Luigi's Mansion 2

Ah! Well, that was fun. I have litterally just 100% this thing. And...well, I guess it's time to digest!

[size=+1]Luigi's Mansion 2[/size]​

My 3DS is starting to worm its way into my heart. Much like the Game Boy, the Game Boy Advance and the original DS I have owned in the past, this is fast beginning to become rather attached to my hands. I haven't put it down for very long because it keeps finding new things for me to do. Initially, I just messed around with it. Then I discovered the StreetPass stuff and I'm interested to see if the payoff for these things is worth it. Plus, I like the Augmented Reality games. The cards didn't come with my second-hand device but it barely matters. Just have it in front of the screen, and the 3DS is fine. Whiteboard drawing, computer screen, reflection in a mirror; the 3DS is perfectly fine. I even found out about some of the secrets. Like resolution settings on the backwards compatible stuff. Want to play DS and Game Boy games in their original resolution? Just start it up while holding down Select. Dunno why it wasn't an option to toggle but whatever. There's also the budgie, who is neurotic and actually worth talking to for once. That's a nice touch. Oh! And the 3DS Game and Watch Football Minigame Visualiser? Or the Arwing thing you can actually control? Or messing around with the voice filters? Plus, who doesn't like messing around with the pitch or tempo of their favourite songs? I like listening to everything with high pitch but low tempo. It's like listening to whale noises mixed with chipmunks.

Yeah...My 3DS is kinda growing on me. While I was a little dubious, I can see the big appeal for this little thing. I might not even want to give it up for the upgrade...

Anyway, one of the big, big, big, biiiig deciders in the appeal of this thing is just one of it's killer apps: the sequel to the cult classic of the Gamecube, Luigi's Mansion, Luigi's Mansion 2.

For those that somehow still don't know even though Luigi's Mansion has likely cycled through every single second-hand outlet at least fifty times so copies can't have be too hard to find, Luigi's Mansion is the game where you play as Luigi. Guess what? Luigi won a mansion even though he didn't enter any contests! Guess what? The mansion happens to be haunted. Oh! And Mario is definitely trapped inside somewhere. Luigi is roped into learning how to ghostbust using nothing but a super powered vacuum cleaner created by a crazy inventor named Professor E.Gadd. This is the same E. Gadd that created F.L.U.D.D from Super Mario Sunshine as well as a few other appearances. I think he turned up in one of the Mario and Luigi RPG things. You know, the time travel one?

Anyway, Luigi's Mansion is generally fondly remembered because of two things: it was a pretty decent if short game right at the start of the Gamecube's life and Luigi finally got a shot at the leading role. That was pretty unusual back then. The other other times where crap like 'Mario is Missing' and such so, kinda big news.

For me, Luigi's Mansion had plenty going for it. Not only was there the fact that Luigi was in the forefront rather than boring ol' Mario that barely has a character these days (at least as far as his games go). Luigi was allowed to emote. He was a cowardly little man in waaaay over his head and that was relatable. Add onto that an atmospheric environment that attempted to bring in as much variety in challenges it could present to the player without seeming overtly out of place. There were your ice, fire, wind and plant areas, sure but they all meshed together in this one building. It made some sense within the cartoony logic of the game. Also, while it was creepy but refused to dilute it's colour pallet. Each ghost is memorable in their own way while also attempting to be somewhat unsettling. I mean, will you ever forget the Baby boss you fight? Heck no because that little brat had the power to transport you to a pocket dimension then tried to murder you with a rocking horse!

Chauncey: the first boss in video game history that could be subdued by jangling your keys in his face and a Tickle-Me Elmo​

So, while aesthetically Luigi's Mansion was trying to strike out away from the usual Mario Bros. stuff, gameplay wise...weeeell...

I have this little theory that I like to call the 'Mario Effect'. Mario has had so many games in so many genres but in each one, they're recognisably a Mario product but have roots in something relatively established. In short, they get 'Mario-ised'.

They tried sport stuff. Golf and Tennis had crazy stuff added to them to boost them up. Racing games became hectic when they added weapons to the mix on top of enthusiastic tracks with plenty of hazards and became Mario Kart. For football, they effectively took the game Red Card, which is football without the foul system thus legalising pummeling opponents in the face just to get the ball, and added weapons. And a big, flashy 'Kamehameha' just to kick some footballs really hard. The result is Super Mario Strikers.

The 'Weapon-Based' 3D platformer, a la the Ratchet and Clank series or Jak II/III which were popular at the time, was stripped back to just one wea...well, not weapon but more of a tool that had multiple functions while being based around the familiar Super Mario 64 mission structure and platforming mechanics. You were only as good as the device you had, even through they threw in a few segments without those parts because...I dunno, they feared it wouldn't be a proper Mario game without them. And so, Super Mario Sunshine.

And Mario Party is...Mario Party is...Mario Party is a board gams on steroids.

With that in mind, what is Luigi's Mansion 'mario-ising'? The answer I think is Survival Horror. It's an obvious thing to say but how it does it is important to note here because the entirety of the gameplay is hung from this one idea. Luigi's Mansion borrows one very important thing from Survival Horror; environment interaction.

Take Resident Evil, of which it resembles most closely from that genre. You have a set of items, each one does something but only on certain things. Gun solves your zombie problem but it's a limited solution. Keys solve your locked door problem but they're precious too. Other random crap like levers and broken bits of various, everyday devices is the crux of the solution for each new puzzle. You find this random crap but have to make it open a door or help retrieve a plot-crucial thingamebob. It's Point-and-Click puzzles without the point and click. Most of the environments are largely static but will do something when interacted with in the right context. If you just poke a cupboard, it doesn't do much but with inventory item #13, it suddenly yields something new.

Luigi's Mansion is largely the same only with a vacuum cleaner. You run around this mansion sucking on things until they yield to you. Once they spit out either dust, gold, a key or some plot thing, you know there's nothing else to be found. There's a little bit of picking stuff up with the vacuum to move it somewhere else, a little bit of pulling on stuff to operate switches or remove curtains to some end and a little bit of blowing ice/fire on stuff. Everything else is running around to catch ghosts in the very satisfying 'stun then wrestle to the ground' method of ghostbusting. No highly dangerous laser beams but plenty of rampaging around the room like maniacs. You literally wrangle ghosts like a bucking bronco. Doing so perfectly, especially with more than one ghost, is incredibly satisfying.

So, yeah! Luigi's Mansion is a nerfed, goofy but enjoyable Resident Evil. In fact, if anything, it's much closer to the Lego games in terms of tone. Possibly even being stuck in the middle. Again, it's all largely static environments with 'Context Sensitive Spots' to mess around with. The puzzle was figuring out which character to use on what. Much like Luigi's Mansion's list of tools and abilities only they tend to hide their 'Context Sensitive Spots' a lot better. Rooms are usually built around them so they don't feel contrived.

The Lego games rarely gave much of a toss. Father Christmas on Tatooine? Must be a puzzle! Not that it's a terrible thing of course but Lego games rarely take themselves seriously.

Anyway, there's a few reasons I'm talking about the first game to begin with. Reasons like how I've probably binge watched too much Nostalgia Chick, much needed context for how the sequel stacks up against it's original and that I kinda want to write a lengthy analysis because I thought it was interesting. Luigi's Mansion doesn't seem to get picked apart much. It's always 'Cult Classic' and that's it. No reasoning why, just 'Cult Classic' and move on. It's true, as the goofy horror elements that paint it in an enjoyably 'Fisher-Price' eeriness won't appeal to every player, it seems cruel to just stop there.

Especially when Luigi's Mansion 2 tried it's damn hardest to win your heart. The context of it's predecessor shows the shift in perspective here as I think Luigi's Mansion 2 has been made by fans of Luigi's Mansion. Or at least, fans of Luigi himself.

"All most there! Widen those eyes! They haven't got enough glitter in them yet!"​

Next Level Games, supervised by Mr Miyamoto because duh, present the tale of the Dark Moon. It is a large, crystal moon that has the ability to pacify ghosts. Professor E. Gadd is studying these docile ghosts quite peacefully in the Evershade Valley that has six highly haunted locations. But it's cool because the ghosts are happy and nice because of the large, glowing purple crystal moon doodad.

But, because it would be very strange if this isn't happen as it would just be a game about Luigi napping, the Dark Moon is destroyed. It breaks up into bits that fall into each location of the Evershade Valley and turn the ghosts into rawkus lunatics that start messing everything up. Think of Gremlins that have had every single thing you're not supposed to do to them, done to them. But timed by hundreds. Professor Gadd flees to his bunker and summons Luigi to try and save the day because, he's kinda the only ghostbuster he knows. Except himself but he's too old at this point.

And that's the setup: Gadd and Luigi must fight the wayward ghosts and recover the pieces of the Dark Moon before there's nothing left to save.

From here, endearment and increasing peril ensue.​

So, first thing that shifts in this game is where the personality is coming from. You see, being a Nintendo project, Luigi didn't display too much personality within the first game. He shivered a bit but cowardly shivering was really all you got. The personality and charm of the game comes from the environment and the portrait ghosts you're sent to capture primarily. Luigi was kinda downplayed simply to let the other characters shine a bit more.

Plus, Nintendo likes their leads to be sort of blank so you can project yourself onto them. Next Level Games does not.

Let's deviate a little more and look at one of Next Level Game's other successful Nintendo titles: Punch Out! for the Wii. Now, they didn't have to expand on the characters in this but they did in a big way. In fact, the source material sort of gave next to nothing to go on but I think that's more to do with hardware than typical Nintendo 'player projection' stuff. Within this updated version, each fighter within the game gets a set up before you fight him. It's about ten seconds but it doesn't matter. It introduces the character and sets up their gimmick, as it were. It just bolsters and refines the obvious stereotype each character obviously represents to just make them that much more appealing and memorable. Whether you're fighting a silly, Canadian bear of a man that drinks maple syrup like water or a spanish ladies man with an obvious amount of swagger your going to remember every one of these guys. Heck, the championship defence fights makes things even better, simply because you then get to see what happened after you fought these weirdos, that adds even more character to them.

You see, that's the magic word here: character. Luigi's Mansion 2 pumps the cowardly green plumber with as much of it as they think they can get away with. The original was largely subtle. What with hesitations as he turns door knobs or nervously singing along to the background music. The sequel just adds more moments like that and brings Luigi to the forefront in a way that's not really been done before in a Mario game. Mario is the leading man but he doesn't show as much personality and charm as Luigi does in this. And I love him for it.

It's usually very quick but moments where Luigi does things other than yelp and shiver enrich his character, like this scene where Luigi and this Toad fall through ice into a frozen mine. Tiny little moment but it makes a massive difference. You might not acknowledge it but your brain does.​

In a word, and I hate that this is the best word to sum it up but...yugh...Luigi is 'adorkable'. I know it's a kitch term but it's really the most appropriate. Luigi has so many little moments where he simply comes alive as a character and not just a little avatar I wheel around the screen. He screams when he's scared by a ghost, but he pulls out his torch, clutching to it as these multi-coloured menaces chuckle at his fear. When he wins against deadly boss fights, he does little victory dances. Some are even interrupted by a ghost ruining his flow and he cutely fumbles the little moment. And, what about every time he arrives at his location. He lands, takes a moment to get his bearings then quickly jerks back and forth, fearful of something immediately looking to come get him. When it doesn't, he gets back up, thankful for the fragile peacefulness. Just simple animation has elevated this game from being just a fun extension pack of the original.

In fact, let me show you a little bit. Just watch this one cutscene, it's one of my favourites. You're in this dark environment and you know have to delve deeper into this place. And as such, you walk across into the only room on the map you haven't explored yet only to discover some new gadget. Professor Gadd mentioned E-Gates but didn't explain what they were but you notice that they have a light-triggered switch, just like the ones you've been using over and over throughout your adventure so far. So you activate it and this happens. Remember, I only want you to see that one cutscene.

Linky-link to the Video​

The purpose of this cutscene is to show the player how an E-Gate works. As you can see, it's a little teleportation ring that lets you zip from one place to another. That's all they needed. And yet! And yet, it's turned into a charming little bit where Luigi just plays with it. That little scene of him waving to himself and adding a little 'Hello' melted my heart. I don't care, it's the most endearing a Mario Brother has ever been, ever, in my eyes. It shows a character! It subtly shows that these weird portals are harmless as Luigi himself is pretty amazed by them despite an initial nervousness. And that's important as it's not just Luigi we have to teleport through these things. They happen to be the only way of getting stuff from one room to another as you can't carry stuff and open doors.

Next Level Games took it to the...next...next level when they started adding these fun, simple little moments. And they're fairly frequent. Because of them, you keep playing. You're still playing because you want to see more of Luigi's antics. You want to see what he'll do next and you also want to see him succeed. You connect with the character. It also helps to cement the idea of Luigi being in waaaaaay over his head in this game. As the tension rises and the threat from the ghosts becomes ever more incredible, seeing Luigi win becomes increasingly satisfying because you get to see that happy little man celebrate overcoming incredible odds.

And it's all because Next Level Games let him be himself.

Of course, the other reason you'll enjoy the victory is because this is a nicely challenging game if your not careful. If your not paying attention, you will be joining the ghosts you're supposed to be busting.

Yes, I'm done fan-gushing over Luigi.

"Ah...Can I have my leg back now or are you going to just...I can't move without it! Umm..."​

Despite the loss of an analogue stick, gameplay is largely intact from the original game. You still kind of suck on things until they yield gold. Or a heart. Or a key. Or a plot thing.

Well, actually...Not entirely. While you can suck on stuff, it won't do anything in this game. Unlike the original game where you can interact with everything just by waving your vacuum cleaner around, Luigi's Mansion 2 simplifies this all down to just pressing X on important looking items in the room. Of which I'm kinda iffy on as an idea. On one hand, it simplifies the process of upturning an entire room in your ceaseless search for gold, hearts, keys and plot items as it localises they're likely locations to only a handful of objects. No more careful combing of every single cupboard in a room just to figure out where there might be a cash stash. No, you just bang on it with a touch of a button and wait for what pops out until it becomes very natural to gravitate to these objects.

On the downside, Luigi's Mansion thrived on your ability to search all over the place and into the strangest of places or tiniest of nooks just for the possible treasure bonus. That promise of a bounty somewhere hidden in a mouse hole or a strange draw is a satisfying reason to search the Mansion. The sequel brings that a little closer to the Lego games. While the level design ensures that they don't look out of place within the environment, unlike your average Lego game because they're for all out crazy fun, there's a layer of complexity in their interaction that's stripped back. Vacuuming randomly is usually a waste of time unless there's a fan to turn or something is out of reach. The directed approach is more straightforward but less organic.

But! How about the make or break moment in this review? This is where the game could have been a horrible slog or a little gem. Everything rests on this as it strips out even more of what made the original engaging.

Ready? You sure? OK...

Blimey! Calm down! It's not that tense!​

Luigi's Mansion 2 is mission based. DUN-DUN-DUUUUUHHHHN!

What is it with DS additions to bigger games and their mission systems? I mean, Kingdom Hearts Blah-di-blah-over-dippity-do Days did the same thing and I consider it the most boring and gutless waste of code I have ever played in that series. What about this?

Well, Kingdom Hearts Dee-dah-dee-over-Lah-nah-nah Days was a colossal downgrade in almost every way from the original concept just to fit it onto the hardware. It was compression to the original DS from the far more beefy PS2 that caused most of the problems as the only thing they kept was the combat. They apparently didn't have the resources or time for story, locations, gameplay elements other than fighting things or anything...They had very short video segments for some reason. Why not take those out to make the gameplay better? Wouldn't that have been more useful? Ah...I've harped on that game enough. Let's get back on target.

Luigi's Mansion 2 is an upgrade in almost every single way. There is no visible cutting corners here, at least as far as I know. The hardware appears to be better than before. Sort of. The technical specs are a little weird. What I'm saying is that the original game was ran on the 3DS just to mess around with it, according to Wikipedia, so there should be no doubt that the 3DS can't handle a game like this.

The mission system is apparently to ensure you stay on track at all times. But if you want to explore, generally it's OK. In fact, exploring is usually encouraged as there's plenty of treasure to find, Boos to capture and a Jewel collection to fill up. It seems to be trying to help out a newer audience that wouldn't be used to the pleasures of the original game.

When the original game wants you to do something, E. Gadd is all like: "Luigi my boy! I'm getting blehblehblubble readings from over there, some place. Go and do!" And it's up to you to find out where that is. Usually, you have to explore a variety of different rooms to get there. Or get lost as the instruction is never repeated. Nor are you pointed in the right direction, you just have to look at what rooms you haven't looked in yet and guess.

Luigi's Mansion 2 is more directed. It tells you where you're meant to go by way of a constant map on the touch screen but not always how you get there. Plus, whether you ever get there is down to you. Again, it makes things more comprehensible at the expense of a tiny bit of self-discovery. But, it's still rather nice to walk off the beaten track to see what can be found, if anything. It's a balance between the newbies and the people that remember the original fondly. It's not a bad way to go. In fact, you'll often find that treasure troves move between each mission, meaning it's worth your while to check all over the place each time you arrive in a new mission. You end up learning a location's likely hiding spots as you check them over and over.

But! And this is an important point, I like the missions. You're usually doing something that behooves you and your goals, which is usually trying to get to the next fragment of the Dark Moon. Every mission, indirectly or directly, furthers your goal. Whether your chasing stuff down to make some variation of a key to then open a door to continue onwards or just sucking up some ghosts, nothing feels like a complete waste of your time. There are moments with the ghosts that cheer you right up for having seen them. The slapstick is great, the little moments with Gadd are fun and I even like the Toads. If only because they're projectiles now...

My one complaint is just the regularity of each delay to my progress. They started to feel a little contrived. Just as I was about to get somewhere, I am stopped, simply because a ghost stole something from me. Or they sealed the door somehow and I have to find and take them out just to get that door open. It happens alot. I can understand it. The developers need to come up with things for you to do. Plus, the ghosts don't want to win so you always feel like your wrestling with the wayward ghosts the whole time, which makes sense. I am not complaining. I'm just a little annoyed they used the Polterpup thing at least three times...

I won't spoil that...

Don't trust that happy face. This thing is a calculating monster.​

There's 6 environments to explore and clear out the ghosts from. They all appear to have vastly different, if familiar aspects to each of them, which I actually quite like the idea of. Each is distinctive, interesting and full of little holes to suck the money out of. It's in part due to how each location isn't necessarily 'a mansion'. I like how they branch out into other, typical horror locations to add a little more variety without feeling contrived. You don't find ice in the clockwork factory that happens to be sitting in the middle of a sand dune. There's not forcing ideas together like that.

On top of this, you have items in the environment that appear as invisible. Because ghost powers. These gits are so determined to make sure you do not progress that they have cast an illusion on certain objects that renders them non-existent. This is generally a required item for the solution to a puzzle that is mysteriously gone missing and you have to get it back.

Enter the Dark-Light Device!

This is an alternative mode for the flashlight that you gain within the game. It casts light that dispels the ghostly particles that cause illusions. Once you have found an illusion, you shine the light on it, wait until it spits out it's particles and hoover them up. As an added bonus, it reveals the location of any ghosts you shine it on too, allowing you to catch them unawares. As an extra weapon, I kinda like this. It's not overpowered as the device has a short use time and not too wide a beam. But the advantage of seeing your next target is valuable. Especially against ghosts that try and sneak up on you while being invisible.

Ah...That sad moment when you realise that Luigi is a better equipped Ghostbuster than the actual Ghostbusters. Might have been handy to have that when Sigourney Weaver rose out of the bed, snarling.​

Now, ghostbusting. Unlike the original game, there's only a few base types of ghosts to fight. But, they have about eight different types for the base ghost alone. You see, there's the basic ghost in green, the fast blue ghost that hides from you, the red heavyweight that's slow but hits hard, the purple ones that sneak up from behind to catch you unaware, the even more heavy weight yellow ones that spit damaging goop but can take plenty of vacuuming and the orange ones with large craniums that can throw stuff at you but can also summon lesser ghosts to help them get you. Apart from a few extra ghosts here and there that turn up mainly for boss fights, thats your lot. You'll see them plenty of times and apart from a power boost, most don't switch up their plans too much.

Except the Greenies. These are the base level, super simple to defeat ghosts and yet they manage to become the most devastating threats you can face, simply because they will switch up their plan of attack constantly. Greenies are the only ghosts able to arm themselves with whatever is handy. Some simply gain a weapon to make themselves more powerful. That's the best case scenario. But then they find sunglasses or a mask of some kind that ensures that your torch can't do anything when you attempt to stun them unless you catch them out or suck off whatever is obscuring their eyes. The worst case scenario is having them find a weapon and a shield. Yep! More powerful attack and invulnerability to attack. Oh yay...

I actually applaud this, despite my constant swearing. I wish there was more of this. The original game simply pallet swapped, this actually has enemies that appear to think. They pass a rolling pin or a lan lid and appear to go 'Ah! That'll help make a salad bowl out of that little green man's head very nicely' and pick it up. It gives the illusion of a game where the enemy is thinking ahead. And that's fantastic! It adds to the challenge without having to introduce a new enemy because each upgrade to the Greenies are actually pretty creative. I never thought a shovel could be used as a mask as well as a weapon but it can be. And it's interesting to fight, considering that they now control the pace of the fight. If you want to get rid of them, you have to wait for the point where they're defence slips up. Factoring into the fights adds a layer of complexity to them, pushing their difficulty skyward, potentially.

Heaven forfend that you fight more than three of these guys...

"Welp, I'm gonna go dig your grave preemptively. I'll put in a drainage ditch for those dungarees. They'll be fit to burst when I'm through. HU-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaa!​

All right...I...I love this game. On balance, I should mention a few things...

One, this game is pretty challenging. I've died a few times playing this. Bosses are inventive but can deal some serious damage if you're not careful. I won't spoil them for you, but expect to be made to feel very small and overwhelmed. Luigi's enemies will get quite devastating if given half a chance. There's no increases to your maximum health and hearts will get rarer and rarer while the threat steadily grows. I like the learning curve in this. Things ramp up where it should, I think. Plus, the mission system allows regular breathers as well as cut down on needless backtracking.

The controls are not ideal. While the loss of an analogue stick isn't great, my complaint is in the controls on the 3DS itself. I still find the analogue nub...or maybe disk. Whatever it is, my large hands start to cramp around these buttons. My fault for not getting a much more comfortable 2DS, I guess but I'd much rather have the clamshell to protect my machine, thank you!

Lastly, this is still pretty short. Now, multiplayer adds a little bit more life to the game. Not too much but some as well as being a big one up over the original. Even so, while I enjoyed it, it is pretty short. One hand, you'll battle through it in seven hours. On the other hand, it doesn't outstay it's welcome. The plot threads through each set of missions doesn't feel like it's dragging on. Instead, they can keep a logical thread through each for what happens in each one. It's not entirely a terrible thing that something is short if it means it's lean and taught.

In fact, let's speak a little on the Multiplayer.

It's Co-Op and works fine. In essence, it is just the the normal game, only without a plot. Just ghostbust. There's 'Find the Pulterpup' and 'Get to the Hatch within time' modes but I generally found that the 'Ghostbuster' mode was the only one I gave a damn about. Not much to say other than 'It's pretty good and very smooth, even online'.​

OK. Essay coming to a close. In short, buy it. It's worth the money, especially if you enjoyed the first game. The second does it's level best to top the original in almost every single way. Well worth the money.