Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare

This page details one or more prototype versions of Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare.

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

To do: Clean this page up to a higher standard.

On Halloween 2025, an early build of Garden Warfare from December 2nd 2013 was found and leaked online by Hidden Palace user Cheeto via scraping the Xbox 360 Marketplace.

The build includes various changes, such as using the E3 2013 UI, Zombies using a different healing/health regeneration sound (which was later reused for the Mega Heal Bomb) compared to Plants, unfinished Chomper variants and ability differences.

General#

• Plants and Zombies had their own healing/health regeneration sound effects.
  • In the release game, both Plants and Zombies use the Plant health regeneration sound, while the Zombie health regeneration sound was reused for the Mega Heal Bomb ability.
• Killcams used to show the player who killed you zooms into the character however the 2 ai shown in the youtube videos have a bugged killcam making it 3rd person instead.
• This build had rather poor hit registration and is nearly unplayable with characters who have no splash damage or not a spray chomper.
  • However spray chompers are the only characters who can win ops in the alpha due to the difficulty setting being broken causing waves after wave 1 to become extremely hard.
• Stickers are called "cards" in this build.
  • Sticker shop is also called "Card store" and doesnt work in game currently, only changes noted in the files is the crazy sticker pack having yeti than ice pea and super duper having marine biologist than soldier with the buffalo hat.
• The old UI from E3 is still present in this build, suggesting that it was likely changed last minute before the game launched

Class Differences#

Peashooter#

Watch on YouTube

• Pea Gatling had an overheating mechanic (similar to All-Star's Football Cannon) that lasted 6 seconds.
• Retro Gatling uses the same ability icon as Pea Gatling and doesn't work in-game currently.
  • However the files suggest it was originally much different as it overheats like Pea Gatling BUT shoots much slower and has infinite ammo.
• Super Pea Jump reuses Hyper sound effects.
• Sombrero Bean Bomb uses the same high-pitched VO that was heard in the E3 2013 build.

Chomper#

• Stealth Chomper
  • Unused/Unfinished Variant. Looks and acts identical to reg Chomper. Was given Frenzy Chomper's speed boost gimmick and later renamed to Hot Rot Chomper.
  • However according to the files, stealth chomper originally acted with a health drain mechanic meaning he had to eat a zombie to regain health or suffer losing health, they also have a sticker book description and upgrade's.
• Frenzy Chomper
  • Unused/Unfinished Variant. Has the head of Count Chompula, body of regular Chomper, same bite sound's as Chomper, gains a speed boost after swallowing a Zombie. Got turned into Count Chompula, while his speed boost gimmick was given to Stealth Chomper, who later got renamed to Hot Rod Chomper.
  • Frenzy Chomper can be seen in 1 promotional image AND one trailer meaning he was changed last minute.
  • Noticeably has 111HP which is a odd health choice.

Sunflower#

• Rainbow Heal Beam was originally called Tether Heal Beam and resembled a translucent Heal Beam.
• Sun Beam originally had a overheat mechanic similar to alpha Pea Gatling and lasted 6 seconds.
• Solar Flare Beam is called "Void Ray" however it cant be used in-game currently, however the files suggest it had infinite ammo.
• Heal Flower had a different texture being more golden petals than orange, this can be seen in the "Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare gameplay & commentary" video also known as "The London Build" video.
• Dark Flower was called Shadow Flower, had different vocal sound effects, and had the same ability icon as the Daisy Heal Flower.
  • Daisy Heal Flower was the original heal flower's for sunflower however its icon is used as a placeholder for Dark Flower.

Cactus#

• Future Cactus' primary was a rapid fire overheat mechanic, and is using Ice Cactus' primary projectile as a placeholder.
• Artichoke Drone has a completely different camera angle with it being more lower than it should be, the corn strike also takes a bit longer to deploy.
• Potato Nugget Mine is heavily bugged and crash's the game if attempted to be used.

Foot Soldier#

Watch on YouTube

• Super Stink Cloud is just a bigger Stink Cloud, unlike its release version, where it's a smaller Stink Cloud that does more damage, uses the same sound effects and ability icon as Stink Cloud.
• Rocket Leap only had 1 charge instead of 2, uses the same sound effects and ability icon as Rocket Jump.
• Multi-Rocket fires 3 rockets at once, instead of firing 4 rockets one at a time, uses the same sound effects and ability icon as ZPG.

Engineer#

• Unused reload animation where he would remove the concrete magazine, add a new one, and hit the new magazine on his hard hat 2 times.
  • However in the files Electrician has a unused reload that's not used in game at all.
• Zombot Drone was originally was called "Engineer Drone" in the ability's description, in-game it functions identical to its final counter part, however has no shooting animation.
• Rocket Drone was originally called "Harrier Drone" and has a first-person camera compared to the third-person camera, its weapon is just a rapid fire Zombot Drone laser but deals no damage at all, the cone strike takes a while to deploy, its ability icon is reusing the original "Engineer Turret" ability icon as a placeholder
• Turbo Jackhammer has no model and reuses Jackhammers sounds.

Scientist#

• Energy Warp was originally called "Cloaking Device" but functions identical to Warp.
• Sticky Explody Ball originally had 1 ammo which can be seen in the same "Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare gameplay & commentary" video.
• Mega Heal Bomb was originally called "Sticky Explody Bomb" and functioned the same as Sticky Explody Ball, reuses the unused Scientist version of the Arm Grenades icon as a placeholder.
• Armored Heal Station functions identical to final however once used you can't shoot, zoom or use abilities in turn forcing you to respawn or get vanquished.

All-Star#

• Ultra Tackle does 100 damage, uses the same sound effects as Sprint Tackle and stops abruptly after hitting a plant, similar to its in-game tutorial demonstration video and how Sprint Tackle acts in Battle for Neighborville.
• Long Bomb was originally called "Imp Cluster" and reuses the old Imp Punt mechanics, once fired the Imp will run around looking for the nearest plant before exploding, this can still be seen in the Imp Punt tutorial demonstration video in-game.
• Rugby Star's primary seems broken and can fire for an infinite amount of time with a small overheat penalty, in turn you can get the Mega Heal Flowers health down to half health before overheating.

Miscellaneous Differences#

Mystic Flower#

• Mystic Flowers charge up effects are much different with the pattern swirls compared to finals glowing look, she has 11 ammo compared to her 10 ammo in final and reuses Sunflowers shooting sound for her charge up sound, oddly her charge up shot can deal fire damage to zombies though its very inconsistent.

Fire Cactus and Power Cactus#

• Both Fire Cactus and Power Cactus have different rate-of-fires in the alpha however there barely noticeable.
  • Fire Cactus has a fast rate-of-fire of 200 than the finals 150 rate-of-fire making alpha Fire Cactus 50% faster when shooting.
  • Power Cactus has a slow rate-of-fire of 150 than the finals 175 rate-of-fire making alpha Power Cactus 25% slower when shooting.

Marine Biologist, Astronaut and Chemist#

• All 3 have changes that the final changed.
  • Marine Biologist has a much faster rate-of-fire than the final has which can be seen in the "Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare gameplay & commentary" video, the rate-of-fire is 200 than the finals 120 rate-of-fire making alpha Marine Biologist noticeably faster to his final counterpart.
  • Astronaut's weapon effects are using Scientists effects as a placeholder.
  • Chemist oddly has a whopping 11 ammo compared to the finals non upgraded 6 ammo, when shooting certain objects some fire effects are mixed into Chemists weapon effects but deals no fire damage making it unknown why its mixed into the effect, strangely Chemists backpack has a trail effect which was removed in the final. It's unknown why they removed the detail.

Stickerbook Entry Differences#

• While not accessible in the alpha, the files give us a insight to how the stickerbook would've been like, most notable are the character descriptions which are either extended, different or in the case of Stealth and Frenzy Chomper, completely different.

Fire Flowers Extended Description#

• While final Fire Flowers stickerbook description is "Rumor has it that a Sunflower once went on a date with a Fire Pea..." alpha actually has a extended version which can be seen in a few different languages like Spanish.
  • Alpha reads: "Rumor has it that a Sunflower went on a date with a Fire Pea and when she leaned in to give him some sun she caught fire and that was that."
  • Noticeably the ps3 Spanish version also has/had the early Fire Flower stickerbook entry.

Mystic Flowers Altered Description#

• While final Mystic Flowers stickerbook description is "The Mystic Flower is terribly mysterious. Some think she came from the past. Others believe she came from the future. Crazy Dave thinks she came from the leftovers in his fridge." alpha has a altered version.
  • Alpha reads: "The Mystic Flower is terribly mysterious - she senses that she has an extra sense that she will tap into when the stars align."

Stealth and Frenzy Chomper Descriptions#

• While we know those two as "Hotrod Chomper" and "Count Chompula", alpha has of course different stickerbook descriptions for the two which in Stealth Chompers description kinda sheds light into his design and or features.
  • Stealth Chompers: "The Stealth Chomper is the most elusive of Chompers - able to use a chameleon like approach to blending into the environment to almost disappear completely."
  • Frenzy Chompers: "The Frenzy Chomper is the fastest of all chompers, always on the edge of control - his amazing speed is offset by his lack of health."

Maps#

• Maps had different names
  • Chomp Town was called Urban Center.
  • Cactus Canyon was called Desert Palms.
  • Port Scallywag was called Pirate Museum.
  • Sharkbite Shores was called Harbor Village.
  • Zomboss Estate was called Zomboss Mansion.
  • Wallnut Hills was called Suburbia.
    • Even though Wallnut Hills LevelData ain't in the alphas files, a few strings exist for Wallnut Hills.