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Luigi`s Mansion Review
Stephen Leyton
00/12/0000
Luigi returns on GameCube with his very own game Luigi`s Mansion. Is it any good? Read on.
Luigi first made an appearance on the GameCube as a technical demonstration, showing the power that the GameCube is capable of producing. After discussions Nintendo revealed that Luigiās Mansion would in fact be a game for the GameCube and would be one of the first launch titles.
Luigiās Mansion as Iām sure you can guess is based around our favourite plumbers brother Luigi, who has some how obtained a spooky Mansion. However Mario is nowhere to be seen and later on youāll figure out that Mario has been kid-napped; yes this time it isnāt Princess Daisy (makes a change).
As Luigi enters the Mansion, strange things start to happen, spooky orange objects float around the screen and Luigi generally starts to get nervous. To calm his nerves Luigi starts to whistle in tune with the background music. Soon on Luigi meets an eccentric little professor who is trying to catch the ghosts in the Mansion with his trusty torch and vacuum cleaner. Problem is heās too small and weak to capture anything, so Luigi lends a hand.
This is where the game really starts to kick in. Luigi needs to enter the mansion and get-rid-of as many ghosts as possible, there are a number of different variations in ghosts some easy to capture others proving more difficult and frustrating. The game follows quite a basic mode, enter the rooms defeat the little ghosts and then figure out how to trap the āmini-boss ghostsā. These require some puzzle solving activities on your behalf. For example the first Big Ghost you see is in a library reading a book, the trick here is to avoid the flying books in the room and wait for the ghost to start yawning as he does, flashing the torch on him will make him panic and you can suck him in with the cleaner. The puzzles are well developed and some will have you thinking for quite some time. Probably one of our favourite is the music room; once you enter you can see a number of instruments if you start to play the items a sound starts playing which sounds familiar. Once you have all the instruments playing it is clear that the tune is the original Mario Brothers song. These then triggers of the boss who is playing on the Piano, you can then capture him with your cleaner. Destroying these ghosts gives you a reward, mainly keys to other rooms but sometimes treasure and other items, which we wonāt mention (we donāt want to spoil the surprise).
It may seam very strange but parts of the game are similar to the original Zelda game on the NES, especially the dungeon scenes, where you are required to solve certain puzzles to advance through the level.
The graphics are stunning, looking like CG sequences throughout the game. The detail on Luigi is fantastic and his facial expressions throughout the game will make you chuckle more often than not. Whilst the game isnāt plastered with cut scenes the ones that do occur are eye-catching and help unravel the plot. The Mansion itself is very big with a large number of rooms and corridors, as you can expect these look fantastic and are filled with many different objects of which Luigi can react with them. Using Luigiās vacuum there is nothing he canāt suck up, open, pick up or throw. From sucking out a tablecloth from a table filled with cutlery, to snatching the paintings and posters from the walls.
The sound plays a major role in this game; the background music is very similar to that in the Munsters or the Adams Family. Throughout the game Luigi will shout our āMarioā in different tones, which is funny, he will also whistle along to the music, getting louder as he becomes more scared, which is a nice touch.
One of the main concerns we were worried about was the repetition of the game. How many ghosts can you catch without it getting boring, but thankfully all the rooms are varied in style and you never know what to expect. The puzzles are sometimes complex making the game interesting from start to finish but at the end youāll be happy youāve played this one.
As you progress through the game collecting the major ghosts, your Professor friend will turn them into pictures at the end of the level which are then hung on the wall in the basement; there are 22 to collect. However the game doesnāt just stop there. One of the more stupid things Luigi does is to let out 50 ā Boo Booās which then hide throughout the house. Using Luigiās Game Boy Horror you can track them and then capture them. These Boo Booās have a part to play with Mario, as you will find out later on through the game, in what has to be one of the greatest cut-scenes.
UPDATE: Luigi's Mansion Busted...
SPOILER We`ve finished Luigi`s Mansion and have got the pictures to prove it. Warning anybody who would like this to remain a secret should look away.
After a slightly extended playtest we've finally managed to finish Luigi's Mansion. The end sequence is extermely funny in a Nintendo way, and unsuprisingly features Mario in his first Gamecube appearance - Mario Sunshine doesn't count, it's not finished - and another character that will remain nameless, unless you want to take a look at the full image gallery.
In total we believe there to be around 12hrs of gameplay, however we've yet to collect everything, so in keeping with Mario tradition the end figure would be significantly higher.
To check out the screens follow this link
