Luigi's Mansion Review by Link584
"Luigi's Mansion is an action-adventure game for the Nintendo GameCube. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in Europe on May 3, 2002. The game was a launch title for the GameCube. This is one of the few games in the Mario series where Luigi is the main character, not Mario. " - Wikipedia
With the above statement said, I am here to now give my own personal review for this GameCube launch title. Does Luigi do well on his own accord, or should this brother stay in the shadows?
With the above statement said, I am here to now give my own personal review for this GameCube launch title. Does Luigi do well on his own accord, or should this brother stay in the shadows?
Story
The story of Luigi's Mansion is very simple and can be reduced to a couple sentences. Luigi wins a contest that he didn’t even enter, the prize is a new mansion, he goes to said mansion placed upon a scary hill to meet Mario, and upon arrival is already a nervous wreck. Just one room in and ghosts start appearing and a little guy named Professor E. Gadd saves you with his ghost vacuum the Poltergeist 3000. Your mission is to find out what happened to Mario and help capture the ghosts and King Boo.
Design
Luigi’s Mansion is a very well built game for what it has to offer, which surprisingly is more then you might expect. You go through the mansion and explore each floor totally about maybe 50 rooms or so. You have a variety of normal ghosts you will come across, the but the real treat is the number of bigger more challenging ones there are, which are your main objectives to capture. You need to get each one before you can unlock the boss battle so you may unlock the next part of the mansion. Each boss offers a fun battle ahead and can put up a good fight your first time around. Same goes for the other challenging ghosts I listed before, which you can’t capture directly as you can normal ghosts. They each make you think differently on how to trigger their weak points, and never gets old.
So we have, normal ghosts, mini boss like ghosts, and boss battles. You also have power ups to help you deal with all these fiends of the night, which make your poltergeist an adaptable weapon of the elements. These elemental upgrades will be used in puzzles as well, and not just fighting. Puzzles are found all around the game. From room to room it can be completely different, with some even requiring you to walk on the ceilings. You really never know what is going to come next, and it’s a shame that once you’re all done, you’ve only clocked in about 10 hours. Luckily, the replay value will suck you right back in with an extra mode, and with varied endings to the game, you will want to go back into the mansion right away, and explore it’s mysteries again to see what you missed the first time around.
Did I also mention that you collect money in this game? There is money EVERYWHERE in the mansion. It’s almost impossible not to collect any. It’s purpose? That’s a secret.
Did I also mention that you collect money in this game? There is money EVERYWHERE in the mansion. It’s almost impossible not to collect any. It’s purpose? That’s a secret.
Gameplay / Controls
Playing this game is smooth and you will never find yourself hating the controls. With the way you play through from room to room, whoever did the camera work for this game did it very well, it’s flawless. You have no control over it whatsoever, and I never once found myself needing to change it anyway.
Capturing ghosts is also very fun, but at a price of the controls. When you see ghosts you need to have your flashlight off and facing away from them, and before they get a chance to hurt you, you must turn around and turn on your flashlight in order to reveal their hearts. Then you turn on your Poltergeist 3000 and let their health meter have it. In order to capture the ghosts you need to pull the control stick in the opposite direction of whatever direction they are trying to flee from. Maybe it’s just my crazy style of playing, but I seem to really push down on the stick with my fingers and hand, and shake it like crazy trying to take down the mini bosses. It’s hard to explain and it works fine, but after a couple hours of play and taking a few down it began to hurt. Maybe a sign of needing to take a break, but where’s the fun in that? It’s just a small blip really as everything else control wise is perfect. Just a little nitpick at best.
Playing this game is smooth and you will never find yourself hating the controls. With the way you play through from room to room, whoever did the camera work for this game did it very well, it’s flawless. You have no control over it whatsoever, and I never once found myself needing to change it anyway.
Capturing ghosts is also very fun, but at a price of the controls. When you see ghosts you need to have your flashlight off and facing away from them, and before they get a chance to hurt you, you must turn around and turn on your flashlight in order to reveal their hearts. Then you turn on your Poltergeist 3000 and let their health meter have it. In order to capture the ghosts you need to pull the control stick in the opposite direction of whatever direction they are trying to flee from. Maybe it’s just my crazy style of playing, but I seem to really push down on the stick with my fingers and hand, and shake it like crazy trying to take down the mini bosses. It’s hard to explain and it works fine, but after a couple hours of play and taking a few down it began to hurt. Maybe a sign of needing to take a break, but where’s the fun in that? It’s just a small blip really as everything else control wise is perfect. Just a little nitpick at best.
Music
The music in this game is very repetitive, but not in a bad way. It sets the right mood of creepy, and doesn’t drown out the game. It’s always in the background, and you can hear Luigi’s footsteps wherever you go, and provides the perfect sense of eerie. Whenever surprise ghosts come out they have the right sounds associated with them, or sucking them up with the vacuum. Luigi also hums the background music from time to time, and you can’t help but join him in real life and you’ll find yourself humming as well and you won’t even realize it. Between the background songs and the right noises, you really get a feel for what the mansion is like, and how scary it can be, all while having that Mario feel. Nintendo really shows how a little can be a lot in this game. It’s no wonder why they choose this as a launch title.
The music in this game is very repetitive, but not in a bad way. It sets the right mood of creepy, and doesn’t drown out the game. It’s always in the background, and you can hear Luigi’s footsteps wherever you go, and provides the perfect sense of eerie. Whenever surprise ghosts come out they have the right sounds associated with them, or sucking them up with the vacuum. Luigi also hums the background music from time to time, and you can’t help but join him in real life and you’ll find yourself humming as well and you won’t even realize it. Between the background songs and the right noises, you really get a feel for what the mansion is like, and how scary it can be, all while having that Mario feel. Nintendo really shows how a little can be a lot in this game. It’s no wonder why they choose this as a launch title.
Presentation
Luigi’s Mansion is put together beautifully. The graphics fit it’s charm and environment very well. The music and sound effects blend very well, adding to the creepy feeling of the mansion and your quest to find Mario and fight the variety of ghosts within it’s walls. With it’s smooth controls on top of it all, you can easily forget you’re holding a controller and just enjoy the experience! With all these elements combined, the presentation of this game is wonderful. The game itself only lasts about 8 hours depending on how fast you go, but the replay value is very high, especially due to the fact once you beat it you unlock a new mode.
Conclusion
In conclusion to all the above statements, this game made for a great Nintendo GameCube launch title. While there may be no memorial tunes or puzzles by the time you finish it, it still makes a great game to play in the evening until 2 in the morning, in the dark, and just letting yourself get lost in the halls of ghosts. In the end, I give this game 4 out of 5 stars. While Luigi is on edge most of the time, I give him credit for not backing down and fighting the good fight against an army of boos, possessed furniture, and other ghosts. I say pick up this great game if you get the chance, and give it a chance.
Luigi’s Mansion is put together beautifully. The graphics fit it’s charm and environment very well. The music and sound effects blend very well, adding to the creepy feeling of the mansion and your quest to find Mario and fight the variety of ghosts within it’s walls. With it’s smooth controls on top of it all, you can easily forget you’re holding a controller and just enjoy the experience! With all these elements combined, the presentation of this game is wonderful. The game itself only lasts about 8 hours depending on how fast you go, but the replay value is very high, especially due to the fact once you beat it you unlock a new mode.
Conclusion
In conclusion to all the above statements, this game made for a great Nintendo GameCube launch title. While there may be no memorial tunes or puzzles by the time you finish it, it still makes a great game to play in the evening until 2 in the morning, in the dark, and just letting yourself get lost in the halls of ghosts. In the end, I give this game 4 out of 5 stars. While Luigi is on edge most of the time, I give him credit for not backing down and fighting the good fight against an army of boos, possessed furniture, and other ghosts. I say pick up this great game if you get the chance, and give it a chance.