Why a 2016 game is still the best entry-level shooter
When kids start asking for shooter games, the jump from Mario Kart to modern online multiplayer is steep. Most popular shooters either lean into realistic gunplay or wrap the player in an aggressive web of seasonal battle passes, rotating item shops, and sweaty competitive lobbies.
Garden Warfare 2 sits in a sweet spot alongside Nintendo's Splatoon. It uses the exact same mechanical bones as adult class-based shooters like Overwatch or Team Fortress 2—managing ability cooldowns, holding capture points, flanking snipers, protecting healers—but wraps the whole thing in absurd vegetable-versus-undead slapstick. You aren't calling in a tactical airstrike; you're playing as Kernel Corn calling in a "Butter Barrage" where a hot pat of butter lands on a zombie's head, followed by a rain of exploding cobs.
Why players still pick this over the newer sequel
EA released a follow-up in 2019 called Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville. Counterintuitively, Garden Warfare 2 is the better game and has kept a more dedicated fanbase.
The magic of GW2 is its variant system. There isn't just one Peashooter; there is a Fire Pea, Ice Pea, Toxic Pea, Agent Pea, and Plasma Pea, each changing how the character shoots and plays. Kids love the collection aspect of opening Sticker Packs to find the last piece of a rare character. Battle for Neighborville stripped all those variants out in favor of a more generic upgrade system, which flattened the excitement of unlocking new stuff.
The right setup for a stress-free experience
Because the game is older and cheap (often on sale for under $5 or included in EA Play / Xbox Game Pass Ultimate), it's an easy yes, provided you set it up right:
- Play on console if possible: PlayStation and Xbox versions support two-player local split-screen and don't suffer from the script-kiddie hacking problems that plague the PC servers.
- Use Solo Play for younger kids: Walk over to the multiplayer portal in the Backyard hub and select "Solo Play" or "Private Play." You can customize a full match with AI teammates and opponents, and the game still rewards the player with XP and coins just like a real online match.
- Lock down the wallet: The Sticker Shop lets players buy coin packs with real money to speed up unlocks. Since earning coins through regular gameplay is generous and fast, there is zero reason to spend real cash.
