Year: 2009
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Laura Shigihara
Number of tracks: 29

★★★★★

Small plant, big punch

Plants vs. Zombies was one of those little gems that came out of nowhere and fascinated with its simple concept. Like many of its contemporaries, this tower defense classic could easily have fallen into oblivion. The game was never particularly challenging and with some strategies you could fend off pretty much any wave of zombies. No, the reason why we can still relive the perpetual battle between the undead and the photosynthetic lawn defenders on almost all devices today can be boiled down to one characteristic: Humor.

The game doesn't take itself particularly seriously. Admittedly, this should come as no surprise to anyone who has grasped the premise of garden plants competing against zombies for lawn chess. But it's hard to resist the charming, self-deprecating and therefore even child-friendly charm. When the cuddly sunflowers generate energy with which we raise a relentless war machine of bean cannons, ice flowers and wall nuts (I see what you did there) to defend ourselves against dolphin-riding ex-breathers, it's every bit as bonkers as it sounds. And when, like GlaDOS in Portal, the protagonists sing the credits together and point out that brains are full of cholesterol at the glorious conclusion, you know you've just finished a very good game.

This package is rounded off by a soundtrack that also doesn't take itself too seriously and therefore fits wonderfully into the overall picture. Composer Laura Shigihara uses simple melodies to get the maximum amount of entertainment out of a fairly manageable number of tracks so that the short matches don't get boring. The score of Plants vs. Zombies comprises 29 tracks on paper, but distinguishes between the original version and the in-game version ([In-Game]). However, you shouldn't complain about the song selection being reduced to just 17, as the background music is consistently fitting and entertaining.

To achieve this, Shigihara relies on simple melodies that keep building up in line with the game principle, only to fire off a small firework of frenzy towards the end. However, this not only fits in with the leisurely build-up at the beginning of the round and the ominous final wave in the game, but also works independently of it. The songs differ pleasantly in their nature according to the respective map on which they are played:

Grasswalk is the theme we hear the first time we take on the undead horde. While we slowly plant our lawn, a piano strums in the background, accompanied by a cello. The whole thing builds up further, percussions begin to drum out a slow march, a brass player has taken over the melody before we end up back at the cello, which is accompanied by pizzicato instruments and is somewhat reminiscent of Trine . It continues to drone on, similarities to The Settlers III-score become clear, before it gets more serious again: the second wave arrives.

This undulating character continues in the other compositions, too. In the nocturnal Moongrains, the plucked instruments create a feeling of evening tranquillity, without the tune falling into a creepy mood. In fact, the exact opposite is the case and instead of midnight zombie horror, the track culminates in a jazzy Disney-style band interlude. The same goes for Watery Graves, which opens with a piano melody, is complemented by a glockenspiel and rounds off its finish with bongo and electric piano.

On paper, this sounds like a wild mixture, but the simple structure and increasing complexity of these songs makes sense and it works. Graze the Roof , for example, freshens up the instrumentation of its glockenspiel later on with synths, while Loonboon, Ultimate Battle and Brainiac Maniac start off in a poppy manner in keeping with the mini-game and final boss character. Cerebrawl has an almost childlike feel thanks to the music box sound, but this is quickly balanced out by powerful beats.

Beyond these trademark tracks, there are also nice accompaniments such as the relaxing sounds of Zen Garden, whose flutes bring back memories of city building from SimCity 4 and the somewhat boring Rigor Mormist. And, of course, let's not forget the great, humerous end theme Zombie on Your Lawn in English and Japanese. Even though these are only synth compositions, the tracks have enough depth to disguise the limited sound characteristics of computer music. An all-round successful score that I can only warmly recommend!

Nostalgia warning

The rating of the individual tracks is purely subjective and clearly colored by my own experience with the game. You can find out more in the article About Nostalgia.

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Crazy Dave's Greeting	Laura Shigihara	1
02	Crazy Dave (Intro)	Laura Shigihara	4
03	Choose Your Seeds	Laura Shigihara	4
04	Grasswalk	Laura Shigihara	4
05	Loonboon	Laura Shigihara	4
06	Moongrains	Laura Shigihara	4
07	Zen Garden	Laura Shigihara	4
08	Watery Graves (Slow)	Laura Shigihara	4
09	Watery Graves (Fast)	Laura Shigihara	4
10	Ultimate Battle	Laura Shigihara	5
11	Rigor Mormist	Laura Shigihara	3
12	Cerebrawl	Laura Shigihara	5
13	Graze the Roof	Laura Shigihara	4
14	Brainiac Maniac	Laura Shigihara	4
15	Zombies on Your Lawn	Laura Shigihara	5
16	Zombotany [Bonus]	Laura Shigihara	3
17	Uraniwa Ni Zombies Ga!	Laura Shigihara	3
18	Crazy Dave [In-Game]	Laura Shigihara	5
19	Choose Your Seeds [In-Game]	Laura Shigihara	4
20	Grasswalk [In-Game]	Laura Shigihara	5
21	Loonboon [In-Game]	Laura Shigihara	5
22	Moongrains [In-Game]	Laura Shigihara	5
23	Zen Garden [In-Game]	Laura Shigihara	2
24	Watery Graves [In-Game]	Laura Shigihara	5
25	Ultimate Battle [In-Game]	Laura Shigihara	4
26	Rigor Mormist [In-Game]	Laura Shigihara	3
27	Cerebrawl [In-Game]	Laura Shigihara	4
28	Graze the Roof [In-Game]	Laura Shigihara	5
29	Brainiac Maniac [In-Game]	Laura Shigihara	5