Game Review #5: Luigi’s Mansion

Luigi’s Mansion was a GameCube launch title game. Upon arrival it didn’t get too much praise as people felt it was weird as a launch title. It was indeed an odd choice as a launch title but it eventually started to develop more of a following as time went on. The game is not about Mario but as the title suggests his brother Luigi. Luigi wins a mansion in a contest he didn’t enter so he decides to check out his new mansion. Upon arriving the mansion doesn’t look to welcoming as it looks quite creepy. One thing leads to another and Luigi learns the mansion is haunted. He meets a ghost researcher named Professor E. Gadd who lets Luigi know that Mario has already gone into the mansion and was most likely captured by the ghosts. Professor E. Gadd gives Luigi the Poltergust 3000 which is a vacuum like device for catching ghosts. Now it’s your job to catch ghosts and find Mario.

The gameplay is pretty fun. Catching ghosts always feels very satisfying. To catch them you first have to shine your flashlight on them and then you can start sucking them up. While sucking them up they will try to get away so you have to use your control stick to pull in the opposite direction they are trying to go. This catching mechanic is very fun and feels great once you get good at it. There are also a variety of ghost to suck up with some having more health or different attacks. The other part of the gameplay is puzzle solving. You need to be able to solve puzzles a lot of times in order to get keys to open doors. Most of the puzzles are really fun and getting a key always feels good especially with the goofy animation Luigi does when he gets a key. Some of the puzzles may feel tricky but once you figure them out you’ll realize they weren’t that bad to begin with.

There are also portrait ghosts which are basically boss ghosts. To beat these ghosts you’ll have to solve some kind of puzzle in order to expose their weak spot so you can suck them up. There are many of these ghosts throughout the mansion with some of them being mini bosses while others are main bosses. All the boss ghosts look unique and have different strategies to getting to their weak spots. The mini bosses usually require you to do something like open a window to make the ghost cold while the main bosses are more traditional boss fights. It’s fun to learn their weaknesses and discover all these ghosts especially since they are all so different. Once you catch them you can even read a short description about them. It’s hard to pick a favorite ghost because they’re all so unique but one that stood out to me was Chauncey. Chauncey is a baby ghost. If you read Chauncey’s description it does mention that they were born a ghost which is good to know but that doesn’t make them less creepy. Now obviously this boss wasn’t as scary as a horror game boss but it was definitely creepy. You find Chauncey in a bedroom with eerie music playing in the back. It’s not really music either it’s more of just atmospheric sounds. Either way after Chauncey gets mad they shrink you. You're now stuck in Chauncey’s crib and Chauncey is now giant to you. The way they introduce giant Chauncey is very well done and Chauncey does this loud baby scream that is just a little disturbing. The boss battle itself is really unique as it takes place in a crib but it really stands out to me because of the general atmosphere of the battle.

Speaking of atmosphere, this game does a great job with well… atmosphere. While this game is still child friendly it does manage to have an atmosphere that no other Mario related game has ever really had. It actually manages to have a slightly creepy vibe to it and I love it. It’s so interesting to see a game in the Mario universe that tries to be a little creepy. They even added a fun detail in the title screen where the words “welcome to your mansion” changes to “welcome to our mansion” if you leave it alone for a little while. The game isn’t terrifying but the unique atmosphere really helps the game to be very memorable. The music also helps the atmosphere of the game. Most of the songs are less of songs and are just there for atmosphere but the main theme of the game is a song that manages to be catchy and very atmospheric at the same time. You’ve probably heard the song before but if not give it a listen.

Now while this game gets a lot right it’s not perfect and does have it’s issues. The issue that most people point out is that it’s a very short game. I personally don’t have that complaint. I think the game is a good length for what it is and doesn’t overstay its welcome. I do understand the complaint though and wouldn’t be mad if the game was longer. The main complaint I personally have is catching all the boos. Throughout the mansion there are many hidden boos and you need to catch most of them to beat the final boss. Finding and catching them is fun and each boo has a different name based on a boo pun. It’s actually quite entertaining to see how many puns they can make with the word boo. Anyway the problem is that boos can escape. Boos can run out of rooms and eventually get to a point where you have no idea where they went. This can get quite annoying and tedious especially as the boos get more and more health. This could have been fixed if they just showed which rooms boos were in on the map.

Even with some of this game’s problems I still think it’s a great game that is worth trying. If you like puzzle solving and semi creepy atmospheres than this game should be enjoyable to you. It’s a lovably spooky and fun game. Anyways “Good night!”