Luigi's Mansion is
an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo
for the GameCube, and was a launch title for the system in 2001. The
game of course stars Luigi, and takes place inside a haunted mansion
where you must capture ghosts and rescue Luigi's older brother,
Mario. Seems like when Mario isn't doing the rescuing he's getting
himself kidnapped. Oh well, grab your proton packs – I mean,
Poltergust 3000, and follow me. We have ghost busting to
do.
We
kick things off with Luigi coming to his new mansion. He won the
mansion in a contest that he never entered, so I'm sure there's
nothing suspicious going on. Here is where we get our early feel for
the gameplay and to familiarize ourselves with the controls. The
game takes some cues from Resident Evil, a sequence playing whenever
you open doors, almost every room in the house starting out as
locked, the requirement for keys, and it takes forever to turn
around.
Once
you meet up with Professor E. Gadd (who sounds like an Ewok for some
reason), that's when the Ghostbusters inspiration really starts to
shrine. The Poltergust 3000 sucks up ghosts in a similar manner as
the proton packs from Ghostbusters, and you put them into a machine
just like they did in the movie, only the machine is for converting
them back into paintings. An old scientist ran around the world
catching ghosts and trapping them in a 2D space to hang on his wall
for all eternity. Are we sure Professor Gadd isn't the villain here?
Put
your back into it, Luigi!
Now
the real ghost nabbing begins. Luigi's Mansion makes use of a
flashlight to momentarily stun a ghost so you can use the Poltergust
3000 to suck them up. Each ghost has a set health that goes down the
longer the vacuum is running. Ghosts range from the standard yellow
like we see here, to ghosts that charge you, grab you, drop banana
peals on the ground, and hangs upside down. Then we have mice
ghosts, bat ghosts, portrait ghosts from Gadd's gallery that escape,
and Boo. That isn't me trying to scare you, there really is a
reoccurring ghost in Mario that's called Boo.
Portrait
ghosts and Boos are the hardest ghosts to get. With the portrait
ghosts you have to wait for them to reveal their heart (see above)
before you can suck them up. With Boos, you have to clear a room for
the lights to come on and then use the Game Boy Horror to track it
down. Unlike the rest of the ghosts, Boos can leave a room and
you'll have to chase it around the mansion if you want to catch it.
Don't worry too much if you lose it, since you can always just find
it at a later date and their health won't go back up or anything.
There are fifty Boos you can catch overall for a perfect game, but
you only need to capture forty in order to progress.
There
are four areas in the mansion overall, with each area ending in a
boss fight. I was able to beat the game in two days, so it isn't
that long, but it makes up for its short length with a new game
plus, and unlocking a hidden mansion that's more challenging. It's
the same mansion F.Y.I., just that the ghosts are tougher and so is
your Poltergust.
If
you're looking for a challenge, then I regret to inform you Luigi's
Mansion isn't that hard. The only things that gave me trouble were
the Boolossus and King Boo bosses. Boolossus only because once you
break him down to smaller Boos they move faster than Luigi. The first
two bosses were pretty easy, and the rest of the ghosts aren't that
challenging unless you're surrounded by a bunch of them, but even
then you'll get it eventually.
After
you complete each area Luigi returns to the lab to turn the ghosts he
caught back into paintings and tally up your score. From there you
can choose to go back to the mansion, train, or view the ghosts you
caught in the art gallery.
Luigi
can tap or vacuum multiple objects in various rooms to collect
hearts, and money. Using the Game Boy Horror you can even find a
piece of cheese that when activated will summon a ghost mouse that
you can suck up to get a lot of money. When you get your hands on
elements, you can even collect more money by watering plants. This
is also how you find objects belonging to Mario to help you track
him down. Needless to say, it pays to explore.
Conclusion:
Luigi's Mansion is a fun game
that wouldn't make a bad survival horror for children. If you like
Luigi and ghost busting, then you may very well enjoy this game.
Get
it.
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