Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare has local co-op on Xbox One

There have been a number of times over the last generation, when we’ve been told that local split-screen just isn’t possible because the graphics of a game is SO good. I remember receiving a lecture from a rep at Eurogamer about why Hunted: The Demon’s Forge couldn’t possibly have local co-op because of how gorgeous the visuals were. Of course, it had co-op, but the representative firmly denied it anyway.

It seems that will be less of an issue with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and there’s no better indicator of that than with Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare. This is a game almost entirely built around the idea of working as a team in order to complete a level. Xbox 360 players will need to take the fight online, some relying on strangers (which is a hit and miss thing at the best of times). Xbox One users will be able to play couch co-op, taking on zombies with the help of someone sat next to them.

From Examiner reporter Scott Grill, who asked Popcap producer Brian lindley for an explanation:

“The Xbox One gives us the horsepower to do proper split-screen mode, whereas on Xbox 360 it wouldn’t have been possible without severely compromising frame rate and quality and stuff like that.

“It’s one of those things where with next-generation hardware we’re like, ‘yeah we can do split-screen and we can hold the frame rate and make it look really good.’ That’s the primary reason that it exists on Xbox One only.”

It’s a fair explanation and one that holds true. Is it a feature in a game worth upgrading over? That depends on how much you love couch co-op, and how much you love squashing zombies.