Introduction:

The game that I kept forgetting. Since the day I got a Gamecube I said I would get Luigi's Mansion. But for some reason it just kept getting side tracked by a million other games. Until a little bit ago when I rented it. I thought if it had some good replay value I would buy it; since it's a Players Choice. Well did this somewhat strange Luigi game amuse me? Read and find out.

Story:

Luigi won a mansion in a contest he didn't even enter. Does he suspect foul play? I guess not since he went to see it:P Luigi's shows up at "his" mansion and already everything looks scary. Well as scary as it can be in the land of Nintendo.
He enters the mansion and soon meets Toad who explains how Mario came awhile before him and hasn't returned. So I guess it's up to Luigi to save his brother. Luigi then meets Professor E. Gadd. The professor equips Luigi with a Ghost Sucking machine (Poltergeist 3000) and sends him out to get the ghosts, as well as save his brother. Well, whoya gonna call? LUIGI!

Gameplay:

Gameplay consists of sucking up ghosts. Well, that's the very basic summary of it. You also have to solve puzzles which is what you expect from this sort of Nintendo Game. There are a bunch of minor ghosts which you can suck up in almost every room. All they do is get in your way and harm you. But then there are main ghosts. They have to be taken care of a certain way. Luckily the professor equipped Luigi with a special Game Boy that can actually read the ghosts hearts. By reading their hearts you get an insight into defeating them. There are then a few master ghosts. These as you may expect are ghosts that come at the end of fighting a few main ghosts. These master ghosts take longer and should be a little harder. To be able to suck in a ghost you will shine your flashlight at their heart. Once you do that, it's sucking time! You "suck" ghosts in by holding down on the R button. You then adjust the Poltergeist 3000 (Ghost Sucking Machine) with the C-Analog. You also have to use the control stick to move Luigi as you are sucking in a ghost. When you beam your flashlight on a ghost a number appears. You have to get that number down to zero to capture that ghost. Some ghosts are a number 20, some are 200, or more! It is not simply holding the L button down. You have to be moving the control stick toward the opposite direction of the ghost; and since ghosts move while you are sucking them in, this can get slightly difficult. When you first enter the mansion you will see a couple of doors, but only one is unlocked. You have to defeat a main ghost to get a key and then unlock a room. Defeat more ghosts and get more keys. Very similar to the setup in Super Mario 64. The game really is fun. It's not going to go down as a legendary game, but a very cool idea. You will definitely have to think to defeat the ghosts. Although the thinking part isn't usually that difficult. You collect coins and gems and other such things throughout the game that give you a high score. So once you beat it, you can try for a better one. The one thing that was a little weird was the camera angle. You couldn't adjust it, just go along with the one they give you. This can get a little frustrating sometimes. The thing about the camera angle is, it's almost like Super Mario RPG. Where you would enter a room. The room angle would never change, and a 3D Luigi would just walk up and down. This is nice to see, however it's not anything new.
There are other little extras and cool features to the game that make it a solid package.
All in all Luigi's Mansion is a fun little game. I just kept playing it until I beat it. The game does keep you playing until the very end. I got annoyed a couple times throughout the game, but at the end I had a fun time and was glad I played the game. The idea of the game which is Luigi sucking up ghosts may not be very original, but the way they executed it is; and what makes Nintendo the best at making video games.

I give the gameplay: 7.5/10

Graphics:

The graphics do stand out. This was a launch title for the Gamecube, so Nintendo had to show off what the cube can do. The intro of the game is very nice, the creepy trees look great. Luigi looks pretty good in 3D as well. The ghosts look very well done, they have a nice transparent colourful glow to them. The environment is kind of hard to explain. It's nice. It's like 2D yet it's 3D. Well, the environment is very cool, won't see it in many games.

I give the graphics: 7.5/10

Sound:

The sound is pretty good. You hear Luigi's great voice, as well as Toad's classic voice. Other sounds suck as the vacuum sucking is good. The background music goes really well with the type of game this is. Scary and excitingly fun at the same time.

I give the sound: 7/10

Replayability:

Well after you beat the game you can go back and redo it all over again. This time it's way easier, you know exactly what to do and where to go. All the ghosts that were a mystery at first can be defeated fast and easy. You can try to up your high score, which makes it slightly better for replayability. To be quite honest after you beat the game you probably won't be playing it again on a weekly or monthly basis. It is more of the game where you beat it, say "That was fun." Put it away. Play other games; then a couple years later you are looking through your Gamecube collection and say "Hey, Luigi's Mansion. That was fun, maybe I'll play it again, I have forgotten most of it."

I give the replayability: 5/10

Challenge:

Not a huge challenge. Once you catch on to the pattern the game has, and what to do, you shouldn't have any problems. The only hard part is figuring out how to suck in some ghosts. Some are pretty obvious, and some may take you awhile to figure out, and there lies the challenge. The actual sucking of the ghosts isn't that difficult. It would have been nice to see the game a bit harder.

I give the challenge: 4/10

Value:

This is a Player's Choice, so the value should be good. But to be honest I wouldn't go out and buy it too play. If I did buy it, it would be because I wanted it for my Gamecube collection. That it's a pretty famous game that I should have. I rented this game and defeated it in a few days. Not many hours spent on it. Maybe around 10, give or take a couple. So if you just play games for the fun of it, and not to have it part of your collection, this may not be a good buy. It doesn't have much replayability. So you would be paying to just have it.

Overall:

Overall Luigi's Mansion is a fun game. A not so original premise, with a very cool way of executing it. The gameplay is fun and original. It is simple to catch on, and fun to find the secrets and puzzles of the game. The graphics are great, the environment is very unique. The sound is pretty good. Not a huge challenge, but enough to keep you going. I won't even talk about the value because this is the first time I bashed it.
But to be fair, Luigi's Mansion is a great game. It is definitely worth a play if you play Gamecube. If for some reason you have not tried it yet, go out and get it, and have a little fun.

I give Luigi's Mansion: 7/10

Conclusion:

Luigi's Mansion is a game I missed out on for quite some time. I am very glad I played it. I will remember this game; it won't vanish away into decent game obscurity. It had some great points to it. I enjoyed it and the whole story of the game. I really got to see something new.

Written By: Joey Anderson

Date Written: February 21st, 2005