I‘ve always wished I could play Plants Vs. Zombies again. And now that I’ve got to relive the experience again on my PS5, I can safely say that Replanted is a perfect recreation of the original game that brings back fond memories of the first time I experienced it. It’s also a solid port of the game, running smoothly on my console, while shifting the game over from a keyboard and mouse setup has largely worked well.
If you’re unfamiliar with what this quirky title from PopCap Games entails, the game’s premise is simple. You’re stuck in your house, bang in the middle of a zombie invasion. They want to eat your brains, and you’re going to have to use those brains to defend your home from them. That’s easier said than done, however, as you only have a bunch of seeds from the Doom and Gloom Company to plant in your garden, each of which grows into a plant with a unique purpose.
Your plants are your only defense against the zombies, but they’re up to the task. The Pea Shooter does exactly what its name suggests, firing off peas at the zombies to halt their advance. You earn Sun, the currency you need to put down more plants, either by waiting for it to drop at random or by planting Sunflowers. More plants with unique functions are made available to you at the end of every level, and new zombie types join the fray as you keep going.
It’s a tower defense title that continues to be quite addictive, despite being around for several years at this point. That’s largely due to how each level plays out, requiring you to plan out your defenses based on the enemies you’re going to encounter, and managing your resources to fend off each wave of zombies.
The game’s art style is a delight, as is the soundtrack and audio. The zombies are quite a funny bunch, leaving you with notes that showcase their lack of brains and probably justifying their relentless efforts to get their hands on yours. You do have an ally in the form of Crazy Dave, whose shop lets you purchase a few upgrades and tools that can give you an advantage when you next take on the zombies.
“It’s a tower defense title that continues to be quite addictive, despite being around for several years at this point.”
As far as the updated HD visuals go, Replanted does a good job of preserving the original game’s excellent art direction while making its visuals and colors pop on a 4K display. Frame rates were smooth even when my screen was filled with plants, zombies, and flying melons and peas with no stutter at any point. On a base PS5, the game runs quite well aside from a few minor glitches that I’ll get to in a bit. I’d argue that, as a port, Replanted does a stellar job, but as a purported remaster, it could have done more to improve on the original game.
If I were to complain about something in Replanted, it would be that Dave’s prices are as astronomical as they were back in the day. He requires coins for his business, and they are doled out rather sparingly over the course of the game. With upgrades being as expensive as they are, a little bit of balancing might have eliminated the need to grind for coins and made things a lot more interesting as a result.
For instance, extra seed slots that allow you to take more plants to the fight cost a whopping 20,000 coins, a sum that I couldn’t get to even after completing the main campaign and diving into a fair bit of the minigames and survival modes.
“The zombies are quite a funny bunch, leaving you with notes that showcase their lack of brains,”
However, Dave also brings interesting twists on the game’s formula in the form of Puzzles and minigames. You get to mow down zombies with Wall-nuts in a very amusing take on bowling, for instance. Or use a slot machine to acquire random plants that you must use to fend off another attack on your property. Each minigame or puzzle is quite entertaining, and a nice diversion from the main gameplay loop.
That’s not to say that the main campaign is stagnant, far from it. The zombies soon start to attack at night, and you’re going to have to use an entirely different set of plants to account for the lack of sunlight needed to use plants that grow in the daylight. They then proceed to attack your backyard, where a range of aquatic plants are your only defense for those that take a dip into your swimming pool. They also launch offensives from your roof, where you’re going to want to use catapult plants to counter them.
While the game isn’t particularly difficult, there are levels where you find that the zombies get quite close to your door and manage to finally get their hands on your brains. There is a sense of challenge on those occasions, as all your hard-earned plants get wiped out by the undead horrors they were meant to defend against. The zombies bring ladders, drive trucks, and even resurrect other zombies in their efforts to overwhelm your defenses, making Plants Vs. Zombies a very entertaining game once it gets going.
“I’m a fan of how the experience is presented, and it’s among the more unique tower defense experiences on the market.”
There were a few occasional glitches at a few places, such as me not being able to pick up plants in the Raining Seeds bonus level, but they are few and far between and could probably be fixed with a patch at some point.
Aside from the main campaign, puzzles, and minigames, you also get a survival mode that lets you take on multiple waves of zombies while switching up your loadouts between them. It’s a great chance to build a defensive lineup that’s quite fun to see in action. There’s also RIP mode, in which you take on the main campaign once again, with the added caveat that you start all the way back from the beginning if the zombies manage to eat your brains.
The Zen Garden mode is a nice touch, letting you cultivate plants that reward you with valuable coins from time to time. Once again, the prohibitive pricing of valuable items like fertilizers for my plants acted as an obstacle to my progress, leading me to ignore it altogether. It’s there for those of you who might want to kick back and relax after a bout with the zombies, though.
“The game’s art style is a delight, as is the soundtrack and audio.”
The option to bring a friend along to the party is also there, with local co-op or versus modes available for you to try out. While I doubt that most of you are going to need help repelling the zombies, getting to play against your buddies in versus mode can be a fun way to spend your evening. You play as either the plants or the zombies in a gameplay loop that keeps things quite interesting indeed!
The presence of so many options, each of which puts a unique twist on the core gameplay loop, makes Plants Vs. Zombies Replanted a very entertaining option for those of you looking for a bit of casual fun from your consoles. I’m a fan of how the experience is presented, and it’s among the more unique tower defense experiences on the market.
It’s quite easy to recommend this one, considering how its pacing and various game modes keep things interesting right off the bat, and manage to sustain that engagement long after you beat the final boss and roll the credits that are accompanied by a very catchy song. Whether you’re a newcomer to the game or a long-term fan looking to take a nostalgic trip back to its early days, Plants Vs. Zombies Replanted is going to keep you entertained for many fun-filled hours.
This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.
