REVIEW: Plants v. Zombies

By Jahmarcus W.

Plants vs. Zombies, despite being 16 years old, is still a wildly popular and well-known franchise. Whether you’re young or old, you’ve almost certainly seen a Peashooter, a Sunflower, or one of its zombies somewhere on the internet. In other words, most people know something about this game. For the students of AHS, it basically raised them—whether they played PVZ or PVZ 2 on mobile, console, or PC. It’s become so iconic that it’s basically the mascot PopCap is standing on. And unfortunately, it’s also the last franchise PopCap has that’s still profitable… and even that goodwill is running dry. But after 5 years without new Plants vs. Zombies title, PopCap has launched Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted, a remake and the supposed “definitive edition” of PVZ. And honestly? You’re better off just buying the original for fifteen bucks cheaper, because this remake fails at being anything close to definitive. I’m disappointed—and here’s why.

First of all, the art style. While the core designs from original artist Rich Werner are still there, Replanted makes some strange and frankly unnecessary changes. For example, shadows simple, subtle, but important help break up plants visually since so many share similar colors. The original used them well, but Replanted lightens them for no real reason other than to say, “Look, we changed something.” Even the lawn itself looks off. When you compare it to the original Garden of the Year edition, something just feels wrong even if you can’t pinpoint what. The charming clouds and background details are almost completely erased, making the whole thing feel less like whimsical Neighborville and more like a liminal space. This might sound nitpicky, but keep in mind: the original game cost five bucks. This remake costs twenty. If PopCap wants four times the price, I expect at least twice the quality. Otherwise, why bother?

Secondly, let’s talk about new content. The original game had an easter egg where scrolling downward eventually took you “into China.” In this remaster, not only did they keep that, but they added a whole custom level around it—a genuinely great addition that takes a fun original detail and expands it into something new. If only the rest of the remake followed that mindset.

Another classic easter egg was the “Help” option on the title screen, which gave you a humorous letter from the zombies telling you not to do anything to win. It worked because PVZ was fantastic at teaching new players how to play without them realizing it was a tutorial. The first four levels teach you to harvest sun and place plants—it’s even kind of a joke with that note proving the game didn’t need an actual help section. But because Replanted is based on the Xbox 360 version—which didn’t understand the joke—it just includes a normal help menu. PopCap kept that in this release, losing what made the original gag clever.

On top of that, there are multiple missing or inaccurate sound effects, and especially on day one, the number of game-breaking and game-crashing bugs could practically fill a full webpage. And again—this is a remake of a sixteen-year-old game. They’re charging four times the price for something with noticeably less polish.

And third and easily the most frustrating PopCap and EA’s use of AI upscaling. To their credit, they initially claimed they didn’t use any AI… before quietly changing that statement to “we’ve never used generative AI.” Funny how that wording changed right when people started questioning the use of AI upscaling, which has a notorious history of butchering images and making them look lazy, blurry, or outright cursed. Combine that with the fact the game only had a staggering six month development window, and the whole thing feels rushed out for a quick buck rather than made with genuine care for fans. What makes it worse is that they didn’t even contact the original team, the people who made Plants vs. Zombies the phenomenon it is. They didn’t get credits, didn’t get asked for feedback, and didn’t even know the remake was being worked on, despite publicly saying they’d love to help all over twitter.

I messaged a student and good friend of mine Joshua Langley and simply asked him what he thought about PVZ Replanted as a remaster compared to the original game and he had this to say: 

"It is one of the worst remasters I've ever paid my good hard earned money for. It was 4x the original games price,promised to be the "definitive" edition of PVZ and yet after only an hour of playing I refunded it and bought the original. Popcap basically became the zombies after the original crew left and this is just proof."

Even professional reviewer from Gameliner had this to say about PVZ Replanted on Metacritic:

 ”EA and PopCap could have easily let Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted blossom, but instead we got a port overrun with weeds. Sure, the classic strategic gameplay still shines, and there’s plenty of content and modes to enjoy, but several baffling choices hold it back. Downgraded visuals, removed dynamic music, a mishmash of UIs from different versions, and tone-deaf art direction all make this version feel lifeless. Plants vs. Zombies remains a fantastic strategy game, but Replanted is far from the best way to experience it—and both the game and its loyal fans deserve better than this.”

With another professional reviewer from ZTGD having this to say about the same game on Metacritic:

Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted is a good time, just not a great remake. It captures the heart of the original perfectly, but doesn’t do enough to justify itself as the “ultimate edition.” If you’ve never played Plants vs. Zombies before, this is absolutely worth jumping into. For returning players, though, it’s more of a comfortable rerun than a revitalized revival.

And now, to wrap this up: overall, I give the game a 5 out of 10. Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted isn’t bad because it’s inherently a bad game. It's still Plants vs. Zombies. And sure, some of these criticisms might seem nitpicky. But they also reveal a clear pattern of PopCap’s neglect and disrespect for the franchise. When the best thing you can say about your remake over a 16-year-old game is that it’s in widescreen… that’s just sad. Truly disappointing.