Plants vs. Zombies: Infinite Generation

Plants vs. Zombies: Infinite Generation is a MMORPG shooter set in the future of the Garden Warfare series. Unlike the previous games, it places heavy emphasis on LEAF, the Plants, Infinity Time and the Infinite Robots, which have since evolved into compact, high-speed, bipedal machines with a much more versatile arsenal. Nonetheless, the PvZ franchise's original premise continues to have influence on gameplay.

Plot
If there's one thing the Plants and Zombies could ever agree on, it's that when an infinite army of porcelain gnomes that shoot at everyone indifferently shows up at your doorstep who just so happen to carry the secret to perpetual energy and resources (and perhaps simply the joy of recklessly exploring an extradimensional space), you gotta drop everything on the topside and start blasting towards them and not each other.

Naturally, they did not plan on having other universes getting the same idea, maybe under different circumstances - an unexpected variable met with... mixed results.

It was either diplomacy or lots of lasers, bullets, and explosions. No in-between.

Set decades after Garden Warfare 2 in a utopian Earth brought to peace, prosperity, and innovation by the time crystals, the Infinite Robots were not spared by the advancements in technology, shrinking down from roaring colossi to robotic humanoid super soldiers much, much stronger than the first prototypes could ever dream of. Your story begins as a test pilot for one of LEAF's defense contractors, which has just come out with a proof-of-concept for programmable matter. Feeling the need to demonstrate its strength, the system is strapped to a spare IR frame, and both it and you are sent on your merry way to what seems to be a normal transport mission by LEAF.

However, the events that transpired from that moment onward would be anything but normal.

Gameplay
Infinite Generation is an MMORPG/shooter hybrid, more commonly referred to as a looter-shooter. As such, its gameplay model heavily revolves around standard shooter fare mixed in with moderate amounts of RPG mechanics, such as gameplay-affecting stats, quests, loot-oriented progression, and complex mechanics.

Character Creation
Upon starting the game, you will be prompted to choose a species and element, along with cosmetic modifiers. Your choices provide minor bonuses and perks in-game, and serve as your avatar in social spaces, plus certain events.

IR Phasers
Main articles: Tachyon Phase, Agios Phase, Eclipse Phase

Upon completing the tutorial, you will be asked to choose a specialization for your IR frame, later codenamed by LEAF as "Phasers." This will determine the armor you can use and will slightly modify some events and dialogue.

The primary stat for these classes is what their class ability's cooldown is affected by.

Loot
Armor, weapons, and materials follow the standard white-green-blue-purple-yellow progression system found in similar RPGs. A further breakdown of the tiers is as follows:

Weapons
Full list: Plants vs. Zombies: Infinite Generation/Weapons

Weapons fit into three equip slots on your character, specifically: Furthermore, every weapon belongs to a specific type. With some exceptions, they can be classified as one of the following:
 * Kinetic: Good old fashioned bullets and melee weapons that aren't charged with anything. Deals full damage against unshielded enemies, and effective against kinetic shielding. Loses efficiency against energy shields.
 * 00e000: Everything else that still passes as a gun or melee weapon. Slightly less effective against bare armor, but is twice as strong against energy shielding.
 * f987ff: The big guns and the most heavy-duty of melee weapons. They can either be kinetic or energy, and have a dedicated ammo type.
 * Auto Rifles: Pull the trigger, shots come out non-stop until you run out; easy as that. Medium range, low recoil.
 * Burst Rifles: Exactly what it says on the tin - every trigger pull fires a burst of three or four consecutive shots. More range than auto rifles, lower range than marksman's rifles. Variable recoil.
 * Marksman's Rifles: Long-range single-shot rifles with varying levels of recoil.
 * Blasters: Tiny single-shot guns that pack a comparatively enormous punch. Short to medium range, moderate recoil.
 * Pistols: Like a blaster, but weaker yet more reliable. Comes in several different subtypes and firing patterns.
 * Swords: When the standard sabers in everyone's backpacks won't do, it's time to break these out. Comes in several different archetypes which behave slightly differently from each other. Also, they may not even be swords, but try telling that to the record keepers at LEAF.
 * Sniper Rifles: Scope in, find enemy head (or other weak spot), pull trigger, watch them crumple like a house of cards. Very long range and variable recoil.
 * Rocket Launchers: Do we really have to explain how these work?
 * Mega Launchers: Big guns of all shapes and (relative) sizes that can be charged up for great effect, either as a form of mass destruction or a concentrated, precise payload of single-target damage.

Armor
Full list: Plants vs. Zombies: Infinite Generation/Armor

Equippable armor is mounted to five slots: Armor pieces start out blank in terms of perks, with slots for varying amounts of perks depending on their rarity once the Rare quality is reached; when inserting perks (unlocked through gameplay), they must fit under an upgradeable cost.
 * Helmets, which contain targeting perks,
 * Arms, which contain reload speed and some ability-related perks,
 * Chest armor, which contains ammo reserve and anti-flinch perks,
 * Legs, which contain ammo finder and handling perks, and
 * Backpacks, which contain miscellaneous perks.

Aside from perks, armor pieces also roll with random amounts of the following six stats:
 * Mobility: How fast you can move and how high you can jump. Controls the class ability cooldown of Eclipse Phase users.
 * Defense: Your maximum effective health. Controls the class ability cooldown of Tachyon Phase users.
 * Regeneration: How fast you recover from wounds. Controls the class ability cooldown of Agios Phase users.
 * Potential: How fast your ultimate ability regenerates.
 * Strength: How fast your melee ability regenerates.
 * Dexterity: How fast your throwable ability regenerates.

Gear Score
All weapons and armor pieces in the game drop with a universal "Power" stat attached to them, serving as the primary numeric stat for determining damage and defense. The combined Power of all of your equipment is averaged to create Gear Score, the main form of progression in the game. As a result, certain gear score thresholds must be exceeded in order to start certain activities.

Additionally, gear score determines your damage and defense against enemies, which also have gear scores assigned to them, using the following properties:
 * Every point of gear score that either a player or an enemy has that exceeds the other side's score will provide a scaling damage and defense buff, up to a hard cap.
 * If a player is 30 or more points below an enemy's score, the enemy becomes immune to any and all damage, with their shots becoming highly lethal.
 * If a player is 50 or more points above an enemy's score, the game stops calculating extra damage and defense beyond that point (unless a Shadow plant saps the enemy, raising the effective hard cap to 55 points.)

Gamemodes
Infinite Generation, as an RPG, has its gameplay divided up into numerous modes. Any activity in the game can be classified as one of the following:
 * Social: Non-combat zones where you can chat and organize with other players, talk to NPCs, and access certain services.
 * Free-roam: The default gamemode for combat zones. Explore the various worlds freely, participate in randomly-occurring events, and discover secrets.
 * Story Mission: Progress through several campaigns to add to your nascent legend.
 * The Virtual Warrior EXA is Born: No thanks to several belligerent splinter universes, a conflict of old is rearing its ugly head once more - but with your new powers, the multiverse might have a chance of stopping it in its tracks for good.
 * Echo of a Shattered Youth: Work with a mysterious resistance group in a splintered timeline to stop a robotic empire from infiltrating the multiverse.
 * The Dark Mirror: Root out and destroy a monstrous, twisted parallel version of LEAF before its god complex transcends time and space.
 * Quest Mission: Like a story mission, but tied to quests independent from the primary campaigns. Usually shorter in length, but may be more complex in mechanics.
 * Arena: Fight to the finish under certain conditions and fulfill unique mechanics to progress forward. At the end of any Arena-type mode, players can use a key item related to the specific mode to generate loot.
 * Vortex Trials: Help an eccentric researcher finish a new wave of specialized, modular IR combat solutions by gathering telemetry under odd simulated circumstances.
 * Raid: Long, highly complex, and difficult missions with multiple encounters and bosses meant for a full pre-assembled team, and the source of many different exclusive Elite and Mythic items significantly more powerful than their standard brethren.

Characters
Main article: Plants vs. Zombies: Infinite Generation/Characters

Enemies
Main article: Plants vs. Zombies: Infinite Generation/Enemies

Infinite Generation features a number of enemy factions to battle, each with their own unique mechanics.
 * Belligerents: Hostile plants and zombies from other universes piloting regular IR frames. Catch-all term for numerous factions encountered in the game (see the main article for more information.)
 * S.A. Legion: A strange, organized horde of wiry yet surprisingly durable and lethal robots with highly advanced AI, and which are hostile to all forms of life.
 * Otherworld Frames: Horrific, biomechanical monstrosities synthesized as counters to the equivalent IR frames fielded by allied forces. While the above term is LEAF's designation for these abominations, their creators simply refer to them as the frame they copy.

Trivia

 * This game contains numerous references to favorite franchises of the lead developer.
 * The general gameplay model of this game is largely derived from Destiny and its sequel.