PvZ 3 Limited Test Feedback
Now that a new beta has been released, I thought I'd provide my two cents on how I think this game is coming along.
Hand holding tutorials
Currently I believe that the only positive change between this new version and the alpha tests pre-2020 is the art style, removal of levelling and changing to landscape. Starting over and changing how the game would fundamentally play was completely unnecessary as the pre-2020 version was still underwhelming, but could easily have been re-tooled into a pretty good game. Currently my gripes with the modern pvz3 is that currently all the strategy and brain work into beating a level has been completely removed. The game holds your hand ridiculously tight for pretty much the whole beta, explaining things that player's could find out easily by themselves. The worst example of this is an entire level completely dedicated to telling you that "more sunflowers = more sun". New plants were also introduced through these tutorials, instead of giving the player the option to read up on the plants through the almanac. It is unnecessary to explain what a plant does through a level tutorial when on the menu before you play a level, tapping a seed packet will give you the exact same information as 2-3 "tutorial" levels. More is told than there is shown, which removes the sandbox-like feeling the original game has where you essentially discover the plant's strengths and weaknesses through gameplay and the almanac. These tutorial levels are also very very short, with some having less than 10 zombies, which baffles me even further as to why these levels would exist in the first place. Levels are also generally too short, with a "plant now think later" sort of mentality.
Choose your plants
Another massive blow to player choice is the removal of choosing plants, having pre-picked plants used to be a level gimmick used in the previous games but now it is the only way of bringing plants into a level. The pre-2020 pvz3 ability to create your own plant team allowed for more player experimentation and engagement, I would constantly try different team layouts depending on which zombies were found in the level. (A quick side tangent but being able to see which zombies were in the upcoming level with the option to change your team to adapt to the zombie selection was absolutely fantastic, I hope it makes its way back into this new re-imagining.) When choosing these teams, the way the menu's were laid out would also let you easily compare plant stats and read up about them, finding out which zombie types they were powerful or weak against etc. Currently in this beta there is no need for such a feature, as the levels seem to be vary bare-bones in terms of plant and zombie variety. For a game that is trying to be more strategy based, there is very minimal strategy.
Progression + lives
This beta has very little sense of progression that aren't completely cosmetic such as the homescapes-esque town customisations. In the original plants vs zombies, one level beaten would unlock a plant, feature, tool or other item. This would keep the game feeling constantly fresh, with something new to experiment with every level. This was similar in plants vs zombies 2, with most levels giving you coins but every 3-4 levels you would get a new plant/feature/tool/etc. In pre-2020 pvz3, you progressed through the devour tower with each floor unlocking a new plant/area/feature/tool/etc. My point is the only things modern pvz3 can offer you currently is coins (which don't have a use yet), powerups and the coined-in live system which actively discourages players from playing your game. Steadily unlocking things is great for keeping players engaged, long expanses of gameplay without rewards outside of currency get boring and discouraging after a while. Beating modern pvz3 levels would earn you about the same rewards as a breakout battle from pre-2020 pvz3, which weren't even the focus of that game. Pre-2020 pvz3 had lives systems for the devour tower and the brainiac battles, which were excusable because there were still other modes to complete or things to do in the game while you would wait for more lives. This was a big positive for me, pre-2020 pvz3 always had something for the player to do and if they got bored with that, they could easily continue to progress in different areas of the game(devour tower, brainiac battles, breakout battles and arena). With modern pvz3, you're essentially locked out of the game until you buy more brains, which is possibly why the game is so generous with brains currently.
Story
The story seems to be the main selling point of this new iteration of pvz3. I don't have much to say here, the story is fine, the customisation is cool and the dialogue is quite charming. It'd be cool for the building perks from pre-2020 pvz3 to make a comeback through the world map such as the lawn and savings bank giving coins etc. Taco tickets should be removed or repurposed, currently they are pointless and turn progressing the story, something that should be automatic with beating the levels, into something players have to manually do. Sure it gives the option for people not interested in the story to just keep playing but it creates a weird disconnect between the gameplay and the story. Story segments should be presented automatically between levels and make sense contextually with the levels.
Vasebreaker
just program fallen seedpackets, don't only have sun as the way to plant plants.. This mode seems like such an afterthought as it's not as fully realised as any previous iteration. Also integrate it into the story, please don't seperate it into it's own thing like with what happened in pvz2. I'd also like to see a comeback of more mini games, I'm glad one came back but mini games were a massive part of the first game's identity. The game is being advertised as "going back to the series' roots" after all.
Final thoughts
I understand that this is a beta and everything is still subject to change, but the game is currently heading into a worse direction than the previous iteration, which was slandered even harder by fans for more surface level things such as the art style. Innovation for the sake of innovation seems to be the current trend with the franchise and it has not gone down well with fans, newcomers and critics alike. Pvz3 is currently having an identity crisis, previously taking inspiration from clash Royale, now from gardenscapes. I think instead of borrowing from other popular mobile games, pvz3 should continue to build it's own identity based on the series' previous iterations and justify itself being a worthy sequel to the previous games. just be yourself, pvz!!! we love you!!
