It was my birthday recently and I got Luigi’s Mansion! I’ve never played any of the Luigi’s Mansion games before, so I got this one on the recommendation of a friend who is a long term childhood fan of the franchise and described the game as a warm hug, and you know what… I agree! In fact I’ve enjoyed it so much that I wanted to do a quick little review – This’ll be pretty much spoiler free in terms of major moments, and I won’t say anything in too much detail past the opening cutscenes and very early bits of the game; most importantly, I certainly won’t tell you how to solve any of the puzzles!
So far this game is sooo cute – It’s utterly adorable. You play as Luigi (obviously) and you Mario, Peach and the toads have all been invited to a big fancy hotel. You’re gretted by the hostess, and by day the hotel is beautiful and full of fun surprises… And then the lights go out. Luigi becomes a little scared, and he goes out to look for Mario and Peach, who are nowhere to be seen – He’s confronted by the hotelier who turns out is a ghost in kahoots with King Boo – The nefarious King Boo has trapped all of Luigi’s friends in a painting, and plans to capture Luigi too, but thankfully our green-capped crusader escapes through a nearby laundry chute – You then continue to play through the game as a super adorable, trembling, terrified, but brave Luigi.
With the help from Polterpup – the cutest little ghost doggy ever – you aquire a ghost vacuum backpack known as the Poltergust G-00, and a torch which you can use to stun and then suck up the various ghosts that inhabit the halls and rooms of the hotels Ghostbusters style. There’s loads of different types of ghosts too that take different tactics to defeat – You also get a dark light that you can use to rescue your friends from their paintings, the first person rescued being Professor E. Gadd, who sets up a lab to collect the ghosts and collectibles you pick up along the way, along with giving helpful advice and selling helpful items – If you get super stuck on a level, sometimes the super helpful little Professor Gadd will pop up and give you that little boost. He also gives you Gooigi! A gooey version of Luigi you can bring out at certain points in order to get through grates and other thin obstacles – Gooigi is probably the most useful thing in game; you can only control Gooigi or Luigi at any one point, never both – Gooigi is used to save Luigi’s skin on many occasions, and to be fair I really think they should just rename the whole thing ”Gooigi’s Mansion 3”!
Once you’ve set free Professor Gadd you can start to make your way up the levels of the hotel, each one themed differently – At the end of each level there’s a boss ghost, where each one has a different way of beating it which along with the different level themes means that each level feels fresh and fun. Each level has various different puzzles that you an choose to engage in to get collectibles – Some levels have simpler puzzles to complete; for example floor 8 is one of my favourites. Everything about it is just fun, challenging and different, so look out for that one! Don’t fret though, after you beat a floor’s boss there’s still plenty more collectibles to find, ghosts to catch, and even Boo’s to find.
The aesthetics of the game are just gorgeous! It looks fantastic both in docked and handheld mode – It’s also one of those games that gives adults a fun easy break from all the hardcore games, still with little challenge, whilst also being a good, repayable game for younger gamers to get stuck into. It is super child friendly as you would expect from Nintendo, and the whole thing is just charming. It gives you that sense of satisfaction without being too taxing. It’s a game you can chill out with!
This game has to be one of my absolute favourites of the year; I’ll be trying out the co-op sometime this week – But if all the serious gaming has got you bogged down recently, I urge you to go and pick up this fun little treasure. It’s beautiful, charming, and great for all ages. I’m honestly loving it! I’d actually go as far as to give it a 9/10.
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