Plants Vs Zombies: Replanted - Review
The lawn rolling out and the zombies head popping up at the end will always be my favourite loading screen, and Crazy Dave’s incessant rambling about who knows what, I’ve missed this game. I didn’t think in 2025 I’d be playing the original Plants vs Zombies game again, let alone a remastered version. The last time I played the original was around 2013 on my friends iPod Touch (I wasn’t lucky enough to have one back then), and from then I was hooked on tower defence games. So how does Plants vs Zombies Replanted hold up to my memory of this iconic game? Pretty well.
I’m going to get this first point out of the way, I don’t like that the switch loads Replanted too quickly, meaning I don’t get to watch the lawn roll out, I only get to hear the sounds. On the topic of sounds, I didn’t think I’d get so much joy out of hearing that funky jazz melody again at the end of a level, when you unlock a new plant. The nostalgia really hit hard with that.
The HD graphics are a nice upgrade from the original, but going from playing it on an iPod Touch to a Switch was the biggest and weirdest change for me. I tried to use touch controls on the Switch first, cause I didn’t like using the joy-cons when I played the first level, but I found in settings that you can turn up the cursor speed and we were back in business. I did misplace a few plants because of this, but it’s not like a zombie would eat your brains because of it… Right?
At the time of reviewing I didn’t get to play the new Rest In Peace mode, but I would have died on the first wack a zombie from having the fast forward settings on too fast and I wasn’t able to wack them fast enough. But the new Cloudy Days mode is a lot of fun and actually makes you think about what you’re putting down and when, rather then just relying on your 2-3 rows of sunflowers constantly giving you that sweet, sweet sunlight. The new mode got me a few times because I didn’t see the clouds rolling in, I just had to sit and watch the zombies tear through my plants with no hope of back up and only the lawnmowers to protect me and side note, I feel like sunflowers give you sunlight faster then they did in the original, but maybe I’m just crazy.
I sadly didn’t get to try co-op or PvP modes, but I do like how if you get this on the Switch 2 you can game share with a friend to play these modes together. I would have loved to fight against my friends playing as the zombies (foreshadowing my favourite mini game.) Can someone tell me why Crazy Dave is helping the zombies with home invasion tactics, like don’t get me wrong it is the best mini game, but why Crazy Dave, why would you help them be better at eating my brains.
Plants vs Zombies has never been the most intense game to run but once you give me the torchwood and triple pea shooters, my friends iPod Touch did not handle that well back in 2013, but I can say that even with the updated graphics of Plants vs Zombies Replanted, my Switch didn’t stutter or slow when I had my entire screen filled with flaming peas shooting across the screen, not letting a single zombie set foot on my pristine lawn.
Plants vs Zombies Replanted is a solid remaster of the classic game that ignited my love for the tower defence genre in the first place. Cloud Days is a great addition as it makes you look at the game in new ways, with more management of your limited resources. Given multiplayer was great originally, I want to hope it is just as great here, but only time will tell. Fans of the series will enjoy the enhancements to the game, along with the new modes and newcomers will be able to plant themselves down and enjoy one of gaming’s classic titles.
The Score
8.0
Review code provided by Electronic Arts
The Pros
CRAZY DAVE
Nostalgic sound track and game play
New modes make it feel fresh
Mini games and secrets
The Cons
Crazy Dave helping the zombies
Not seeing the loading lawn roll out
