At the stroke of midnight on Halloween, Luigi’s Mansion 3 came out and made a lot of people really happy. For any kids not able to trick-or-treat this year, Nintendo had you covered for sure. Created by Next Level Games, this highly anticipated game follows the first two in the series. King Boo couldn’t be happier to make your acquaintance this year.
Upon arriving at a very swanky hotel, Luigi hears a scream coming from Princes Peaches’ room. Startled, he tries to track down what is going on. Suddenly the whole hotel turns almost literally into the Haunted Mansion (you know the one). After creeping around searching for anyone, King Boo appears to say he has been set free and now wants to catch everyone. This is where to true game begins.
Walking around is easy, the catching and sucking up ghosts is the hard part. Pair this all with the environment being 3D and with physics, it takes a while to adjust to. Gooigi, a slime copy of Luigi, can be controlled to solve some of the puzzles presented. It’s not hard, just frustrating until you get your barrings.
Visually, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is very nice to look at. The lighting is spot on for a creepy place such as this. This includes Polterpup too, Luigi’s ghost dog. The characters till have the standard 3D design but the motions of Luigi are the best to watch. Adults won’t be afraid of this game but from a child’s point of view, the small jumpscares that Luigi deals with are a funny thing to watch. While using the ghost pack, the actions remain visible and just add to the setting. The only downside to this game is the buttons you have to figure out to use the ghost pack. Audibly the voices could be better, they are just disruptive in some way compared to the normal background noise.
Fighting enemy ghosts takes a little bit of practice. There is no lock-on ability and you can really only attack one enemy at a time. This might be due to Luigi only having one vacuum to do damage with. Each ghost has a number displayed over their head, this is their health, and you must bring it to zero to beat them. Controlling Luigi’s movements along with trying to target ghosts is annoying, to say the least.
One of the fun things in the game is the ability to suck up money and coins, as well as ghosts. If you suck up everything in a room then you can’t be scared by a ghost right? The thought on that is still out at the moment but it’s been reliable so far. Next to that is the nooks and crannies to get into in order to find secrets and other fun things. Since Luigi can go in any direction, there are now corners to look behind.
Overall, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is a game that the whole family will like. No blood, no language, just a cute fun haunted mansion to go through.
8/10
Available on: Nintendo Switch
