Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare: Xbox One, Multiplayer, Co-Op And More!

In the latest FTW interview Plants vs Zombies™: Garden Warfare creative director Justin Weire tells us why the world needs another third-person shooter, discusses the 4-player co-op mode featuring teamwork and a competitive multiplayer element and taking advantage of the power of the Xbox One and more.

Stephanie Prentice: Is there anything you particlularly are proud of, like your input into this project?
Justin Weire: One of the things we outed very early on was, how do we bring more PvZ to the game? You know, the cool, cute little characters that we all know and love. So we thought, what if we added them as potted plants? So that way, you can run up to a pot and you can plant your favourite PvZ character. When we put that in, we said to ourselves that this was great, because now we've not only added more characters, we've added a little bit of a tower defense feeling to the game as well.

SP: Were you ever worried about losing your core fanbase?
JW: You always run the risk of perhaps alienating some of your fanbase if you make too radical a shift in any game. I think they'll forgive you if the game is real fun.

SP: Can you give us a quick tip for gamers? So when they first start off so they can really hit the ground running?
JW: Pick where you root. It's an essential ability plants have, where they root in and trade mobility for extra firepower, but you can't move.

SP: Can you tell us what you're most excited about the fans discovering?
JW: This is just a tip of the iceberg that we've revealed at E3, it's our four player co-op mode where we're showing team work. But this also a competitive multiplayer game and there's an awful lot more coming in that regard.

SP: What kind of things are coming in that regard?
JW: You're digging for secrets now! Well, I can tell you that if you've seen the Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare teaser trailer you've seen all the different types of zombies running around, so it's looks like it's leaning more towards an asymetrical, multiplayer game with a very competitive nature, So, er, read between the lines...Because there's going to be some pretty cool stuff coming up.

SP: Let's start at the beginning. Massive changes changes here for you, you've gone from a sort of lock down game and now we're in a third-person shooter, completely different game...
JW: Yeah, this Plants vs Zombies is huge for PopCap. It's really our big first step into kind of a new space for us.

SP: When we were watching at the E3 2013 Press Conference it seemed like it was running at 60 frames per second. Is that overkill for Plants vs Zombies?
JW: Oh no, I don't think so. We're really trying to take advantage of the power of the Xbox One and showcasing not just how great the game looks but 60 frames per second means you have the fluid control, you can feel it in your hands and I think it's perfect.

SP: There's so many shooters around at the moment and you have this amazing iOS game. What made you think - oh no - we want to go into that market instead?
JW: Well I think we didn't look at it as a shooter right off the bat, we said well, what if made a multiplayer action game, where not all the characters shoot? Then we looked at the things that shooters do do. They've also been accused of being a brown shooter, you know, here we go again...So we said, what if we are the most colourful shooter? What if we are the most humorous shooter? What if people walked into the booth at E3 2013 kind of looking like they knew what to expect, and leaving with a big grin because they didn't expect that experience. Then you know you got it right.

SP: So you're the happiest shooter in town?
JW: We are absolutely the happiest shooyter in town, and also competitive and deep.