April 2013
Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon Review
Although the original Luigi's Mansion may have not been as memorable for some people as it was for others, Nintendo had decided to kick things off for the Year of Luigi with the unexpected sequel, Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon for the Nintendo 3DS.
The game starts off a differently from the first one. Professor E. Gadd is working tirelessly on his next invention with some unlikely help from...ghosts! The ghosts willingly assist the professor thanks to the pacifying effects of the legendary Dark Moon. But then, out of nowhere, King Boo makes a return and breaks apart the Dark Moon into pieces and scatters them across different mansions. This causes the ghosts to go haywire and wreck havoc, leaving E. Gadd to call upon assistance from the one and only ghost-wrangler himself, Luigi!
Luigi once again straps on his trusty vaccuum cleaner, the Poltergust 5000, and explores several different mansions to suck up some ghosts as well as find the missing pieces of the Dark Moon. This time, it's come with several old and new attachments. Luigi can also use his trusty flashlight to stun ghosts, making them vulnerable for Luigi to vacuum them in. But, this time, there is more you can do than just that. You can also use the flashlight to open up doors and special vaults that give you access to additional areas and extra money. Another new addition is the dark-light device, which allows Luigi to illuminate hidden objects and Boos as well as bring images on portraits to life. Even the vaccum cleaner itself has seen additional uses, as Luigi can now also suck up loose wallpaper, curtains, and other objects, revealing hidden gaps for Luigi to peer into and even more additional money.
The mansions themselves are divided into missions, each with certain goals you need to follow. The way you are rewarded in this game is through a ranking system at the end of each mission which ranks you based on your performance. Based upon how much time it takes you, how much money you have obtained, how many ghosts you have sucked up, and additional gemstones and boos, you are rewarded from a one to three star ranking. The way money itself works in this game is a bit different as well. This time, it is added up in a certain upgrading system with will increase things like the power of your vaccum when capturing ghosts and the capacity of your dark-light device. There is also a special multiplayer mode called SkareScraper mode, where you and your friends to compete against one another to see who's the better ghost wrangler.
Regardless of whether or not you played the first game, Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon is phenonminal. Sure the game starts off slow as E. Gadd bombards you with the basic tutorial stuff, but trust me, the game starts to pick up as soon as all that's out of the way and E. Gadd will only inform when your mission is done. The fact that you can interact with your environment beyond siezing ghosts makes the game much more enjoyable as you never know what you'll find! This includes special gemstones you can collect throughout the game as well as golden bones and ghosts that will increase your money total. The graphics look stunning for handheld standards and the music is quite good. The game precedes to pick up where the first game took off and improves on it even after such a long time.
Don't let the fact that Luigi is the star this time fool you. He is quite the ghost capturer despite his constant fear of them. Luigi proves that even the biggest cowards can be the greatest heroes. Of course, we wouldn't expect any less from the younger brother of the well-known Super Mario. Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon is a fantastic game and I'd give it a solid 8.5 out of 10. And remember, next time you visit a mansion to find some ghosts, be sure you bring your flashlight!
The game starts off a differently from the first one. Professor E. Gadd is working tirelessly on his next invention with some unlikely help from...ghosts! The ghosts willingly assist the professor thanks to the pacifying effects of the legendary Dark Moon. But then, out of nowhere, King Boo makes a return and breaks apart the Dark Moon into pieces and scatters them across different mansions. This causes the ghosts to go haywire and wreck havoc, leaving E. Gadd to call upon assistance from the one and only ghost-wrangler himself, Luigi!
Luigi once again straps on his trusty vaccuum cleaner, the Poltergust 5000, and explores several different mansions to suck up some ghosts as well as find the missing pieces of the Dark Moon. This time, it's come with several old and new attachments. Luigi can also use his trusty flashlight to stun ghosts, making them vulnerable for Luigi to vacuum them in. But, this time, there is more you can do than just that. You can also use the flashlight to open up doors and special vaults that give you access to additional areas and extra money. Another new addition is the dark-light device, which allows Luigi to illuminate hidden objects and Boos as well as bring images on portraits to life. Even the vaccum cleaner itself has seen additional uses, as Luigi can now also suck up loose wallpaper, curtains, and other objects, revealing hidden gaps for Luigi to peer into and even more additional money.
The mansions themselves are divided into missions, each with certain goals you need to follow. The way you are rewarded in this game is through a ranking system at the end of each mission which ranks you based on your performance. Based upon how much time it takes you, how much money you have obtained, how many ghosts you have sucked up, and additional gemstones and boos, you are rewarded from a one to three star ranking. The way money itself works in this game is a bit different as well. This time, it is added up in a certain upgrading system with will increase things like the power of your vaccum when capturing ghosts and the capacity of your dark-light device. There is also a special multiplayer mode called SkareScraper mode, where you and your friends to compete against one another to see who's the better ghost wrangler.
Regardless of whether or not you played the first game, Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon is phenonminal. Sure the game starts off slow as E. Gadd bombards you with the basic tutorial stuff, but trust me, the game starts to pick up as soon as all that's out of the way and E. Gadd will only inform when your mission is done. The fact that you can interact with your environment beyond siezing ghosts makes the game much more enjoyable as you never know what you'll find! This includes special gemstones you can collect throughout the game as well as golden bones and ghosts that will increase your money total. The graphics look stunning for handheld standards and the music is quite good. The game precedes to pick up where the first game took off and improves on it even after such a long time.
Don't let the fact that Luigi is the star this time fool you. He is quite the ghost capturer despite his constant fear of them. Luigi proves that even the biggest cowards can be the greatest heroes. Of course, we wouldn't expect any less from the younger brother of the well-known Super Mario. Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon is a fantastic game and I'd give it a solid 8.5 out of 10. And remember, next time you visit a mansion to find some ghosts, be sure you bring your flashlight!