Luigi's Mansion (GameCube)
	Developer Nintendo Publisher Nintendo Reviewed by Kevin "Yoshi" Oye [Feedback] [Author Bio] Review Date February 7, 2002

Rating (out of 5.0) 2.5 out of 5.0*

Judge for yourself

Strengths Solid graphics Nice real time lighting effects Fun puzzles Intriguing storyline Weaknesses The audio soundtrack Not enough variety Easy bosses Way too short

* Notes Gaming Voice ratings are based on the technical and/or gameplay merits of a given product as well as the developer's choice of features and delivery of same. Our rating is not an endorsement of the thematic content of a given title. Gamers and parents are cautioned to determine if such content conflicts or coincides with their values and beliefs.

An utter disappointment.

In this game you play Luigi who is searching for his brother Mario. When Luigi receives a mysterious letter from Mario telling him he just won a mansion in a contest, Luigi goes out to meet him and discovers that Mario is missing somewhere in the mansion. The game starts off with no real drama as Luigi walks up and enters the mansion, and so the game begins. I couldn’t believe that the intro was over in less than 15 seconds. I, for one, like a game that has nice introductory scenes, and more storyline. It would’ve been real nice if the intro showed Mario writing the letter to his brother and showing what he went through when he showed up at this mysterious mansion. Then you can show Luigi approaching the place. It was quite disappointing and I hope they will improve on this with the next Mario episode. It just gave a feeling of utter emptiness. I knew from that opening sequence that there was not going to be too much to this game. I could just sense it.

As the story moves on, you hook up with Professor E. Gadd who is mainly your assistant throughout the game. He explains more of the storyline to you on how the mansion mysteriously showed up and how the ghosts came to take residence in the mansion. There are no voice-overs here as the Professor talks in native Caveman lingo and Luigi doesn’t talk at all, except when you are controlling him and he is calling for “Mario”. I don’t want to spoil it for you so I will not give you all the details, but you can tell that it is a simple but intriguing little story that Nintendo has come up with. The Professor shows you how to use certain items such as the “Poltergeist 3000” (a vacuum) and the “Gameboy Horror” to name a couple.

The graphics in this game were quite impressive.

You will progress through the adventure sucking up ghosts, beating up on boss ghosts (who are very easy) and receiving chests with keys in them to advance through the different areas. You will also be examining objects, getting hearts, gold and money and solving fairly simple, but fun puzzles. There are a couple of simple side quests and upgrades for your “Poltergeist 3000”, which proves to be a fairly entertaining device and will also help you move through the game at a rapid pace. There is not too much variety in this game as the game itself is strictly linear, you only have one simple goal, and that is to find Mario by opening rooms with keys and sucking up ghosts. That is basically the main theme of this game. While there are other small (very small) goals, the game will not hold your interest for long and you will most likely find yourself pretty bored after the first area.

The controls in Luigi’s Mansion are fairly simple. You move Luigi with the left analog stick, while the C-stick directs his vacuum and flashlight. This is a bit of an undertaking at first, and will take a little while to get used to when the ghosts attack. There is a certain strategy that you must use as you have to stun the ghost with your flashlight then activate the vacuum to suck them up. After the learning curve you will find it easy (a bit too easy) and kind of monotonous, just chasing them down and sucking them up one room after the other. Other buttons are used to open doors, examine objects, press buttons/switches, check the map, look through inventory, and use the “Gameboy Horror” -- a nice addition.

The graphics in this game were quite impressive and had the style that could’ve made Luigi’s Mansion a huge success. They were bright (sometimes too bright for a haunted mansion), sharp, colorful, and very detailed. The use of shadows, textures and animations were very well done, and when all is dark and Luigi only has the flashlight to see around a room it will give you an eerie sense that something is about to happen. One of the most impressive visuals to see is the real time lighting effects. This occurs when the lightning strikes -- and it strikes a lot -- and when Luigi uses his flashlight in a dark room. You will see moving shadows of yourself and anything else in the room that happens to be in relation to where the lightning/flashlight is coming from. Even though the game does not revolutionize any graphic elements it remains as one of the strongholds of the game with a few distractions that aren’t regularly noticeable.

Another large disappointment to this game was the sound effects and the basic game soundtrack. Although, Shigeru Miyamoto may have been going after this style to keep the tradition with some similarities to the older NES and SNES games, the soundtrack was just plain boring. The power of the GameCube really should not be insulted in this manner. Here is a next generation system that can play some awesome 5.1 sound (Rogue Leader), and here is a game, for the most part has no sound qualities at all. A couple of thunder roars here, a vacuum sound there, 1- and 2-toned music, and the worst, it all sounds the same. I don’t want to hear the old games’ traditional music. The game has obviously progressed into something better where all facets of the game should’ve been upgraded.

This game will be tolerable for kids and any new gamers.

The only good sound effects in the game were the thunder, which scares the shirt off of you at times and the vacuum. I wanted to hear more of a moody soundtrack -- after all you are in a haunted mansion. You should feel scared. It would’ve also been nice to hear some creepy sound effects i.e., squeaky floors, doors slamming, objects breaking and moving in all directions of me on 5.1 Surround Sound. Shigeru should have taken the sound capabilities of the GameCube and brought a much richer experience to our homes.

In summary, this game will be tolerable for kids and any new gamers. However, anyone that is looking for an experience like the Mario titles have brought to us in the past, then I would avoid buying Luigi’s Mansion. Give it a good rent for 5-6 hours instead. Although, the game is a bit of fun and humorous at first, the gameplay and sounds get way too repetitive and you’ll find yourself getting bored quickly. I do believe that we will see an improvement in future Mario titles. Hopefully this game will be seen as a “learning curve” as the series continues into the new era of gaming.