Luigi's Mansion

After being Mario's sidekick for more than a decade, Luigi has finally been given the chance to star in his own game! Starring in his very own 3D game for the first time, Luigi has become the Peter Venkman of the 21st century by taking up the mantle of a ghostbuster in Luigi's Mansion. An extreme departure from what Mario Bros. games have been in the past, Luigi's Mansion features some refreshing ideas but fails to match the classic status of Mario's adventures.

The story in Luigi's Mansion is adequate enough, but there are few if any twists or turns. After receiving a strange letter from his brother Mario, Luigi heads out to meet him thinking he's won a mansion in a contest he doesn't remember entering. Upon reaching the mansion, Luigi is greeted by a short, bald scientist named Professor E. Gaadd, who explains that the mansion only appeared a few days earlier and is overrun with ghosts. Professor Gaadd goes on to explain that he met a fellow with a red cap shortly after the mansion appeared and hasn't seen him since. Luigi, realizing the fellow in the red hat is Mario, sets off for the mansion after Gadd equips him with a flashlight and the Poltergust 3000, a modified vacuum cleaner that can be used to trap the ghosts.

Controlling Luigi is fairly simple, but it takes some time to get accustomed to it. The left analog stick controls his movements, while the C stick controls the direction he points his flashlight and vacuum cleaner. It's the same control scheme that is found in most modern first-person shooters, and after a few awkward moments you'll be swinging Luigi's vacuum around with precision. Opening doors and examining objects is done with the large A button. The Z button is used to check inventory, the X button is used to view Luigi's ghost-sensing Game Boy, and pressing the Y button brings up a 3D map of the entire mansion. Learning to accurately aim the vacuum is one thing, but sucking up stalwart ghosts with it is another. To catch a ghost, it must first be stunned with Luigi's flashlight. Once stunned, its heart will appear, which is the cue to start with the vacuuming. Pressing the R button will make the vacuum suck air and begin to bring the ghost in for capture. But it won't be snared without a fight. Ghosts will pull Luigi around the room as he attempts to snare them, but holding the analog stick in the exact opposite direction of the ghost will make the process easier.

The Poltergust 3000 has more than one use. It can also be used to shoot objects or spray a variety of ammunition such as fire, ice, and water by pressing the L button. If you press the left shoulder button all the way, the vacuum will fire a projectile. As mentioned earlier, a ghost's heart must be seen before the ghost can be captured. But it's not always as easy as illuminating the ghost with a flashlight. That works for the majority of drone ghosts located in the mansion, but there are 23 special ghosts in the house that must be snared in different ways. This is where the puzzle elements of the game come into play. Some ghosts require Luigi to perform special tasks before showing themselves. One particularly buff ghost must be drubbed with a heavy bag before being captured, and another must be struck with billiard balls before it's vulnerable. It's essential for Luigi to search every last nook and cranny of each room, because items can be hidden virtually anywhere. At the end of the game, you are rewarded for how much money has been collected, so finding every last coin, gold bar, and jewel is worth the time. Luigi's Mansion progresses in a completely linear fashion. Once Luigi exterminates a room of ghosts, the lights will come on, and more often than not, a chest will appear with a key inside. The 3D map will then automatically appear to show you which door the new key opens. This same process repeats until the end of the game. If Luigi's Mansion were as long as most Mario Bros. games, the lack of gameplay variety would be an issue. But just when things start to become tiresome, the game ends.

There are a few problems with the graphics that should be mentioned. The GameCube has been heralded for its texturing abilities, but most of the textures in Luigi's Mansion are low resolution and look muddy and pixelated when viewed up close. This is understandable considering the impressive variety of textures in each room, but it can be distracting nevertheless. In true Nintendo form, the graphical emphasis is placed on the lead character. Luigi is made of plenty of polygons and is expertly animated right down to his vacuum hose, but it doesn't leave many stray polygons for other things. The result is cramped environments filled with angular objects. When the game engine does happen to draw a lot of polygons, the textures have a tendency to shimmer. Other slight issues include an occasional flickering shadow and glitchy reflections when entering rooms. These graphical issues wouldn't be nearly as noticeable if the rest of the game didn't look so consistently good, and the last thing those who play Luigi's Mansion will complain about is its visual prowess.

Luigi's first solo excursion has flashes of brilliance and is fun while it lasts, but the short amount of time it takes to complete it makes it a hard 5 star recommendation. There is some incentive to play through the game a second time, but even that can be done within an average rental period. However, if you're a serious video game collector or just want a game that will adequately show off your new console, Luigi's Mansion is worth picking up.

I hope this review assisted with deciding which game to purchase for your Nintendo Gamecube. (...)

"It's been very difficult to come to a decision on just what to rate Luigi's Mansion. Luigi is the closest thing to a Mario Flagship title that we saw for GameCube launch, and the bar has been set almost impossibly high after Super Mario Bros., Super Mario World, and Super Mario 64. In the end, while still a solid game, Luigi's Mansion doesn't deserve a spot next to the predecessors.

Now that the ugly comparison is out of the way, lets examine the merits and faults of Luigi's Mansion in its own right. What we have in Luigi's Mansion is a fun, solid adventure title with little to no replay value.

While the game concept is hardly fresh (and indeed been nearly beaten to death by Capcom), Nintendo still manages to pull it off with characteristic grace. Using the Poltergust vaccum to suck up the ghosts, and mastering the timing of using the flashlight (or other objects) to make the ghosts vulnerable injects a breath of fresh air into the game. At the same time, it proves to be a good example of how to properly program a game for the GameCube controler. Every button is put to good use, and it isn't hard to believe that the game was designed to make the most out of the controller. It wouldn't surprise me at all if future games in the haunted mansion genre start to pick up on some of the controller ideas in future installments.

Luigi's Mansion is a fun game, but hardly worth the full retail price. You can rent it once, twice, or even thrice and have a great time with it. A rental time, however is about all the time you need for it. I'm no game wizard (in fact, I rather suck at figuring out game puzzles), but I breezed through this game effortlessly. I wouldn't call it easy, but it isn't more than moderately challenging even at its best. Rent it, and you take it back satisfied. But there are just too many great GameCube games out now to spend the full $on Luigi's Mansion."

quote:"Yeah! All right!"