It’s no secret that Halloween is a fun time of the year. Pretend to be someone or something else for a night, have a reason to go and party on a weekday, and get free candy depending on the mileage you can get with that excuse. With everything on Halloween movies and episodes, it kinda surprised me to see Nintendo release a new game on Halloween, Luigi’s Mansion 3. After a fun ride with the game, I cannot wait to talk about it and give my review.
What’re You Talking About:
Luigi’s Mansion 3 is the 3rd entry in the franchise and has Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad, winning a free stay at a fancy hotel. To no one’s surprise, the hotel turns out to be a trap set by King Boo and Mario, Peach, and Toad being kidnapped. Now, it’s up to Luigi to be the main protagonist to save everyone. Throughout the game, you explore every part of the hotel, fighting ghosts, solving puzzles. The game is a grand entry and smart design all around.
So, What’s Good:
The game’s levels are top-notch. Throughout the whole gameplay, you travel to 17 unique floors in the hotel. To get to a new story in the hotel, you must beat that floor’s boss. Each floor’s layout kept me so intrigued that I was always excited to see what the next story was. Not gonna lie, some levels were so crazy than earlier levels, I almost forgot I was even in a hotel.
Combat is enjoyable (when it works). When fighting all the ghosts, in works in a 2-step system. First, you have to stun or figure out how to stun enemies. Then, you suck them up to your Poltergeist vacuum. It’s a simple thing to notice, but when you face different types of enemies, it becomes more entertaining.
Gooigi is a fun feature in the game that lets you use 2 Luigis. Let me explain, Professor E. Gadd, the guy who created Luigi’s Poltergeist made Gooigi. With Gooigi, you play as a Luigi clone that could move through pipes and bars and have a regenerative health bar. Unfortunately, you can’t climb ladders or be near water. Not even a puddle. However, that feature never hurts the game.
Then, What’s Bad:
First off, the controls aren’t great. I know I just spoke praises to game design and combat, but the gameplay and platform are bad. Most of the camera in-game is fixed on a platform view, so you can’t use the right stick to change your perspective. Meaning you can only aim with the left stick. A mechanic like that is exceptional in most 2D-games. Still, since most of the locations work in a 3D-space, it felt more of a struggle for, which made it feel like the game was padding time also. Using this wasn’t bad when fighting minions, but it became awkward when fighting bosses. Which leads me to my second bad:
This game, especially the bosses, are not for the youngins. When I was playing this game with my girlfriend, there were a few bosses I struggled with. Halfway I wondered, if I struggled with these bosses as a grown man, what would happen if you’re a 7-year-old kid. I thought I made this up when I was playing until I faced the hotel manager. NO SPOILERS, but it took a few tries to beat her and the same amount for the final boss. Am I saying having tough bosses should be a negative? No. Having tough bosses in a game that targeted for kids is a negative.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is a solid game. If not, it was the best Nintendo to come out in 2019 (I dare you to fight me on that). Though it can be challenging either in the bosses or the controls themselves, the level design, combat, and AI/co-op aspects makes this game easy to come back around and buy at full price.