GameCube: Luigi’s Mansion
November 9, 2008 - 10:46 am - Posted by Sean
Luigi’s Mansion has fallen under intense and perhaps unfair scrutiny with people focusing more on its technical prowess than actual gameplay.
After receiving my copy a few days ago, I personally like how Luigi’s Mansion takes an occult theme and turns it into a light-hearted family affair.
Armed with a flashlight and vacuum cleaner, Luigi’s objective is to find his brother Mario in an expansive haunted house. By shining the flashlight on ghosts at critical moments, Luigi can stun them, making them vulnerable to being vacuumed up.
Reminiscent of Ghostbusters, vacuuming is done by holding the joystick in the opposite direction as the ghost struggles to escape. Sucking up ghosts is fun, and controls have a certain fishing game quality.
Lushly decorated with interactive furniture, each room becomes a little puzzle as you try to determine how its ghost(s) can be drawn out. Eventually you acquire the ability to unleash elements like fire, providing additional possibilities for puzzle solving.
Luigi’s Mansion is an entertaining little game, but there’s a learning curve involved, and aiming your vacuum with the C stick is awkward. Some of the puzzles are tough, and even in the early going some gamers are bound to become stuck.
Even so, there are a lot of little things about the game that will make you smile, like hearing the Super Mario Bros. theme in the music room, or discovering a hidden switch only visible from a mirror on the far wall.
The graphics are good but unspectacular, although there are some slick lighting and fog effects. The clammy brick walls in the basement really caught my eye.
The audio contains a number of catchy tunes in the minor key, and rich digitized sound effects are interspersed with old-school style sound cues.
Luigi’s Mansion tends to be under-appreciated, but GameCube fans and Nintendo Wii owners will definitely want this one in their collection.
Luigi’s Mansion is a pretty fun game to play for sure. Wasn’t this a GameCube launch title?
@Billy: Yep, Luigi’s Mansion was a launch title for the Nintendo GameCube. The more I play it, the more in-depth I find the gameplay to be. I keep finding all sorts of things I missed the first time I played it.
It’s about time Luigi gets some of the spotlight put on him. Mario is always trying to steal the show. This game sounds like a lot of fun. I’ll have to check it out.
I just stumbled upon your website this evening. I really like your look and feel. Very modern but retro at the same time. Great review by the way.
@Stacy: Agreed. Mario is always center stage but Luigi shines in this classic. Indeed, try and locate this game. You will really enjoy it, especially if you like problem and puzzle solving.
@Steven: Hey there. Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you found the site and are enjoying the reviews as well as the look and feel. Hope to see you commenting more around the site. Sit back and look around. We have lots to look at, and be sure to check out our game room too.
Wow, thank you for such a quick reply. I’m already looking around the site and playing the games in your game room. Very addicting for sure! I’m also subscribed to your RSS feed now, so I’ll keep up to date on things with the site. I’ll be sure to check out the archives too.
I was just playing this with my nephew and I must say, I love the way the mechanics work. It is well made and a total bargain! Sad thing is most “real gamers” won’t try this for two reasons, It’s old and it’s not Mario.
I am not a big Nintendo fan at all, but this I must say is one of there more original games, in a long time.
@BitMaster: Indeed, you can find this game pretty cheap these days.
Luigi’s Mansion might be considered an old game, true, but we do have some “real gamers” who visit and comment on the site, so they must enjoy old, aka some of the classics too… I know I’m into classics… as well as modern games.
@Sean R
What I meant to say was, the next gen 360, Halo, GT4, playing fanboy is too cool for this sort of game (sarcasm) And yeah, a few of them would like this game, but most are blind to anything “old” sadly. I had more fun with this game, then with any 360/Wii/PS3 1st gen game.
I do really love this games mechanics and control.