franchise, will surely be lost.
Naturally, the more you play, the less lost you feel. And for that there are the many missions in the game. However, many of the missions are copies of themselves, and basically consist of going to a specific location and ending the zombies' plans or the peace of the plants. On the way to the objective, the player will inevitably encounter enemies and will enter into conflicts to do precisely what he is going to do: shoot.
With little variety of missions and many groups of enemies to defeat, it is normal that after a few hours of play the player feels bored and wants to go to online disputes. I.e, Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville It's not a game for anyone who doesn't have an online service subscription.
Still, the game manages to do a good job when it puts the player to perform different tasks, such as defending a region. In addition, the boss battles are creative and fun, without a doubt the highlight of the game's story mode.
frantic online 4r4v4t
Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville it was made to be played online and, fortunately, it has very competent modes, which are fun and sustain themselves in the technical aspect. There are three online game modes: in the first, each team (plants or zombies) of eight players needs to take control of a base until the map expands and a new area is the center of dispute; in the second, players need to act cooperatively to defend the base; in the third, it's eight-on-eight battles and the team that defeats 50 enemies first wins.
To be successful in online matches, it is necessary for the player to master the unique skills of the character he is using, since each one has its own types of shot. The more the player uses each character, the more their level will increase and new skills will become available. Therefore, it is not uncommon that, in online matches, the player will come across other players who have already advanced a lot in their characters, so it can be quite difficult to get along against real players.
Battles, in either mode, are action-packed and frantic, with a lot happening on screen at once. With characters of different classes (oriented towards attack or defense, for example) and skills, with different types of movement and shots, Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville there are some games like Call of Duty.
In the tests carried out for this review, it was easy to find people to play with, and the connection was fast. During the matches, there were no stutters related to the internet connection, and the matches flowed as desired. Unfortunately, there is no way to play with people from other platforms.
Adaptation well done 5d4s3f
Perhaps the feat that draws the most attention from Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville was the transposition of a graphics engine game Frostbite for the Nintendo Switch. EA has so far not released many games on Nintendo's current platform, and titles made on this engine (as Anthem, Battlefield V, Madden e Star Wars: Battlefront II, just to name a few) were never made for the console.
With Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, popcap games shows not only that the Nintendo Switch is capable of running the graphics engine, but the result can be positive.
Obviously, some concessions had to be made in adapting the game. View distance of elements, light and shadow effects, resolution and frame rate had to be updated, but luckily the result is positive and Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville runs well, and still only takes up 6,5GB on Switch. The frame rate drops from 60 (on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and compatible PCs) to 30 fps, while the resolution stays at 900p on television and 720p in handheld mode.
There are constant performance drops, but they are usually not big and don't cause problems in matches. At times, when many players gather in the same place and there are many elements on the screen, it can happen that the frame rate drops to the point of annoyance, but luckily it doesn't last long.
It is worth mentioning that popcap games had to remove from Nintendo Switch the option to multiplayer in split screen, on the same console. The option, available on other platforms, apparently was too much for Nintendo's.
As already mentioned, the servers are working well, the matches are easy to find and we haven't seen any connection problems - all the losses were the exclusive fault of this writer.
positive balance 2j335d
The fast-paced games and constant action are sure to appeal to many players, but it's important to note that Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville does not bring anything new and does not “reinvent the wheel”. It's a fun option for the Nintendo Switch library, even more so with friends. For those who like the genre and are tired of the same games, it's a good choice, even if you just do "more of the same".
Another positive point is that, in addition to not requiring any additional purchase, since the complete edition, available on Nintendo Switch, contains everything that has already been released for other platforms, the game was launched on the platform for the price of US$ 40,00, 230,05 (about BRL 60,00 at the current price, not including taxes), cheaper than the usual $XNUMX that big-budget games usually cost.
As a negative point, the game's long learning curve deserves to be highlighted. The single-player mode will hardly prepare the player for the battles of the online mode, and its missions are repetitive and do not entertain for a long time. Add to that the amount of information the player is faced with as soon as he starts the game and it will take him a while to get the hang of it and secure some wins against real players.
Analysis made thanks to digital copy provided by EA.
