[Feedback] Community Problems With PvZ 3
This post is designed to highlight, and inform the reader about the critical flaws present in Plants vs. Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia, and for convenience, this is split into multiple sections.
GAMEPLAY
Strategy
Strategy - “a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.”
Choosing Your Seeds
Strategy is not present in PvZ3, and is caused by denying the player to choose their seeds. The reason strategy worked in PvZ1 and PvZ2 was because the player learnt and adapted to new threats at a consistent rate. (New plant after every level)
For example, Balloon Zombie is first encountered in level 4-3. The player isn’t left defenseless, because they receive Cactus when level 4-2 is completed. The player already knows what to expect from Cactus with the small almanac description that was visible when they were collected, but the player is still allowed to experiment with Cactus and how they function.
In PvZ2, strategy is present even more with the player adapting to zombies and brand new world gimmicks, like dinosaurs in Jurassic Marsh for example.
Level objectives were a factor in how a player would strategize certain levels, which are also missing from PvZ3. Endangered plants, mold colonies, etc., these involved changing your loadouts in account, and created a more diverse gameplay loop that wasn’t too repetitive.
Locked & Loaded (A PvZ2 mini-game that had your plants pre-selected, identical to PvZ3) had strategy to it because it forced the player out of their comfort zone to try a different play-style, or try a plant you haven’t unlocked yet. It didn’t punish the player when it came to losing, and losing is part of life. You don’t win every level, and the player can always try again without punishment in Adventure Mode. In PvZ3, the game actively punishes the player for losing with the 5 life system (this has its own section, covered in more detail), which can result in players being afraid to experiment with trying anything new.
Difficulty
Difficulty is subjective, and this will not highlight balancing, but rather how PvZ3 attempts to challenge the player’s skill.
PvZ3 holds the player’s hand throughout the majority of the levels, not allowing them to experiment with any of the tools provided to them, and is instead forced to play how the level designer wanted them to, which creates a lack-luster and uninteresting experience.
Multiple times throughout PvZ3, a level can feel unfair. Zombies will be spawned repeatedly in the same lane, making it impossible for plants to deal with them, thus they overwhelm your defenses, which makes the player:
- Spend coins to blow the zombies away and regrow their defenses.
- Use a power-up
- Give Up & Retry
1)
This makes PvZ3 pay to win. If you can pay in-game currency for ALL zombies on the board to be sent back to the beginning, that is an advantage. Additionally, this feature was available for free in PvZ2 with the plant Thyme Warp.
2)
Power-ups should not be required for completing levels, but rather as a crutch if the player is struggling, similarly to how PvZ2’s power-ups function. Power-ups in PvZ2 are occasionally handed out to the player through Piñata Parties and gift boxes, which let the player confidently use it, without the worry of trying to preserve it, and were cheap to buy if the player desperately needed to use one mid-level.
Power-Ups
PvZ3 has Cherry Bomb, Jalapeño, and Chilly Pepper behind a “power-up” system, and you’re only able to use them a limited amount of times. This ruins the consideration of what instant-use plants the player needs to bring to the level. In PvZ2, there are many instant use plants that all perform different things, and you can’t bring them all. With there being no instant use plants available, this layer of strategy is gone.
Level Design
PvZ3’s levels forget what made PvZ1 and PvZ2’s enjoyable, and it’s due to those games giving you time. In PvZ3, multiple zombies can spawn at the start of the level, and rush the player into having to make sudden reactions to deal with these threats. This isn’t fun, it’s annoying. One of the enjoyable parts of PvZ is seeing your defenses grow, considering it takes time and effort to manage the single zombies that slowly show up, coming in more numbers as time goes on.
I can only imagine the levels are designed like this to retain low player attention spans. Players might not stick around during levels, and that’s fine. PvZ2 (Used to) let you save mid-level to do something else and return another time. Trying to make hyper-fast levels doesn’t work when PvZ1 (and to some degree, PvZ2) was a fairly slow but not snail-paced game.
Monetization
This isn’t ridiculing PopCap for having monetization in a mobile game, as they’re a business and you have to make a profit in some way, but how PvZ3 does it is astoundingly bad. Though, microtransactions should not be in a soft-launch that is designed for feedback. It gives the impression that feedback isn’t your main priority, but to profit off the game as soon as possible.
I’m not a business major, but I’m trying to come to a middle ground to what feels fair to the consumer (players) and producers (PopCap).
Why PvZ2's (Initial) Monetization Method Worked
To put this in easy to understand terms, let me describe PvZ2’s Adventure Mode plants and Premium plants as Skylanders figures. The ones available from the start are capable of beating the game, but you can go out of your way to purchase additional figures if you want more toys to use in-game. If the player wanted a premium plant but were unsure of how it functioned, they could play the Premium Plant Quest to experiment.
My point here is that PvZ2 offered unique content at a relatively low price, which was a motivator and reason to purchase. PvZ3 doesn’t have any motivators to its microtransactions, due to it offering nothing substantial.
Coins & Power-Ups
The only thing the player can purchase directly are coins and limited time offers, which is a major problem. Coins can only be used to purchase power-ups and blow zombies away if you lose. For players that are stingy with their power-ups or intend to not use them to have an organic experience, PopCap is unable to market to those players. There isn't a real incentive to buy these due them ONLY being power-ups, there isn't any content behind them unlike PvZ2's premium plants, which was new content.
5 Health Mechanic
The 5 life mechanic is one of the worst features in the game. Even if you made it paid to regain lives, it’s still not worth it. This game doesn’t offer enough for the player to spend coins OR real money in exchange for lives. This is the worst mechanic in gaming history, why would you purposely take away the ability for your players to play your game?
This feature ruins the casual aspect of the game as players that struggle are unable to make mistakes without suffering drastic consequences, unlike PvZ1 and PvZ2 which were incredibly forgiving by allowing you to try again at no cost.
Story
This isn’t a critique about the story, but aspects surrounding it.
Priorities
PvZ games always had a story that wasn’t directly present to the player. Crazy Dave goes back in time to eat a taco again, Dr. Zomboss captures Suburbia, and renames it to Zomburbia, they weren’t extensive stories but a small setting to ease the player into the places they visit.
PvZ3’s main marketing focus is on the story, which is not a bad thing on paper, but it seems to take PopCap’s priority over the gameplay. Every Beta since September 7th, 2021 has had similar gameplay identical to the previous beta, but with different characters and dialogue.
PopCap needs to change their priorities to focus the gameplay instead of the story if they want to make a game that feels fun to play.
Taco Tickets
Taco Tickets are a reward you receive when you complete a level, and are used to progress through the story. It’s identical to the progression system of Gardenscapes’, and it’s not needed in a PvZ game. PvZ2 had a story that was conveyed through dialogue between and before levels. Taco Tickets only complicates this, and should be handled differently to serve an actual purpose.
Furniture
For some reason, PopCap really wants to push the furniture aspect seen in Gardenscapes in this game. PvZ1 and PvZ2 have never focused on decorating, so it's very out of place in marketing.
We're not against the decorating concept, but it appears to be one of PopCap's main priorities considering it appeared consistently throughout old feedback surveys instead of questions about what we think of the gameplay.
Conclusion
We want PvZ3 to succeed. We want this game to push the franchise to new heights and allow for more, bigger opportunities, but this will only happen if PopCap accepts that this version is greatly flawed, and makes a product people want.
Written by Hey1mJay, and members of the Plants vs. Zombies community.
