Garden Ops starts on the Matchmaking main menu. Selecting the Garden Ops option lets you choose public or private games, and four difficulty settings: Easy, Normal, Hard, and CRRRRRAAAZY!! The higher the difficulty setting, the greater your rewards if you succeed! Additionally, you can choose one of five maps, which should seem familiar to those who have played Team Vanquish, as all those maps are repurposed for Garden Ops. Remember, up to four players can play together online, and it’s also possible to have players hop in to a game that has already started, if their Matchmaking settings match that game.
Once a game of Garden Ops commences, you must pick one of the four Plant Classes or their Variants. You can switch to a different Class before setting a Garden down. After a Garden is chosen, you’re locked to that Class!
Before the actual Garden Op begins, you have to pick a location within a level to actually plant a Garden. Each of the five maps contains three potential Garden locations. Once you plant your Garden, pots where you can grow Potted Plants will appear in the general vicinity of the Garden. You’ll have 30 seconds before the first wave to set up any Potted Plants.
Each wave consists of multiple types of zombies thrown your way, from Standard Zombies to Zombie Heroes, to Rare Special Zombies, and even Boss Zombies summoned by the Zomboss Slots. During some waves, you’ll receive special challenges, such as hunting down a specific type of zombie (often indicated on your screen with special icons), hunting down Tombstones that are constantly summoning zombies onto the battlefield, defeating Special Zombie waves or Bosses, or surviving a wave with your Garden taking zero damage.
After surviving 10 waves of zombies and protecting your Garden, Crazy Dave will come to your rescue. You’re given 1 minute and 35 seconds to cross the map as quickly as possible, fighting off zombies as best you can, and reaching the landing zone where Crazy Dave will eventually pick you up.
As with all other multiplayer modes, you are granted bonus points for vanquishing your enemies. You gain additional points by completing challenges and surviving a full Garden Ops game. You’ll also be rewarded bonus Sticker Packs that can provide more Summonable Zombies or Potted Plants, or upgrades and special abilities for your plant and zombie Classes.