Luigi's Mansion 2 Review
The original Luigi's Mansion, released in 2001 on the Nintendo Gamecube, was considered to be very much a sleeper hit. But as a Sony Playstation 2 owner I was unfortunately unable to play it even though it looked intriguingly scary (I was only 9 years old at the time). Moving forward to 2013 and Luigi's Mansion 2 was finally released. Even though it has been over a decade since the original, I had certainly not forgotten that I wished to play this particular franchise and thankfully, with my Nintendo 3DS in tow I was able to.
Story: 8.7/10
Very true to Nintendo's form, the story is not incredibly deep.
The story begins with Luigi being teleported to Professor E. Gadds bunker and set the task of searching through various mansions in order to find fragments of the Dark Moon which has been stolen by unknown evil. Of course it isn't that simple as the friendly ghosts of Evershade Valley have transformed to attack and torment Luigi whilst on his quest.
Although the story can be considered somewhat light, surprisingly it is definitely the most cinematic game to surface from the Mushroom Kingdom yet. There were a few twists and turns along the way, with a perfect balance being revealed throughout the stages about the deeper evil. Combine that with an adorable charm and charisma that continually seeps through the entire run through of the game and you have an extremely enjoyable premise that fits perfectly into the handheld marketplace as well.
Gameplay: 8.5/10
How does the gameplay fare? Luigi is equipped with a flashlight (Stroboscope), a darklight and his trusty Poltergust 5000.
The flashlight is used in order to stun ghosts. But rather than simply shining it onto the enemy like the original, instead it has to be charged up to provide a pulse of light to stun the ghosts.
The darklight, a new addition, can be used to find invisible objects such as doors and chests. Some of these objects are needed to be found for the progression of the story, whilst some others are optional bonuses. The darklight can also be used to detect and stun Boo's.
The Poltergust 5000 like before simply sucks the ghosts and coins into the machine. In order for the ghosts to be sucked in the player has to hold onto the R button whilst holding the circle pad in the opposite direction to which the ghost is moving and pressing the A button at the precise moment to get small bonuses. This include coins, gold bars and health. The Poltergust can also suck in or blow out environmental objects such as fans and rotors to move a mechanism.
The darklight and Poltergust are automatically upgraded as the player levels up through the acquisition of gold coins. This is a nice little bonus as it provides the incentive to coin collect which ultimately helps balance out the game, particularly as the difficulty spikes a little bit towards the end.
For the most part the controls were very tight and responsive, but there were a few occasions whereby I would try to charge the flashlight and it would not respond instantly. Furthermore, the amount of maneuverability is tremendously diminished when using any of these items. Whether or not it is to simply add more difficulty and an attempt to be more tactical when attacking ghosts is unclear, but it was a bit peculiar changing from being pretty nimble to suddenly sluggish movements as if in mud.
There are a few instances of the 3DS's motion control capabilities being used. The gyroscope is used whilst peering through windows and also to look around the rooms. The accelerometer on the other hand balances Luigi on precarious ledges. The two ultimately end up being novelties. Luckily the circle pad could be used to look around rather than mess up the 3D on screen whilst awkwardly moving your whole body around.
Unlike the original, there are 5 mansions rather than the single one. This is great as it adds an extra amount of longevity with the game, but also allowed for the developers to create differing themes inside these spooky houses. These range from a chalet in a snowy environment, to one with tons of greenhouses, filled with plants.
Additionally, bucking the trend of the original, Luigi's Mansion 2 is split into a mission structure. Once the main objectives of the mission are completed, Luigi is transported back to E. Gadd's bunker which acts as a hub. Although this is great in the sense that you can play the game in short bursts, the problem which arises is that once the objectives are achieved there is no choice to continue in search for the numerous gems and coins. As a result, the player ends up having to scour the open parts of the mansion to find all these extras before even beginning the proper objectives. There should have been an option to ignore E. Gadds call to return back once the level had ended
But the bonus aspect of this mission structure is that at the end of each level a set of statistics are brought up with a final medal of bronze, silver and gold, plus confirmation if you caught a Boo. It definitely provides incentive to return back to these levels in order to increase your score.
Another issue is that the game can end up being somewhat brutal. If you die during a mission, unless you find a golden dog bone which revitalises Luigi health, you end up starting the mission right from the beginning. Bearing in mind the problem about collecting all the treasures before getting into the main objectives, it's rather harsh. There should be at least a checkpoint halfway through each mission or an autosave feature whenever you acquire a gem.
During my run through of the game I only died 3-4 times as the game is generous for the most part, but it was a tremendous nuisance when I had to start all over again. Ultimately these short bursts of gameplay can end up lasting a lot longer.
Graphics: 9.6/10
Luigi's Mansion 2 is possibly one of the best looking games on the 3DS system, alongside the likes of Kingdom Hearts 3D.
Although the art style is rather simplistic and there are not a lot of insanely detailed high resolution textures, the graphics retained the charm of Nintendo's classic franchise and mascots. There is a tremendous amount of on screen objects and background detail as well.
The frame rate was rock solid throughout which allowed the 3D effect to be a lot easier on the eyes. The camera remains in a fixed position but follows Luigi as he moves up and down floors with the occasional peculiar angle in order to highlight the 3D effect even more which also worked exceptionally well.
The game is extremely vibrant and colourful and the cutscenes were really expressive making the game feel more like a Saturday morning cartoon which was fantastic.
Sound: 9.0/10
Charles Martinet provides a delightfully cheerful voice of Luigi, with a lot more dialogue than I expected. Yes they are more one liners than anything, but it was great. The way he would say "oh dear" when something would go wrong or "I did it!" when he resolved the issue was really charming. So much attention to detail was played that even when the soundtrack played in the background Luigi would sometimes hum along to the music, his voice quivering a few times, emphasising his anxiety. It definitely puts a smile on your face.
The sound effects of the ghosts are also brilliant as they all vary between different types. They all retain a cheeky sounding voice definitely forcing the notion that they are up to no good.
Even the general sound effects, from the wind blowing to the doors creaking slowly ajar were well implemented. It set the tone of each haunted mansion.
Although the soundtrack was incredibly catchy, I still sometimes randomly hum it aloud, it was a slight disappointment that it seemed to be one song throughout the game but with slightly remixed versions in each new location. It felt a little bit lazy.
A minor niggle also arose during the first mission. The sound completely disappeared a few minutes into the game. It was not at all game breaking as it eventually reappeared, but considering it was my first time playing this franchise it wasn't a great first impression on quality assurance.
Longevity: 9.2/10
The single player was a lot lengthier than I had anticipated, clocking in at 17 and a half hours. With the addition of returning to previous levels to acquire everything from gems to Boo's to simply achieving a gold medal, it is definitely a beefy product. Add the online and local multiplayer component and you end up with a completely satisfying purchase.
Conclusion:
Despite some gameplay flaws, Luigi's Mansion 2 is a fantastic game to play. Its charisma won me over, and the gameplay aspects which were done right was extremely fun and a nice departure from the swarm of FPS and parkour games of the home consoles and horrendously weak games on Android/iPhone marketplace.
Here's hoping that Nintendo continue to create games of this calibre and move in the right direction of making their mascots have a more cinematic experience.
Luigi's Mansion 3 on the WiiU anyone?
9/10
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