“Luigi casts Mario aside and grabs adventure head on in this spectacular sequel to one of the GameCube’s most popular titles. He may not be the bravest guy but Luigi proves once again why he is the perfect protagonist for a comical horror game.”
The gameplay:
Luigi’s Mansion 2 may be on Nintendo’s handheld device but that doesn’t stop it from being in every possible way, a bigger and better title than the original on GameCube. Once again Luigi is paired up with Professor E-Gad to clear an assortment of spooky mansions and collect all the fragments of the Dark Moon that’s making all the ghosts angry and violent.
Luigi does this of course with some very nifty contraptions courtesy of the young looking professor. The Poltergust-3000 is your main tool serving as a Ghostbuster like vacuum that sucks up any ghosts in your way. However, you can only capture them after you’ve stunned them with your trusty flashlight. This combination of stunning enemies then vacuuming them up proves to be incredibly addictive and tremendously satisfying, especially when there are multiple enemies present forcing you to cleverly manipulate both Luigi and the ghosts across the environment.
The final piece of gameplay comes in the form of an illumination device strapped to your flashlight that uncovers hidden objects like doors, devices or even items. Luigi’s Mansion 2 forces players to scour absolutely every nook and cranny across all the areas you explore to find every single goodie and the elusive Boo Ghosts that must be found to unlock a special level in each mansion. This alongside a ranking system from 1 to 3 stars means you’ll be replaying levels over and over for that perfect 3 star + Boo score.
The presentation:
Luigi’s Mansion 2 is a beautiful looking handheld title that is supplemented well by the 3D effects. While the later are not crucial to enjoy the game, some particular moments really shine in 3D. Luigi himself is the absolute star of the show – he’s just so funny and the bravery he displays despite being so unbelievable terrified all the time is amazing.
I can’t help but feel it’s a tad shame that this wasn’t a WiiU title because the combination of high performance graphics and the WiiU GamePad could have really brought even more out of this franchise, nevertheless it’s still very impressive all things considered.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 also really shines in terms of replay value – not only is your first playthrough particularly long to begin with, but if you’re a perfectionist then prepare to invest considerable hours to get the best scores on each level. On top of that there’s a really enjoyable multiplayer mode that allows players to team up and complete levels by finding and capturing all the ghosts.
The verdict:
Luigi’s Mansion 2 is a must have title for any Nintendo 3DS owner. It’s funny, it’s witty, it’s entertaining and all the while challenging from beginning all the way to the end. There’s lots of clever puzzles and ideas implemented here and almost none of which seem to repeat themselves or become old – this is Nintendo at their finest.
Gameplay – 9 out of 10
Presentation – 9 out of 10
Replay value – 9 out of 10
Verdict – 10 out of 10
Igor Kharin.
