Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare

Prototype Info Prerelease Info Unused GraphicsPretty interesting stuff here. Unused AnimationsIt's my favorite class, Balloon Boy...?

Debugging Material#

A pause screen button titled QA Debug is a hidden button that can be accessed for accessing various developer options. Upon clicking the button, you have the ability to bring up various debug options and a button to exit the menu (I Am Lost).

UI Debug#

• Damage Type - Does nothing. Selectable options are normal, turret, fire, ice, toxic, energy, and electric.
• Damage Range - Does nothing. Selectable options are small, normal, critical, and blocked.
• Trigger Damage Message - Does nothing.
• HUD Stress Test - Puts the player into an empty UI state.
• Language - Does nothing. Value cannot be changed.
• Coop Slots Debug - Provides UI debugging for the Zomboss Slots in Garden Ops.
• Coop Slots Demo - Puts the player into an empty UI state.

Gameplay Debug#

• Add Health - Does nothing. No values to change.
• Teleport to Objective - Does nothing. No values to change.
• Instant Capture - Does nothing. No values to change.
• Rush Timer - Does nothing. Selectable options are pause and unpause.
• Jump to Wave - Does nothing. No values to change.
• Show Position - Does nothing. No values to change.
• Disable Ability Cooldown (must also be set on server) - Does nothing. No values to change.
• Reset Garden Health - Does nothing.
• Add Garden Health - Does nothing.
• Rush Zombies Win - Does nothing.
• Rush Plants Win - Does nothing.
• TDM Zombies Win - Does nothing.
• TDM Plants Win - Does nothing.
• Disable Preround - Does nothing.

AI Debug#

• Pathfinding Debug - Does nothing. No values to change.
• Kill All AI - Does nothing. Selectable values are Team Neutral, Team Zombies, and Team Plants.
• Pause AI (must be host) - Does nothing. No values to change.
• Difficulty Select - Does nothing. No values to change.

Progression Debug#

• Sticker Shop - Opens the Sticker Shop. Puts you in an empty UI state if used more than once per round.
• Add Currency - Adds coins to your count based on the selected value. Selectable values are 1, 25, 100, 500, 1000, 100k.
• Wipe Inventory - Does nothing.
• Show Hidden Packs - Does nothing. Selectable values are false and true.
• Grant All Inventory - Unlocks all characters, customization options, upgrades, and increases consumable account by 10 million.
• Grant Unopened Packs - Grants most of the free sticker packs given to you at the start of the game.
• Redeem Code - Opens the redeem code page on Origin.
• Stop Next Purchase Before - Does nothing. No values to change.
• List Interrupted Purchases - Does nothing.
• Resume Interrupted Purchases - Does nothing. Selectable values are true and false.
• Award Active Challenge - Does nothing.
• Set Player Level - Does nothing. No values to change.
• Add Star Consumable - Does nothing. No values to change.
• Delete Bytevault Record - Does nothing.
• Wipe Stats - Does nothing.

Unused Models#

Zombot#

As seen in the original E3 reveal trailer of the game, Dr. Zomboss and his giant mech were originally going to be a boss. Despite being cut, it was still found in numerous pieces of promotional material, and the Cactus Canyon map features destroyed Zombots. The game's sequel, Garden Warfare 2, also features a Zombot as the end boss of the Zombopolis stage. Ironically, the Zombot was also planned to appear as a Garden Ops boss in the sequel, but was cut there as well.

Of course, his pilot, Dr. Zomboss, also has an unused model. A higher quality version of his model was used in some promotional material, and he even became playable in a way via the Boss Mode. A similar model also appears in Garden Warfare 2, in the ending cutscene for the Zombies winning in the Zomburbia map.

A van can also be seen attached to the back of the Zombot, which has a separate model. Perhaps it would've thrown this at the player like in the original Plants vs. Zombies?

In the files for the game, the 3 original animations used in the E3 reveal trailer can be found. Below is what they look like when applied to the model.

Bungee Zombie#

The Bungee Zombie from the original Plants vs. Zombies! Judging by some concept art, it would've been deployed by Dr. Zomboss when playing as him in Boss Mode, but such an ability doesn't exist in the final game. His model and textures still exist in the files. Perhaps he could've also appeared in the scrapped Zombot boss fight as well.

Mech Gargantuar#

The Mech Gargantuar from Plants vs. Zombies 2, not to be confused with the also cut Zombot boss from Plants vs. Zombies 1. Although it was scrapped in this game, the Mech Gargantuar would appear in the sequel, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, as a boss known as Gargantuar Prime, albeit with a different model.

Future Imp#

The Future Imp would've returned from Plants vs. Zombies 2, just like the Mech Gargantuar, likely as a spawnable zombie. Also like the Mech Gargantuar boss, it returned in the sequel, though with some slightly different textures.

Question Mark#

An unused model of a question mark which would've been used as the power-ups in the scrapped Super Team Vanquish mode.

Swat Zombie's rig#

The leftover rig for the Swat Zombie left in the files for the game, with the names of the bones included.

Hand Grenade#

The leftover model and rig for the hand grenade ability for the Gravedigger, a scrapped class. The ability, based off concept art and the names of the bones (as shown in the image), is a severed arm grabbing a grenade. Note that the grenade itself is untextured and the arm model is missing.

Grenade#

Another unused model for a grenade ability, according to the name of the model, its a "projectile" of the arm grenade ability, despite it not looking like the grenade that the other leftover model for the grenade ability has.

The model also seems to be uncomplete as theres parts in its textures which the UVs dont use.

Unused Audio#

Hand Grenade#

These unused audio files were used for the Scientist's cut Hand Grenade ability. The first sound effect was a sizzling sound, likely when it was moving, and the others were used for the bomb exploding depending on if it was close or far away from the player

Zombot#

An unused sound effect of the cut Zombot boss landing on the ground, which can be heard in the original E3 reveal trailer.

Mech Gargantuar#

An unused sound effect of the cut Mech Gargantuar being selected via the Boss Slots from Garden Ops.

Test Sound Files#

(Audio/Volume Warning)

Calibration-1khzSine.sps

Test_Beep_ac.sps

Includes some test sound effects, the long one was likely music tests, while the short one was most likely sound effect tests.

Unused Music#

Loading Music#

An unused 6th and 7th variation of the loading screen music. These were reused in Battle for Neighborville.

E3 Loon Skirmish#

An unused variation of Loon Skirmish, found in the E3 gameplay reveal trailer. Although similar, it does contain a choir around 13 seconds in, and has a different outro.

Instrumental Rah Rah Rah!#

An instrumental variation of Rah Rah Rah!

Alternate March Theme#

An alternate, unused version of the march theme found in Garden Ops, being a bit slower and containing more trumpets.

Unused Abilities/Weapons#

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Boss Mode Abilities#

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Boss Mode contains several abilities that are never used in game. Unfortunately, many of these do nothing upon use, though one can make a guess for their purpose based on the name. All of them, except for Supply Drops, use a placeholder icon.

• Flying NPC Wave - Does nothing
• Supply Drops - Summons a crate on the map that either summons a Dark Flower for plants or a Engineer Turret for zombies.
• Anti Commander - Does nothing
• Capture - Does nothing
• Defense Activation - Does nothing
• Mine Field - Does nothing
• Fire Weapon - Does nothing

Engineer Turret#

All of the following abilities can be viewed in the video below:

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An unused ability for the Engineer, upon use, places up to two Zombot Turrets at the Engineer's current location. Attempting to use it again with a turret already out will cause the oldest one to explode. This ability was shown off in the zombie class reveal trailer, suggesting that it was cut quite late into development.

Other Unused weapons#

• U_SunflowerTurret - Old heal flower for sunflower before her new one. Drops more sundrops than the normal one at a slower rate.
• U_AIZombieArmGrenade - Old ability meant for the former Grave Digger class. Supposedly would've deployed an AI controlled unit that would locate the closest enemy and detonate within close proximity dealing immense damage. Not functional and causes a crash when attempting to use it.
• U_E3_MAV_Drone - Drone from the E3 presentation back in 2013. It is created directly below the player instead of in front of them.
• U_EngineerJump - Super jump weapon for the engineer class. Only AI engineers have access to it but they don't use it due to lacking behavior for it.
• U_AI_EngineerAirStrikeTurret - Unused weapon for the unused level 4 version of the engineer turrets. Is an airstrike based attack similar to the zombot drone.
• U_AI_PeaMegaGatling - Unused weapon presumably for some kind of pea gatling based turret. Not certain if its for a turret that never made it into the game or if it's an old version of the gatling pea pots weapon.
• U_GooBlaster_Charge - Unused weapon that uses sticky explody ball vfx. Has an obscenely large magazine capacity and can be spam fired.
• U_AIAssaultRifle - Unlock asset that points towards Foot Soldiers primary. Is interestingly in a directory under the name "SoldierImpWeapon".
• U_HealingGravestone - Leftover unlock asset for another one of GraveDiggers abilities. Now points towards the regular zombie heal station.
• U_AI_ZombieTurretBeam - Unused turret weapon presumable for some kind of placeable zombie turret. Given zombies could build turrets at dedicated spots in the sequel, this is most likely some kind of prototype.
• U_AI_ZombotLazer - Likely meant for the giant zombot that goes unused in this game.
• U_OuthouseHeadbutt - Likely was supposed to be used by outhouse zombies but they just use the standard coffin head butt attack instead, leaving this unused.

Unused Game Modes#

Super Team Vanquish#

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An unused game mode similar to regular Team Vanquish, but question marks will occasionally appear on the map, and will give the player that collects it a temporary boost. Most maps only support up to 6 power-ups at a time, though strangely, the Garden Center map can have up to 28 at a time.

Aside from that, other differences include both players having to get 100 vanquishes in order to win as opposed to 50. The UI still uses 50 vanquishes, but the game won't end until one team reaches 100 of them.

The many power-ups the player can obtain include:

• Super Jump: Multiples the player's jump height by 4. Lasts 20 seconds
• Moneybags: Adds 10,000 points to your in-game score, giving you an extra 10,000 coins at the end of the round.
• Armor: Reduces all damage by 50% for 20 seconds.
• Backup: Spawns AI reinforcements of a few of the various classes in the game. Summons Zombie AI for zombies and summons Plant AI for plants.
• Speedy: Multiplies the player's movement speed by 1.5 for 20 seconds.
• Star Power: Reduces damage by 75%, multiplies movement speed by 1.8, and instantly vanquishes any enemy the player walks into at the cost of not being able to use weapons. Lasts 20 seconds
• Healing Aura: Provides a health regen boost for the player and nearby teammates in a 4 meter radius. Regenerates 5 health every 0.5 seconds for 15 seconds.

Funnily enough, this scrapped game mode has scrapped power-ups.

• Ability Reset: Upon being collected, the ability refresh for all abilities is almost completely reset.
• Heal: Instantly heals the player for 200.
• Mini-Heal: Same as Heal, but only heals for 50.

Chomp Virus#

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An infection style game mode which sees the Zombie team surviving from the Plant team, which is full of Chompers, for a set amount of time. When a zombie is vanquished, they are sent to the Plant team as a Chomper, tasked with vanquishing the other Zombies. The zombies must survive the Chompers and collect Antidote items in order to survive. Zombies must collect an Antidote every 45 seconds to prevent themselves from being infected and getting vanquished automatically. On top of this, everyone takes twice the amount of damage than normal.

After all zombies are vanquished, the round ends and a new one begins, with 15 second prep time.

The Antidotes themselves, despite what their spotting icons look like, are actually Air Tanks from Driftwood Shores, most likely as a placeholder.

Watch on YouTube

Interestingly, there are also some buffs that would've likely been given to the Chompers in this mode. The buff known internally as "ChompVirus_SuperChomper" gives the player health regeneration, 4x increased jump height, and 1.5x increased movement speed.

There is also a variant to this game mode, which is also scrapped. This allows the Zombies to win via collecting Radio Parts to summon a rescue, which would allow them to win. The AI for the Chompers are also at an increased difficulty.

SplitScreen on PS3#

The PLAYSTATION 3 version of garden warfare lacked the splitscreen 2 player mode. In reality it is just removed from the selection array table. If the game gets forced into the "Split Screen" option by replacing an existing selection it will properly show this screen. Interestingly it displays the Xbox One controller graphic on this version. A secondary player cant be added in since the function of detecting inputs in this screen was seemingly removed.

Prototype Zombot Arena#

The Zombot was content that was planned for the game since launch, but was ultimately scrapped. The arena is located within the Zomboss Estate map, the same place where the Zombot was originally seen during the game's E3 showcase. Normally, this is never loaded within the map, so you must force the game to load the subworld data in order for it to show up in the level.

The Zombot has two unique attacks: The first attack will consist of him throwing out 2-4 walnuts as seen in Wall-Nut Hills.

The second attack will involve him spawning in purple rocks of some sort. These rocks will deal roughly 30 damage each second while standing in them. The rocks stay around for five seconds.

Unused Code#

SWAT Zombie#

Code for an unused class(?) known as the SWAT Zombie can be found referenced in the game's files. This code also exists in Garden Warfare 2 and Battle for Neighborville, but with some content removed, such as the skeleton information. In Garden Warfare 2, the textures for the Grave Digger cameo found in Z-Tech Factories also has textures for a SWAT Zombie, possibly meaning that it was scrapped sometime during Grave Digger's creation.

Healing Gravestone#

Under the file named 'Gravedigger' are references to a scrapped 'HealingGravestone' ability. Given how the Grave Digger was planned to be the zombie healing class before the Scientist was created, this was likely the predecessor to the Healing Station ability. This, aside from the Hand Grenade (which was considered to be an ability for the Scientist before getting scrapped entirely) and his spotting and boss icons, are the only remaining references to the scrapped Grave Digger character still left in the game's files. This code is also still present in Garden Warfare 2

Unused Character Upgrades#

Within the UI set up for the sunflower classes upgrades, at the bottom of the file are 2 additional entries related to metal petal, describing a 4th and 5th upgrade for her. In the final game, every character only gets 3 upgrades, traditionally being ammo, reload, and damage, so what these last 2 for metal petal would've done is not certain.

Platform Differences#

To do: If needed, maybe more info?

On April 28th, 2026, the servers of the PlayStation 3 version were shut down, rendering this version no longer accessible.