Why Plants vs. Zombies 3 is Mechanically Broken (A PVZ 3 Review)

This is my most ambitious project yet! I hope you guys liked the shakeup! I could only make this because I was on spring break, this is definitely at least a 12+ hour edited video, at least. See you in the next video!

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[Danerade]

Hey Y’all! During the filming of this video, the game received an update that ironically like I said in the video made the game slightly more appealing to the eye, so that’s why there are 2 different builds of the game in the video. Also I support the developers and hope they still improve the game! :-)
4/5/20 Update: Hey y’all! Thanks for the overwhelming support on this video, it has helped me understand the audience and quality people like. Also I welcome all of our new subscribers as well, but to the point of this update, I have barely touched the game after this video, maybe 2 times but that was to try to beat a tower level but I’m to low level. I don’t have the motivation to grind out plant seed packets to have a chance. I still stand in all of my opinions in this video. I am currently working on another analysis video and hope that releases soon enough. Take care!

5/11/20: Holy smokes, thank you all for the absolute overwhelming support on this video! This is absolutely crazy to me and I can't believe its all real :). And I want to address some things about the video, and I'll try to keep it brief but it will be still long.

So to start with positives, first, I read all of the comments on this video and they are a joy to read. Positive or not, they all make me a better person in the end, now about the negative comments. I am a huge supporter of constructive criticism, as nothing in this world would ever improve without it. And any criticism I have on this video I greatly appreciate, as the flaws in this video as pointed out by some of you guys, I have fixed up and my videos going further are now getting even better :). So thank you. Now I am going to address some issues or sugestions people have with the video.

You said "first-person shooters" when GW1 and GW2 and BFN are 3rd person shooters: Yea I can't defend that, just an error of mine, sorry.

You should have done more retakes: This is the biggest piece of advice I have taken to heart, as this is another one that I can't quite defend, because yea, it could be better. This was my first video in this style and I put so much time into the editing when I really should have had a healthier balance in the writing and recording side of things, so yea, you guys are right, though watching my new video's you'll know I fixed that :).

Have you heard of Eclise?: Yes I have! I am an avid supporter of the project, I have not quite tried it out yet, because of time and personal life, however, due to the overwhelming support of this video and the comments suggesting it, it might become its own video.

The reuse of zombies, other games have reused zombies, so how is it lazy in this case: Ah yes, a big debate, I'll try to keep it short. PVZ 3 does not bring enough new ideas to the table to where an absolute overabundance of reused zombies seems very jarring to me. Yea PVZ 2 had Newspaper, Football, and Balloon, but Modern day was a homage to the first game, as proved by the zombies, background, and music. And even PVZ heroes had plenty of original plant and zombies to where the older plants and zombies felt cool and special to be included. But PVZ 3 (especially the zombies) Just have so many reused zombies, and even if they are "new" they are just a re-skin of an imp. Think of the first game where we had such unique zombies like ladder zombie and the basketball zombie, they did not have the basic zombie template and has a unique mechanic while having a unique look.

Just because you don't like the art style, does not mean its bad: Uh yeah, your right. I should have made this clear in the video, but just because the art style is bad, does not mean the game is bad. A game at its fundamental core should be fun (Which PVZ 3 fails at by the way) And an art style is simply a layer to the overall package. I am a huge believer that console specs don't matter, it's software. And even though I believe this, I can still judge and rate how the game looks just because it is an aspect of the game. People bash on Mass Effect Andromeda for the poor visuals and lack of expectations, and granite there are a lot of other problems with that game, but how a game looks does affect people's opinion about it. (Sadly in some cases)

You can't compare it to clash royale, just because it's similar does not inherently make it bad: Alright, here's the final one for now. As I briefly touched on in the video, PVZ 3 does not have really an identity. It's ok to use ideas from other games, it's encouraged by many to make those ideas bigger and better. But when a quality franchise like Plants Vs. Zombies compile a Hodgepodge of ideas that range from the menus and overall gameplay of Clash Royal, to using a battle pass, to using Angry Birds' 2 very, very similar structure, it just seems very unoriginal. It's ok to be inspired by other things, heck PVZ was inspired by A. Magic the Gathering and B. The tower defense genre. however, in addition to the heavy use of zombie reusing, PVZ 3 does not stand out as a quality unique product. As I said, it melds together into the other mobile games, they are one in the same. People can use the comparison like how Fortnite and Apex are the same, or even Mario and Sonic, both those examples both use the same game-like structure, the difference, however, is that Mario and Sonic have distanced themselves and have become unique properties within the gaming world. Sure, Fortnite and Apex are successful and popular, but does that validate them from being so similar to each other and almost uninspired? Wii Play was both successful and popular, but does that make it any good? No. (except the tank game of course) But success and popularity does not justify that it's ok.

Those are the points I wanted to quickly make, you can dissect my words all you want, I tried to make it as brief as possible, but I just wanted to clear up some common comments. I am totally ok if you don't agree with me, everyone has the right to have their own opinion. These are just my counterpoints to some comments people have had. This video is not perfect, however, no video will ever be. . I can't reply to every comment, and I don't want to start an argument or anything. The comments are coming in so fast I can't keep up XD. I just wanted to address most things in one swoop, and if you don't have any problems with the video, then great!

Like I said at the end, and earlier in this comment, I want this game to succeed, and would truly be sad if this game tanked and plummeted into obscurity. I want the developers to fix their mistakes, to make a quality product, is that possible at the stage they are in? Who knows. The fundamental goal of a game is to be fun. I just feel as though the mechanics are not interesting enough for me to commit to the game for a long period of time, they feel shallow and lack depth. I once again thank everyone who has watched this video. You are what make this community :).

[lolzxl]

You know it’s bad when the first game released in 2009 has better graphics than the game released in 2020

[David-zwxu]

When EA bought popcap they fired most of the original team including the lead developer, George Fan. Also, the composer for the music in pvz1, Laura Shigihara, wrote the theme for ancient Egypt in pvz2, but after George got fired she quit.

[ultra]

Can we all just agree it’s impressive how he did this in Kinemaster

[bakercelis]

I love how the closed captions say “cry” when Dane says “ G R I N D”
“So all the player can do is cry”

[aidenbar]

EA has literally never heard of the saying "If it isn't broke don't fix it"

[theshiberealm]

i literally didn’t know there was third yet and i’m disappointed

[whadies]

This just hurts my heart, I loved PvZ as a franchise, and even bought that "government survival book", comics and all. Yes, it's now leaned towards a children game, but I missed it's darker atmosphere. It was comical, but zombies were trying to eat your brains after all, and the art reflected it. Now it has this overly cartoony art style for some reason. Oh, and the fact that you can't even plant sunflowers is just sad.

[jesswahyudi]

The real crime is calling groups “clubs” and not “neighborhoods”

[ilordepic]

"I absolutely hate the old pvz artstyle"- nobody

[Requilith]

This is genuinely saddening. The original plants vs zombie was like my entire childhood. It was one of my most favorite games of all time and i could play it any day of the week still today. To see a downfall like this is quite heartbreaking and just disappointing. It proves corporates don't give a shit about the people and just are chasing after what is the most profitable without caring about any other individuals.

[schino]

EA: "Oh look, a game with great game design, original graphics, and wonderful mechanics"
EA: "...not anymore!"

[ElectricOrange]

Bet this is gonna be one of those games where the ads are like, "MOM VS DAD"

[TerraBlo]

There is something you didnt notice
The generating sun "idea" was just genearing elixir lol

[bluebomber]

This honestly looks like a weird Chinese knock off

[floofball]

PvZ1: The Original everyone love
PvZ2: Playable and an upgrade to the original, but a little littered with microtransactions.
PvZ3: cloned garbage of garbage

[X-SPONGED]

3:50
Guy : *makes good 2D PvZ 3 concept art*
EA : "so you have chosen layoff"

[justas]

I feel like Pop Cap is slowly getting replaced by EA employees. Everything that made the original game special is just slowly getting replaced by soulless and greedy bullshit.
Fan-games and mods of the games are just way better.

[blueberryboy]

EA: Money grows from trees, and trees are plants, plants vs zombies have plants in it. Therefore it'll give us alot of money.

[jorgeorlandogonzalez]

4:58
Comparing this Gargantuar’s design to the other 2 from PvZ 1 and 2, this one is an abomination in my opinion.