Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted

One of the hottest topics in the modern day video game industry revolves around the idea of remastering and remaking titles. Unlike film and television, as an example, video games don't have the same longevity due to new hardware advancements and changes making it harder and harder to access older titles. To this end, we've seen a massive expansion on the remastering and remaking front, but this leads to the question of whether a game ever needs this treatment?

Enter Plants vs. Zombies. A decade or so ago, you probably had this strategy game installed on your smartphone and chipped away at levels while on the train or something similar. It was a successful and unique formula that captured the attention of millions, so much so that EA acquired developer PopCap and then expanded the franchise with more ambitious multiplayer shooters. But the heart of PvZ has always been the original strategy game, which is now being enhanced with a Replanted addition that improves the visuals and adds extra content. But again, as you can still download the original game on your mobile phone, is it worth splashing £18 on this Replanted version?

For starters, £18 is a rather affordable price tag for a video game, especially an effortlessly fun and easy to pick up strategy game like PvZ. However, we're not talking a top-down remake that looks night and day different to the original. It's a remastered game with HD graphics and a few extras sprinkled on top, so the argument that this version of the game isn't really needed is very much alive. It's not the same as say Metroid Prime Remastered, where playing the original game requires dated hardware that many consumers may no longer have readily on hand, meaning a basic HD upgrade is somewhat of a necessity.

Still, the core gameplay is excellent and remains a huge amount of fun. PvZ has always achieved that great balance of arcade strategy with the complexity that comes with steadily ramping up the difficulty through new enemies and environmental changes. What starts as simple lane defence on a stable and well-kept lawn soon spirals off into water-based warfare, night-time antics, and even levels where you have no soil to grow plants in at all. The Adventure Mode delivers a well-structured campaign that teaches the basics and then asks you to put them into practice in increasingly complex scenarios, and it worked in 2009 and it works just as well today.

There are countless plants to put to good use, multiple enemy types to overcome, and even fulfilling and rewarding progression. And adding to this are the fun mini-game-like levels. Wall-Nut Bowling returns and is just as fun, but now there are a slate of additional mini-games to master, including by mixing things up with zombies with plant heads so they can fight back against your defences. These modes are highlights too and extend the fun and keep you plugging away at the action. If these weren't enough to get excited about, there's now a cooperative mode, a hardcore mode, and even a roguelike to take on, each of which slightly change the formula and ask something different from you as the player. Again, they're fun and notable additions, but do these and the HD graphical overhaul do enough to warrant buying a new copy of PvZ?

This is where the issue lies, because while you can't deny that there are improvements and the new additions are fun, they're not make or break features and the original PvZ is just as enjoyable as this updated edition. Do you need a roguelike mode or HD visuals to bask in the brilliance of this game? In my books, not at all. This is Plants vs. Zombies as you know and love it, in the same manner as you can still easily access it elsewhere, meaning it's not really necessary to blow £18 to get that same experience once again, even if it does now have a shiny coat of paint brushed over it.