A short but charming adventure starring Mario's less famous brother, Luigi.
User Rating: 7.5 | Luigi Mansion GC
When the Gamecube was launched in 2002 (2001 for America) Luigi's Mansion was a launch title and most people were surprised by the fact that you control Luigi rather than Mario. The story is that Luigi has won a mansion in a contest he never entered, he calls Mario and tells him to meet him at the Mansion to celebrate but when Mario turns up he gets kidnapped by a pack of ghosts and it's up to you to save him. When you enter the mansion, professor E Gadd teams up with you and gives you the Poltergeist 3000 and a flashlight and so your adventure begins. This is a third person horror game, you move Luigi with the control stick and you turn your flashlight on and off with the B button, you hold the R button to suck up ghosts and the X button to activate the GameBoy Horror. This is a device which let's you see and find out te weaknesses of ghosts, it also tells you if there's a boo in the room. The aim of the game is to suck up ghosts and turn them back into the paintings they once were. Basically all you have to do is suck up all the ghosts in a room until it lights up, then move on the the next and do the same. Then you will meet up with a mini boss ghost who you must suck up and then you will fight the main boss of the area. After that you are allowed to advance to a bigger part of the mansion. The graphics look great for a launch title, everything is nice and bright (at times, most of the time it's incredibly dark) and is quite atmospheric for a Mario game. The game is a lot of fun, especially if you play it in the dark because YOU WILL BE SCARED. Just because it's a Mario game doesn't mean it's not scary, remember the piano? I don't think it should be rated 3+, it should be 7+ because younger gamers might be scared of the dark atmosphere and the spine chilling moments through-out. They certainly won't like the black out scene and the telephone room glitch. The game is too short, it'll take you about 5 hours to beat if you're skilled enough and maybe even less. There are lots of money, coins and gold bars in the mansion for you to collect, even some jewels, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, citrines, diamonds and pearls. You can find all of these in dressers, end tables and even chandeliers. The boss battles were genius at times although some of them could become VERY cheap and frustrating. This goes for (SPOILER ALERT!) Bowser/King Boo. the last boss. Luigi's mansion is a great game, with good visuals, awesome controls, lots of collectibles, smart boss fights and overall an instant class but the the short length and some cheap bosses can really annoy but this is an underrated game that you should buy.
