Luigi’s adventures with ghostbusting in haunted locations have become classics, with many gamers all across the globe. My experience with the first Luigi’s Mansion game is still synonymous with excitement and spooky adventuring. I have not played the Luigi’s Mansion sequel titled Dark Moon for the Nintendo DS as of this review. From what I've heard, Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon would find its group of fans, but it didn’t quite elevate the gameplay that was made so tight and enjoyable in the last game. You can imagine the expectations for the Nintendo Switch 3rd Luigi’s Mansion Game were high. From the minute this game started, though, I was having a blast and was enjoying the exciting story, the fantastic graphics, and the gameplay that ultimately outshines what the original 2001 game started.
The Mario gang, including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Luigi’s Pet Polterpup, and a couple of the toads, have all arrived at a resort hotel for relaxation. However, not everything is how it seems. When the gang gets settled in for the night, Luigi hears screams from his friends and races out to find that they have been captured in paintings by the owner of this haunted hotel Hellen Gravley and her assistant, King Boo. Luigi and his pet Polterpup escape and come across Professor E-Gad, who explains that he was tricked into coming into the hotel by the same ghosts. E-Gad equips Luigi with a new and improved Poltergeist 3000 to hunt down Helen Gravely’s minion ghosts and rescue his friends even if Luigi is scared out of his wits.
You’d think this would be an excuse to throw any random cliched story into this game and let the player's nostalgia for the original Luigi’s Mansion fill in the gaps. That is thankfully not the case for the geniuses at Nintendo. Even though this story follows some familiar beats, the narrative still feels fresh and new, with plenty of twists and turns around every corner. Some of the conclusions to many side plots are created with care, and many will make the player react with emotions of laughter or even endearment. The great thing is that you don’t need to know anything about the previous games to follow along with this story, as even newcomers can pick up and play this game without any confusion. However, those familiar with Luigi’s Mansion source material will be treated to many different callbacks from previous games. The characters are all lovable, with some making returns, such as Professor E-Gad from the previous games and Luigi’s Animal sidekick Polterpup who provides nothing but cute scenes with Luigi, which I’m perfectly okay with. The boss ghosts have wonderful personalities, making them even more memorable than the boss ghosts from the last game. This is storytelling and characters that go beyond the call of duty and deliver a Luigi’s Mansion adventure that may be the best one yet.
The gameplay stays true to the mechanics of what made the original game so enthralling while updating in all the right ways to make the game feel fresh and new. Despite following the same formula of sucking ghosts and collecting money and collectibles with the Poltergeist 3000, this game finds a way to use an old skillset to make new abilities out of it. For example, while sucking up ghosts, the game will allow you to slam ghosts on the floor to deal more damage to the ghosts or other ghosts surrounding you. Not only is that satisfying, but it's also necessary to beat multiple ghosts surrounding your area. The game’s highlighted mechanic, though, would be the introduction to Gooigi, an ectoplasm blob from your Poltergiest 3000 that is useful for geting to areas that Luigi can not enter otherwise. He is perfect for slipping through grates and bars to reach objects and can even aid you in solving puzzles that will require more than one Luigi. As for traversing, the game allows you to explore 17 different floors that house many ghosts, boss ghosts, and collectibles, such as hidden colored gems that are themed after the floor Luigi visits. Most of these floors will house a boss ghost which will require creative solutions to defeat them, and in return, they will house an elevator button that will allow Luigi to visit a new floor in the hotel. Each floor represents a new and creative challenge, and some ideas become more bizarre and exciting than others which helps keep the player on their toes and keeps them invested in finishing the adventure. There are plenty more abilities and ideas in this game that are worth noting, but I’ll leave it up to you to experience them all cause this gameplay is nothing but the best that Nintendo can offer.
The graphics are smooth and look like something out of a Pixar movie. The characters' emotions and the awe-inspiring creativity of the backgrounds combine for some of the most delightful visuals from a Nintendo Switch game. The characters' expressions are superb, especially regarding the boss ghosts and Luigi, as their subtle movements and expressive eyes steal the show in almost every scene. It shouldn’t be as effective as it was, but this is some of the best emotion I’ve ever seen from a Mario-related product. The backgrounds are also quite spectacular as the floors in the hotel have so much personaillity and are filled with incredible detail. At first, the floors start as typical places you’d see in a hotel, but then the game gets creative as there are floors that contain places like a medieval room or a hollywood-like room where you get to be a part of a film directed by a ghost director. Much like the story and gameplay, the people at Nintendo did not have to try this hard, but if you wanna see the Nintendo Switch at its most beautiful, this is one of their best-looking games visually.
The music was composed by Chad York and Darren Radtke, and their work for composing this game, much like everything else, is excellent. A balance of spooky atmosphere tunes and cartoonishly over-the-top nonsense is just what this game needed to add to the already impressive game attached to this music score. This music is excellent, and I don’t think I can add anything else, as this score is basically what you’d expect from a great Nintendo adventure.
This is not only the best Luigi’s Mansion game, but it may as well be one of the best Nintendo Switch games ever made. It may be easy enough to beat for experienced players, but it balances itself with many rare collectibles and challenges that make the adventure more complex and exciting. Add that with cute yet spooky storytelling, excellent graphics that never looked better, and gameplay that improves the flaws of the original 2001 game while also evolving the gameplay by adding many new features to properly update a Luigi’s Mansion game for a new generation. You should pick up this game and play it to answer your question. This game didn’t need to try this hard to be as creative and wonderful as it is, but I am grateful for everything it accomplishes.
(Final Grade: A)