Luigi's Mansion (Nintendo 3DS)

My kids laughed at me when I said I was going to buy this game for myself, but when it arrived I couldn't stop them from playing it! The object of the game is for Luigi to explore mansions and rid them of their ghosts using his Poltergust 5000 vacuum cleaner, while trying to discover the reason behind these paranormal infestations.The environments are rich and detailed, and look great in 3D. The music is catchy, and the characters and their dialogue are charming and funny.The bite-size mission based structure has you exploring the mansions in greater depth and uncovering more secrets as you progress. This structure is one of the two most criticized aspects of the game - (the other being difficulty spikes) if you 'die' during a mission you have to go back to the beginning and redo it all, which can be frustrating. Having said that, redoing a mission gives the opportunity to hone your ghost catching skills and discover treasure you might have previously missed. Treasure is important in this game!Outside of the main quest, there are other challenges such as completing collections and unlocking extra (optional) missions, as well as the online multiplayer mode, which allows up to 4 players to clear haunted towers as a team.Overall I thought Luigi's Mansion 2 was excellent, and fun for adults and kids alike. We've all completed it now, but are still picking it up and playing the multiplayer as well as exploring the mansions for secrets we may have missed.If you have a 3DS, I'd recommend this game.

It's been a very long wait but Nintendo have finally produced a sequel to the enjoyable but underrated Luigi's Mansion and what a sequel it is! This is arguably one of the finest games the 3DS has produced and clearly shows that Luigi is more than capable of stepping out of his brother's shadow.The graphics are very impressive and the 3D effects improve the experience even further. The controls are simple yet fluid, whilst the gameplay offers new twists and turns at every opportunity. At one point I did start to wonder if things were getting slightly repetitive but then a new feature was thrown at me and all doubts were forgotten. The game takes a good while to complete whilst hidden treasures and high scores pad out the adventure.The multiplayer is surprisingly enjoyable although you really need more players to get the most out of it. My only issue with the game is a lack of checkpoints and occasional backtracking. Other than that, it's great.It's great to see that Nintendo are still capable of producing some original titles along with the mountain of platformers and other genres. Luigi's Mansion 2 is a fantastic game that deserves a place in your collection.

I have real mixed feelings playing this. It's a beauty to look at on the 3DS screen. Luigi is still hapless and hopeless in equal measure and Gadd is still jibbering on in his "yaboyabo" language. Gameplay is smooth and perfectly enjoyable - but something is missing.The element of exploration over the course of one huge mansion in the original was part of the fun. Little snippets of the unknown in every corridor kept you going and were not interrupted after 10 minutes playtime by a cutscene where Luigi sticks his vacuum cleaner in a pipe and Gadd rabbits on while you wait impatiently for the next level. Maybe it's endemic of modern game design where at least 50% of the product is actual cutscenes. Because of this, Luigi doesn't feel as isolated and I really don't like how the mansions are condensed. I'd rather have one big mansion to explore fully than hollow, small mansions that don't satisfy as much. I understand that the original perhaps was not ideal for handheld gaming, but to fragment the experience as much as Ninty have here to me makes the game harder to get into and harder to become immersed within. People may dislike this review but in all honesty the original for me, is a fantastic game. Dark Moon doesn't quite live up to it.Make no mistake though, you can do a lot worse than buy Luigi's Mansion for your 3DS. It's still a very good game technically. But by trying to expand the game across multiple mansions - the restrictive level structure actually contracts the game and for me, suffers in comparison to the Gamecube original. I hope that Dark Moon is the "difficult second album" of the series and that we see new iterations on the WiiU and 3DS to come.I had such high expectations for this, had it preordered ridiculously early. I'm disappointed but am not regretting buying. There's a good game here but it is by no means a flawless masterpiece.

This game is great in every aspect: looks, sounds, controls, animations, playfulness - and more importantly the flow is great. No challenge is annoyingly difficult, I always have some kind of progress, and I always know exactly where to go - though getting there is for the most part a big part of the adventure.Luigi meets new ghost types on almost every mission, each type with their own way of being captured (and often also tracked down). The fishing mechanic deployed for the actual capturing of the ghosts, is like an exciting and charming skill tied mini-game; I love it. Each mission is about 10-30 minutes long. The fact that there is no jumping or classic platform mechanics is a relief.Even with only half an hour of play every week, I'm able to quickly get up to speed in-game, ready for more ghost busting. With no prior experience with the previous game, I was able to pick up and enjoy the game easily, with a couple of wonderful eureka moments along the way.I highly recommend this game to all ages.