Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted – A nostalgic bloom with a few wilted petals.
Plants vs. Zombies wasn’t just another tower defense game when it came out in 2009; it was a huge hit. The game was developed by PopCap Games, known for hits like Peggle and Bejeweled. It was funny, strategic, and had personality in a way that few casual games do. It became a classic right away thanks to its innovative mechanics and fun tone.
Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted, which comes out today after 15 years, aims to bring that classic back to life with new graphics, game modes, and cross-platform play. But does replanting grow something new, or does it just use the dirt again? Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted has the same wonderfully silly idea that made the first game so memorable.
As the host, you are being attacked by a growing group of zombies who want to eat your brains. Your defense? A garden full of plants, from the simple Peashooter to the hot Jalapeño, each with its own special skills. As in the first game, Crazy Dave is back as your strange neighbor and shopkeeper, selling upgrades and things that are way too expensive for their value.
The story is simple but charming. It’s told through zombies’ little notes and Crazy Dave’s strange comments. The humor never goes out of style, and the idea that plants could protect people is still funny in 2025.
The idea behind Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted is a lane-based tower defense game. Zubs come at you in waves across five rows of grass, which can be pool lines or rooftop tiles, in each level. Your job is to plant your weapons in a way that makes the most of the sunlight that comes from the sun or from planting sunflowers.
After each level, new plants become available, adding to the strategy’s depth. You start easy with Peashooters and Wall-nuts, but soon you’ll have to balance underwater plants, mushrooms that grow at night, and catapults that are attached to the roof. Each type of game changes how you play, making you carefully consider how to use your resources and when to use them.
For both local and shared play, this HD version adds co-op and PvP modes. In co-op, you and a friend share sunlight and plan your moves together. In versus mode, one player controls the zombies, adding a fun, chaotic twist to the formula and keeping it interesting. There are bugs in the co-op journey mode that can cause both players’ controls to get in each other’s way, leading to unintended chaos.
It’s still very satisfying to see a well-placed Peashooter hold the line as a wave of zombies breaks through, even after fifteen years.
In Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted, combat is all about movement and anticipating what will happen next. Zombies move in predictable ways, but the different kinds of them keep things interesting. Different types of zombies—conehead zombies, pole vaulting zombies, and football zombies—need different kinds of counterplants.
A lot of the time, the balance is too much like the 2009 version. With the same waves and spawn times, experts feel like they’ve been there before instead of finding something new. Mini-games and other material give the game variety. Wall-nut Bowling and Slot Machine, two old favorites, are back, along with two new ones: Cloudy Day and Rest in Peace (RIP) mode.
Cloudy Day cleverly blocks sunlight during storms, prompting players to change their play. RIP mode introduces permadeath, a tough challenge for experienced players. But mini-games like Heavy Weapon and Air Raid, which used to only be available on consoles, aren’t there, which is a letdown for gamers who like to complete sets.
As you play, you’ll earn coins that you can spend at Crazy Dave’s shop on improvements like lawn mowers or more seed slots. The prices are still ridiculously high, which is a shame. You won’t be able to buy basic upgrades without grinding in side modes, even after you finish the main campaign.
Every wave puts your inventiveness to the test, until Crazy Dave’s coin prices put your patience to the test even more.
Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted looks like it has a polished HD makeover. The 2D art style has been enhanced to 4K, and while it retains the series’ colorful charm, it doesn’t do much to go beyond mere memories. The characters’ movements are smooth, and the cartoony look still works well for this type of game.
But it’s hard to ignore the fact that the remake has some problems. Some objects look like they were “AI-upscaled,” which makes the sharpness and outlines of some plants and zombies look off. The concept art library is a great addition, but some of the pieces in it have been called fake or generated by AI, which undermines the experience’s authenticity.
When it comes to performance, Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted runs well on both PS5 and Switch 2, keeping frame rates steady even when a lot is happening. On the other hand, the PC version struggles to display content in windowed mode, leaving black edges along the sides. This is an annoying flaw in a game advertised as “fully optimized.”
Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted is bright and colorful, but some parts of the images feel more like an upgrade than a real remaster. This makes the garden a bit overgrown.
The original Plants vs. Zombies music is still a big deal—Laura Shigihara’s silly songs made the game what it was. Sadly, Replanted doesn’t handle this heritage well. The music doesn’t always fit the levels’ themes. For example, hardcore music plays all the time on daytime stages but not at all on other stages. This breaks the natural flow that used to make big waves more tense.
Even worse, the music speeds up when you use Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted’s new speed-up mode, turning catchy songs into loud noise. It’s an odd design choice that takes away from the otherwise relaxing gameplay. Voice clips and monster groans are still fun, though.
They still have that silly charm that makes things light even when things are going badly. Overall, the music makes me feel nostalgic, but it’s not well-tuned—like a favorite song remixed and losing its original beat.
It’s like a sunflower dancing to the wrong beat on the soundtrack that used to be the series’s whole point.
Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted does a good job of staying true to the original while adding enough new features to make it playable by a new generation. Adding co-op and PvP modes, concept art archives, and new challenge modes shows that the developers are really trying to improve the recipe.
But it’s not the definitive version of this classic because of bugs, reused material, missing features, and questionable audio and video choices. It sounds more like a safe, business-like remaster than an honest reworking. Fans who want an accurate recreation will enjoy this, but true fans may still prefer the original game from 2009 or even the console ports that made co-op great more than ten years ago.
When it works well, Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted is a happy reminder of how timeless PopCap’s design theory is. At its worst, it shows how remasters can lose the magic of the land where they were set in the first place.
