It’s been more than fifteen years since Popcap gave us the zaniest Zombie game ever.

Who would have thought that the only thing stopping humans having their brains munched were life sized plants that shoot peas? Apparently it was all we needed to protect us from humanity’s greatest threat.

But it was the simplicity, yet deep tactical nuances of this tower defense, strategy game that won it many awards, sold millions of copies and brought it to just about every format known to the undead.

Now, all these years later and post a lot of unexpected – and in some cases, unwelcome – spinoffs and crossovers, EA have gone right back to basics and re-released the OG as Replanted. And it’s just such a wonderful reminder of the best this franchise has to offer.

Not least because it’s a perfect fit for your Steam Deck or Switch 2, wherever you play handheld. Not least because, it’s a game that works best using touch screen. Though this version did present a few occassional hiccups where I’m placing my unit right on the front line when I was trying to go further afield and so I often wasted my sunshine in so doing. But it certainly allows a lot more free in control than using the analogs.

The aim of the game is to place plant defenses in front of your house, in the backyard, on the rooftop and  protect your house from incoming waves of zombies. They start out pretty standard, walking veeeeery slowly and so that makes them easy walking targets.

But this is absolutely a game with a sense of humor – and escalating difficulty – so eventually you’ll find yourself fighting a Michael Jackson esque Moonwalker complete with his own disco ball, a zombie that uses a dolphin to dive underwater, bypassing some of your defenses and even a group of Zombies in a tobagon after a Zamboni layers the grass with ice. This game is wonderfully wacky!

You can lay each defense by gathering sunshine, with each plant having a different cost and at the start of each round, you pick the plants you want, with a new plant generally added to the rotation for every round you beat. You can also collect coins throughout and then visit a shop to buy additional upgrades and more plants.

Layering your defenses, pushing as far up the field as you can using blockers, multi-peashooters, cherry bombs and even traps to catch unsuspecting zombies, you fight through oncoming heavier and bulkier waves, watching as peas fly through the air. But while your strategies evolve so do the zombies. It’s a game that’s generally well balanced and flows nicely throughout offering an increasingly enjoyable challenge.

The Replanted Version of the game offers the most striking version of Plants vs Zombies yet, and so the game is as vibrant and striking as ever, very up-ressed, less blurred and pixelated as the original appeared. Though, if you want to, there’s filters to play the game as if we’re back in 2009 on mobile.

At 1080p though, PvZ has definitely never looked better and it runs at a silky smooth pace, no matter how many zombies are on screen and how much firepower is being directed at them.

In addition to the classic content, Replanted includes some new levels which were left on the cutting room floor from before and celebrate the series history. The Cloudy Day chapter, for instance, plays with a cool night/dark aesthetic as the sun gets blocked out by clouds and feels like it would have only been done with this up-scaled version of the game. It also,of course, plays with the possibility of not being able to gather sunshine at critical intervals of a level, so it adds a really diabolical challenge.

There’s other bonus levels on top and even one special one that adds a cool global dynamic that’s really fun to play. And on additionally, the hyped couch co-op and PVP modes, which are good for short blasts, but can add longevity to the game to make it a really fun one to dip in and out of with a bud.

Ultimately, though, this is very much the same Game of the Year edition which you can get for a lot cheaper. It’s the core experience you know and love with some new bells and whistles, content and better optimised for modern platforms. It’s cleaner and more content rich, with new achievements even, but for those who do own PvZ already, you might want to wait for a sale.

Plants vs Zombies: Replanted is more of a celebration of the series and hopefully a reinvigoration for the franchise. If you’ve never played, this is a fantastic entry point, though the price point is definitely a bit of an eye-sore considering the games aren’t drastically different and if you’re not planning to play in co-op or PVP, does make it a tougher sell.

But all told, Replanted is a wonderful adaptation of Plants vs Zombies and hopefully is the beginning of a comeback of this magnificent series.

Verdict

Plants vs Zombies: Replanted is a wonderful comeback for the series and the absolute best version of the original classic. It looks better than ever, has more achievements and content, but in terms of whether it’s worth the significant price hike from the much cheaper Game of the Year Edition, unless you plan to play extensive co-op and local multiplayer, it might be better to wait for a sale. Still, Plants vs Zombies has never looked, sounded and played better and I hope it’s the beginning of a rennaissance for a truly fantastic franchise.

Plants vs Zombies: Replanted is out now on PC, Xbox, PS, and Switch 2

Played on PC / ROG Ally

Code kindly provided by EA for review purposes