The open, multiplayer beta will run until January 18 for PS4 and Xbox One players, with PC on its way.
In this beta stage, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 pitches you inside the new Backyard Battleground, the hub world that connects you to every map and mode in the game. As of now, the game’s content includes:
- 3 Permanent Game Modes: Flag of Power (think King of the Hill, but protecting flags/seeking the enemy’s flag), and 2 massive multiplayer (up to 24 players) modes, Herbal Assault and Gardens & Graveyards, which have their own special stages.
- 4 Rotating Modes: Returning from the previous game, these will rotate each of the 4 days: Team Vanquish, Gnome Bomb, Vanquish Confirmed and Suburbination.
- New Maps: Z-Tech Factory and Frosty Creek for the normal modes, Moon Base Z and Seeds of Time for the massive multiplayer ones.
But perhaps the most interesting addition is of the new character roster that poses as the protagonists. Here they are, quoting EA:
- Kernel Corn: Leading the plant offensive as the primary assault class with dual cob busters and a high rate of fire.
- Rose: An extremely powerful sorceress that can turn zombie foes into fully playable goats.
- Citron: A time-travelling bounty hunter from the future – and also an orange.
- Imp & Z-Mech: The smallest and most agile of the zombies that turns into a Z-Mech robo of mass destruction with missiles.
- Super Brainz: The flashy, punchy-powerhouse superhero with exceptional hair and charismatic smile.
- Captain Deadbeard: A crusty peg-legged captain with a trick weapon up his sleeve.
According to EA, these new characters are meant to help you balance the game to your liking, ex. you can use the supporter Rose for survival missions or the beefy Super Brainz for full-on assaults, or just fill the gaps so your balanced team can handle anything.
If the trailer and previous games (both Garden Warfare 1 and the og Plants vs. Zombie games) are an indicator, the game won’t take it’s “story” seriously anyway, so their personalities most likely will provide some good laugh fodder – not like that’s a bad thing, as the humor is one of the strongest points in the whole series.
Back to the game, PC players still have to wait a bit to test the Beta (but they might get a chance to test more stuff, so there’s that); but all Xbox One and PC players can beat the February 23 official launch (for them and PS4) by 5 days with their EA/Origin Access membership.
Read how to get the beta here (still some hours away at the time of this writing).