There was a moment, very early on in Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted that triggered the strongest hit of nostalgia I’ve possibly ever experienced. At the end of that very first mission when you collect your first seed packet for the Sunflower and that jazzy little piano flourishes plays, I was transported back to my dingy student digs, sat on a beanbag chair in the too-hot loft, parked in front of my Xbox 360 where I fell in love with Plants vs. Zombies for the first time. Replanted might not be the most careful or inventive remake, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is one of the most addictive games you’ll ever play.
If you’ve played the original then, if I’m being brutally honest, little has changed here. It’s the same great game you played 15 years ago. You’re there to help the lovable Crazy Dave protect his house from some (surprisingly polite) zombies, by positioning a large variety of plants on his front lawn to drive them back. It’s the quintessential tower defence game, and still the best example of the genre.
Zombies come in nearly as many flavours as plants, so the game quickly falls into a fun routine of scoping out the zombies that are going to attack, then building out an arsenal of plants that’ll combat them best. Ice Peashooters will help slow down the charging Football Player Zombies, leaving your regular Peashooters to do more damage. Wallnuts can be used as a first line of defence against zombies, bringing them to a halt as they waste valuable seconds trying to chomp through.
My favourite, the Chomper, is basically a Piranha Plant from Super Mario. Putting these directly behind Wallnuts was always my go-to tactic as they’ll reach forward and grab any zombies trying to snack on your defensive line. Just as you think you’ve got the hang of things, the game throws in a new zombie type, or a new map. You’ll go from a regular garden through to a night time variant where you need to plan your resources more carefully, through to a garden with a swimming pool and more. Between this and the regular bonus levels, there’s plenty of variety on offer and it’s guaranteed to keep you coming back for more.
Despite completing the game on Xbox 360 and iPod Touch years ago, I was surprised at how little of the game I remember. Plants like the Ice Shroom or the Gravedigger had completely been erased from my memory, so Replanted offered a great chance to re-introduce myself to the game and fall in love with it all over again. That said, new content here is rather thin on the ground. There are a couple of new modes, both of which up the ante by restricting sunlight available or introducing permadeath, but neither really appeal to me. The best new feature was the ability to speed up time by clicking the left stick in, which makes some of the earlier and easier missions go more quickly. I tried to avoid using it for the rest of the game though as it created a bit of a weird dissonance between the gameplay and the soundtrack.
And what a soundtrack it is. Laura Shigihara’s original soundtrack is here again in Replanted and continues to be the perfect backing for the action on screen. I love how it mimics the pace of the zombies as they shamble towards your plants, with the only downside being the lack of dynamic audio from the original. Again, it’s been a long time since I played the originals so I’d forgotten about this, but after booting up the Xbox 360 version it became clear that Replanted suffers by removing it.
In the original, the drums and other elements of the soundtrack would match the action on screen, kicking in when more zombies were swarming and fading out when things calmed. Replanted doesn’t have this, and while I wouldn’t have noticed if I’d not revisited the original, it’s a shame that they weren’t able to do the original soundtrack the justice it deserves.
Visually, however, the game is on point. It looks like I remember it but sharper and cleaner, which is all I wanted. There are a few minor issues: seed packets are a bit blurry, presumably from being upscaled from the originals, but it’s a small complaint and the vast majority of the game is bright and crisp.
Whether you’re new to the series or returning after a long hiatus, Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted is a game that’s going to suck you in with its hypnotic soundtrack and addictive action. While it’s not much more than a set of upgraded visuals, it doesn’t detract from the fact that it’s a timeless classic, and a tower defence game that everyone will enjoy.