A discussion about PvZ 3's level design and how it could be improved

One of the most important aspects to get right in a PvZ game are the levels. Without good and varied levels, it is hard to enjoy the gameplay itself to its fullest and renders the experience stale, and that leaves a lot of missed potential that could easily be exploited for the most part.

As of right now, PvZ 3 has to my eyes a few critical flaws in its level design:

• Lack of variation / Repetition: Many levels feel oddly similar to one another in their layouts; there lacks minigames / special objectives in between regular levels as well, similar to what is seen in PvZ 1 and 2
• Poor usage of special zombies: There are sometimes multiple levels in a row that have the same or at least very similar roster of zombies; there is usually only between 1-2 specials per level that tend to get used way too sparingly. Some specials also feel like they get introduced at the wrong world/time, as they don't really synergize with the gimmicks presented at the time.
• Unsatisfying wave progression: Due to the wave progression being purely time-based, it sometimes leads to awkward moments in the middle of the level where the player has to wait for multiple seconds for new zombies to show up. The "huge waves" of zombies also feel in general too small and unremarkable, which makes them lose a lot on their "impact".

With the flaws already discussed, here I'll share some ideas on how to fix most of those:

1. A good way to keep the gameplay fresh is to add minigame levels with interesting gimmicks to work as a sort of "break" from the rest of the game. Some minigames that were already shown on previous PvZ 3 versions would work great here, such as Vasebreaker or Solar Storm. Additionally, you could also add level objectives like the ones seen in PvZ 2. Beating the level with the given plants, not letting the zombies trample the flowers, producing X amount of sun and planning your defenses to defeat the zombies were part of my personal favorites and they genuinely have a lot of potential to shine in PvZ 3 as well.
2. Every level should have a different layout instead of it being picked randomly. It is very important to make each level different from the last. This would also allow to use the level gimmicks already present in the game in a far more creative and interesting way.
3. Special zombies should be used and combined with each other more frequently to create interenting synergies and challenges to the player. Sometimes there could even be 3-5 special zombies on the same level for a more chaotic experience!
4. The wave progression in the levels should work more similarly to the previous titles in the franchise: if the health of the current zombie wave drops below 50%, the game automatically spawns the next wave. That way, the "awkward moments" are avoided entirely. Additionally, the "huge waves" of zombies could wait until all zombies from the previous wave die before spawning to create a short yet impactful moment of tension knowing what lies ahead.
5. The huge waves of zombies should be made more intimidating by making them spawn way more enemies than what they do currently.

I hope this helps the developers to make the levels in PvZ 3 as enjoyable and fun as they can be!