EA and PopCap Games' upcoming third-person shooter for home consoles and PC will have a special mode that wasn't in the original Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare. What is that mode? A solo mode. One of the most requested features for the first game will now be available in the sequel.

Attack of the Fanboy spotted the latest developer diary from PopCap Games that covers the new solo-play mode, which sees players being able to enjoy the game offline with just three other AI teammates. Check out the developer diary below.

The video explains how players who don't want to play online can avoid the hassles of multiplayer with other players – or if they just want to practice before going online – can engage in battle in the single-player modes. The solo play allows players to pick their character, choose a map and choose a mode to play.

In addition to the solo mode that they've implemented, the video covers some of the new character features and specials, including the ability to use weapons like the arc caster, similar to the one from Star Wars: Battlefront 2, which can hop from one enemy to the next if they're in close proximity. They also cover another character's ability to turn enemies into goats or to slow them down, turning the battlefield into a crowd-controlled fight.

One of the things that actually really stood out in the video is the ability to mess around with game modifiers. While a lot of people enjoyed the original Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, many thought that it lacked depth outside of DLC. Well, with the sequel there are built-in features that can be accessed to completely change up the gameplay.

For instance, there are modifiers like low gravity, super-speed, infinite ammo, an explore mode and a “Super Crazy Knock-back Mode”. Another feature that's in the crazy settings is low health...which will likely end up being a favored mode for competitive players. It might make the game feel more realistic as players will have to strategically approach the opposition and use tactical awareness of the map to avoid being killed in just a few shots.

It really does sound like PopCap Games are putting a lot of effort into expanding the game's content this time around. There were quite a few complaints about the DLC in the original Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, and the feeling as if the game wasn't quite complete without it. It appears as if this time around the game will be feature rich just right out of the package.

The ability to play all the modes and features in solo play or offline in split-screen mode – and yes, there is a split-screen mode this time around – makes it a far more viable purchase than the original game. Split-screen was actually the deal-breaker for a lot of fans of Halo when they found out it wasn't in Halo 5. So maybe the people who passed on 343's FPS will give PopCap's TPS a try?

You can look for Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 to launch on PC, PS4 and Xbox One on February 23rd, 2016.

Product placement sure has gotten weird. The latest oddball mix comes from a partnership between Cheetos and Target, along with a game that ostensibly has no connection to either of those entities, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. Get ready to don some cheetah spots on your favorite foliage as Chester Cheetah dives into the fray.

I actually came upon this news by watching some random gentleman play the game via the PlayStation 4's streaming app. He was patrolling a destroyed city as a shambling member of the undead when, out of nowhere, a Chomper exploded out of the ground and consumed him. This particular Chomper, though, featured a skin that looked unmistakably like a certain snack-food addicted feline from TV commercials. The guy running the scream laughed and said he'd never seen that skin before, which got me to looking around on the internet for details.

I found my answer on Facebook, where this interesting partnership between the game, Target and Cheetos was officially announced. It may not be the typical way most things transpire, but in today's social media-oriented space it's not that surprising either.

It turns out that I don't do enough chip purchasing at my local Target, because that's where I would have found out about the promotion a bit earlier. Currently ongoing and running until lord knows when, you can grab a special DLC code in specially marked bags of Cheetos in order to grab a couple of skins for Garden Warfare on any version of the game, including both PlayStation home consoles, both Xbox machines and PC.

The codes grant access to exactly two skins, including one for the “Chester Chomper” I witnessed in action on the plants side, and one for Dr. Chester on the zombies team. According to the promotions deep and mysterious lore, Crazy Dave accidentally planted some cheese in his garden, resulting in a Chomper variant that dons sunglasses, a goatee and loads of lovely spots. Dr. Chester, on the other hand, decided to get his PhD in Cheeseology, hence his appropriate makeover.

For those of you who do not already have the game, you can also take advantage of an additional promotion that grants you a $10 Target gift card when you buy a pack of Cheetos and Garden Warfare at the same time.

Finally, plugging in your relevant information utilizing the code from the bag will also enter you for a chance to win a custom designed Xbox One, PS4 or controller through daily giveaways.

So, there you have it. Eat Cheetos, deck out your characters in some cheesy swag and maybe save some money at Target or, you know, win a cool controller or something.

Plants vs. Zombies, it’s a conflict as old as time itself. Throughout the ages, various sentient flora have waged war against the shambling masses of undead hordes and, this August, that never-ending struggle will finally spill over onto Sony consoles as Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare arrives on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.

If you want to get technical here, you could also argue that Garden Warfare will be launching for the PlayStation Vita on Aug. 19, too, thanks to that handy remote play functionality. There’s even tablet integration, for those who want to taste battle from the comfort of a control map.

Garden Warfare Lead Gameplay Designer Chris Fox made the launch date official on the PlayStaiton Blog, as well as sharing some info on survival tips for players new to the game and PlayStation-exclusive hats, which let you add a little PS flair to your chosen combatants. You can check out the latest "Deep Dive" trailer for Plants vs Zombies below.

Also on display is Garden Warfare’s split-screen survival mode, for those who want to enjoy the carnage with a living, breathing friend.

“In our split-screen mode, it’s you and a friend teaming up to protect your garden from an endless zombie horde,” Fox explained. “With just two plants versus all of Dr. Zomboss’ minions, character selection is key.” Garden Warfare is actually a class-based third-person combat title from Popcap Games, so it’s important that two players pick characters that will work well together. You wouldn’t want two tanks marching into battle with nobody to provide support, for instance. “The Pea Shooter and Sunflower are natural companions,” Fox continued. “He’s a mid-range specialist, and she’s a healer. Pretty obvious stuff, I know. But what you might not know is that the Chomper and Cactus make quite the formidable pair. The Chomper’s ability to bite right through armor allows him to take care of pesky Coffin and Outhouse zombies, leaving the Cactus free to snipe ranged zombies from a safe distance.”

To help keep things nice and customizable, each class of character has up to seven variants to play as, each with their own weapons and stats. Part of the fun is figuring out which version of each class best fits your play style between modes.

Finally, since hats are all the rage in arena battle games these days, it’s only natural that Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare would sport unique headgear as well. And, for the PlayStation crowd, some of those caps will likely look pretty familiar.

“The team wanted to do something special for all of the PlayStation fans, so we’ve created a batch of exclusive hats based on some of our favorite PlayStation characters,” Fox concluded. “These will be available exclusively to those who preorder through PlayStation Store or retailers, however the Fat Princess hat is a digital exclusive.”

Okay, all of you who are unable to play Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare due to console exclusivity on a machine you don't presently own, please take one step forward. Not so fast, PlayStation gamers. This morning, Pop Cap's Brian Lindley made the announcement that the off-kilter class-based shooter will finally be making its way to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.

That's right, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare will be hitting Sony game machines on Aug. 19, introducing a whole new audience to its unique blend of antics and cartoon violence. Originally exclusive to Xbox, it makes sense that it would take nearly a year for Garden Warfare to arrive on other platforms. It's stars plants and zombies, after all, and it isn't like either of those species moves at a much faster rat than a shamble.

Shown off originally during E3 2013 at the EA press conference, PvZ: GW was introduced to a crowd that seemed resistant at first, but then very intrigued once we got a good gander at the lovely Xbox One graphics and frantic gameplay. Having decided to start my next-gen gaming with a PlayStation 4, I'll admit I was a little bummed to hear that it would only be arriving on Xbox consoles.

Fast forward to this morning, and now we're hearing that the game is finally shambling onto the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.

“Ever since we announced Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare at E3 last year, we've frequently heard the question: 'When is PvZ: Garden Warfare coming to PlayStation,'” said Brian Lindley. “I'm ecstatic to finally be able to answer that question, as we've just announced that PvZ: Garden Warfare is coming to the PS3 and PS4 on August 19, 2014! PlayStation fans will also be able to experience the Garden Variety and Zomboss Down expansion content on day one.”

Well, there's a nice little surprise. Not only the game, but both current expansions, too. For those unfamiliar with the game, Garden Warfare steps away from the series' ever-popular 2D tower defense strategy formula and instead forges new ground as a 3D third-person shooter. Sounds crazy, I know, but it looks like an absolute blast in action.

At your fingertips will be a pair of playable modes including Garden Ops, which allows four players to take on wave after wave of enemies, and standard 24-player online shootouts between two opposing teams.

For those gaming on the PS4, you can expect the added boost of a natvie 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second. That version of the game will also offer remote play, letting you enjoy the game from anywhere with a speedy internet connection thanks to your trusty Vita. Oh, and the PS4 is getting split-screen co-op, too, which should come as a huge selling point for those of you who live near actual friends in the real world.

War is hell, especially when said war is being waged between a shambling corpse and a sentient cactus. And now that war is going to get a healthy dose of saloons, dust and tumbleweeds, as Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare gets a Wild West-themed bit of DLC called Zomboss Down. Better still, this bad boy is a free download for those who already own the game.

When Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare was first shown off at E3 2013, I wasn’t exactly sure what to think. It’s a class-based team combat game featuring the stars of a, until this point, casual tower defense game with cutsey characters and goofy sound effects. Not knocking Plants vs. Zombies here, just saying that it was difficult to understand how the series would make the jump to third-person online shooter.

It turns out that PVZ made the transition swimmingly, offering up the same adorable aesthetics, creative combat and loads of fun. Now that game is going to be bigger and better than ever with the launch of today’s new expansion, Zomboss Down.

“The new pack will feature even weirder shooter fun with the new Cactus Canyon Gardens and Graveyards Map, eight new playable characters, over 200 wild customization items, an increased level cap from 20 to 30 for each character, and all new challenges to accomplish on Xbox One and Xbox 360,” reads a statement from the developers.

Yeah, that’s a heck of a lot of new content to be cramming into the downloadable game, which should come as a welcome surprise to those who are enjoying Garden Warfare so far but would like a few more options when it comes to hitting the battlefield. And like I said, all of that new gaming goodness is free of charge, so you’ve got nothing to lose by downloading it and taking it for a spin.

As for the, um, story (?) of the DLC, the plants have destroyed Dr. Zomboss’ blimp and unleashed yet another horde of undead monsters who have now started wandering across the desert landscape in an attempt to reach a nearby golf course. Living in Arizona, I can confirm that thousands of zombies shamble toward local golf courses on a daily basis. But the in-game golf course comes with a twist.

“This golf course doubles as a super-secret facility housing a Cactus army on the unbelievable new Gardens and Graveyards Map, Cactus Canyon,” continues the DLC launch announcement. “Players will also enjoy…eight fun new characters like the Archeologist Zombie, the Wrestling Star Zombie, the Law Pea and the Sun Pharaoh. In addition, players will discover weapon upgrades and skins for new characters, new accessories, tattoos and facial hair, and even more.”

At the risk of sounding like a broken record: All of that stuff is free. I’m still pretty amazed by that fact. So get to downloading and get your butts back to the battlefield.

Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare has recently launched for the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One, and the online-only shooter has already been put into the pixel counter grinder with a video comparison between the two generation's graphics.

The video comparison comes courtesy of German site PC Games, where they have a simple minute and a half long showcase of what Plants Vs Zombies looks like between the Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

I hate to say it, but if you bought your Xbox One for games like Plants Vs Zombies, the next-gen upgrade is pretty minor. That's not to say that there aren't differences, because there are some pretty obvious changes between both consoles.

Despite some people in the media rallying to the cry of resolution-gate to say that you can't see the difference between varying resolutions, anyone who puts on the HD filter in the video above and makes it full-screen will clearly see the difference between the Xbox One running native 900p compared to the Xbox 360 running native 720p.

In fact, one of the biggest differences between the two is the resolution scale and anti-aliasing. On the Xbox 360's side – again, if you're watching it in full-screen mode – is that the jaggies are definitely more visible.

Just to break this down even more: when a game has a lower resolution it creates a blurry image to the viewer. The “jaggies” relate to jagged edges along the smooth surfaces. The lower the resolution, the fewer the pixels that are being processed and the more jagged the lines along any surface.

This is especially important in shooter games because lower resolutions affect the visibility of the player. If you're playing a game at 4K resolution you'll easily be able to spot a soldier's helmet from a bush-weed. At 720p or sub-HD resolutions, a bush or rock or any debris at a distance can sometimes be mistaken for an enemy, or vice versa.

In Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, the resolution disparity isn't too bad, however the 900p (upscaled to 1080p) versus the native 720p (upscaled to 1080p) still makes a pretty big difference. In fact, fast forward to the 0:54 mark where you can clearly see the Speedy Snail truck in the Xbox One version, and then see how the Xbox 360's version matches up.

I should also note that in addition to having a lower screen resolution, the Xbox 360 also suffers from lowered texture resolution, something that shines through in spades with the comparison between the Speedy Snail truck in both renditions. The 360 also buffers a lot slower than the Xbox One, too (and by slower, I'm talking seconds).

Another thing that becomes rather apparent between the two – even for something as simple as switching between the character classes – is the load time. The 360 suffers quite the wait between the two, but only by seconds.

The one thing that does happen to stay mostly the same between both versions is the lighting. Geomerics' Enlighten engine keeps both versions of the game looking fairly similar as far casting, reflections and shadows go. I guess being acquired by ARM didn't affect their ability to produce lighting any differently than before, eh? Then again, Geomerics has also had a great track record with lighting games running under the Frostbite engine, no matter what system the game is on.

As far as purchasing possibilities go for consumers: If you don't have an Xbox One, Plants Vs Zombies is not the game that is likely to change your mind if you're looking for a true next-gen experience. For now, the differences between the 360 and XB1 versions of the game are far too small to justify the $500 upgrade.

If the graphical difference and price disparity was more worthwhile, like going from a GTX 560Ti to a GTX 760Ti, then maybe it might be worth it.

The upcoming shooter for the Xbox brand consoles and PC, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, recently received some startling information about its resolution and frame-rate.

After acknowledging that the game wasn't going to have microtransactions at the launch of the game next week, in an interview with GameSpot, the game's producer, Brian Lindley, also made another revelation to Techno Buffalo in a very revealing interview, noting that...

This followed on a question as to whether or not the game would be running natively at 1080p. Lindley did acknowledge that the game would be upscaled to 1080p using the Xbox One's internal scaler.

It's yet another game – even one that isn't a multiplatform title like Watch Dogs or Thief – where despite being relegated to Xbox brand consoles, it still can't hit 1080p. Heck, it's not even one of those high-end games where it's pushing real next-gen visuals, or bankably distinct graphics that publishers use to say “This is the greatest looking game across any console!”

I do at least have to give Crytek that edge... Ryse may be a stilted, unoriginal and repetitively derivative experience, but at least the game is a graphical powerhouse... at 900p and 30 frames per second.

It looks like Plants Vs Zombies is sacrificing 1080p to manage 60 frames per second. On the upside, at least the game isn't 720p at 30fps.

Gamespot reached out for further clarification from Popcap Games, and they received this following, PR-friendly response...

The reason, however, for the lack of native 1080p at 60fps is Frostbite 3.

It's not a reason for blame, but a distinction for explanation.

The Frostbite 3 game engine is the same piece of excelled software technology that helped bring Battlefield 4 to life on PC and home consoles. It should also be noted that the game's tech strained even the PS4 to output at sub-1080p, and relegating the Xbox One to run the game at native 720p and 30fps.

In a way, though, this could be cause for concern given that the engine being relegated and limited in some of its features to maintain parity or acceptable performance levels on the Xbox One could prove to be problematic in the future, especially when DICE decides to iterate and upgrade the engine.

You can look for Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare to launch next week for the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One, with a spring release set for the PC version. It might be something to help hold you over until Titanfall launches in March.

The upcoming multiplayer shooter Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare will allow players to take on the role of the marauding undead for a change. A new trailer from PopCap Games reveals the types of zombies you can become.

There are four zombie classes in the trailer. Each has a different weapons and abilities at their disposal. The Soldier is equipped with a Z-1 Assault Blaster, jetpack and rocket launcher. They also have grenades that can create purple stink clouds.

The All-Star resembles the football player zombies from the original PvZ. He can sprint tackle enemies or fire footballs at them with his portable cannon. This undead athlete is also able to punt exploding imps or deploy tackling dummies.

The Engineer, like his Team Fortress 2 counterpart, is able to construct turrets to lay down cover fire. He also carries sonic grenades, a jackhammer and a concrete gun. He appears to use his jackhammer as a pogo stick so he can quickly traverse the battlefield.

Garden Warfare's final zombie class is the Scientist. This braniac wields a goo blaster as well as "sticky explody balls." His main utility is setting up heal stations for his teammates. To evade enemy fire, he can warp short distances.

I was very skeptical of Garden Warfare when it was first announced at E3 this summer. It sounded like an April Fool's Joke, to be honest. I have to admit that all the footage I've seen so far looks fun, though. Most multiplayer shooters are either modern-day or sci-fi so cartoonish battles between plants and zombies would be a really interesting switch.

PvZ: Garden Warfare is in development for Xbox One, PC and Xbox 360. PopCap has indicated that it may hit other platforms as well, though. Don't be surprised if it winds up on PS4 and/or PS3, then. The game's expected to debut in early 2014.