How ‘Luigi’s Mansion 3’ Charms with its Scares: A Review
Few games exercise their ability to transform what would be menial chores like vacuuming or cleaning into an experience that exceeds expectations. Luigi’s Mansion 3 serves as an example of what can be achieved when caring for even the smaller details. As the third installment of the Luigi’s Mansion series, this iteration builds on its predecessor with exceptional level design. As the face of the game, Luigi is the perfect character to timidly orchestrate this experience with his Poltergust in hand.
In terms of presentation, it’s nothing short of charming and wholesome. Luigi’s Mansion 3 opens up with a pretty cutscene explaining that Luigi, Polterpup, Mario, Princess Peach, and a couple of Toads were invited to a huge hotel as VIP guests for a vacation. Soon after, the game gave me control of Luigi, and wandering around the lobby of the hotel and interacting with the cast of characters is just a fun way to open up the game. You get to talk with Mario, who is leering at a slice of cake, right before Luigi’s Polterpup appears and takes the slice away, and watch as the three Toads are tumbling over one another, trying to maintain the mountain of luggage Princess Peach brought with her. All the while you’re surrounded by hotel employees who are obviously wearing masks and are definitely not among the living, but of course nobody notices the scheme. I exhausted every interaction I could until the host, Helen Gravely, made her first appearance, showing everyone to their rooms. Finally, after all the build up, Luigi’s Mansion 3 shows its true goopy-green colors and wakes Luigi up with all of his friends and family getting captured by King Boo – who was freed by Helen Gravely and aims to get revenge for Luigi, who thwarted him in the past two games. This sequence is one of the better introductions for a game I’ve seen this year. Best of all, the comedy on display is a welcomed contrast to the game’s horror setting.
Right after escaping from King Boo, Luigi winds up in the basement and finds a vehicle with the game’s central weapon: the Poltergust G-00. Even after a quick tutorial of how to use the Poltergust (with Polterpup being the test dummy), the controls were alien to anything else I’ve played on the Switch. The buttons made sense and maneuvering each floor felt fine, but when using the right stick to try to aim the Poltergust, it became dependent on Luigi’s orientation rather than the suction of the vacuum itself. Though, after playing for a bit, the controls started feeling a more natural and less cumbersome.
The character Professor E. Gadd functions as a guide after Luigi rescues him, explaining and equipping the Poltergust G-00’s new functions. The most interesting addition to the Poltergust is Gooigi, who is a clone made of Goo, created by E. Gadd, and serves as a partner who can make it through areas Luigi cannot, such as grated barriers and pipes. Gooigi can be controlled by a second player in the co-op function if desired, which is a fun option. Luigi’s Mansion 3 definitely takes its time developing the setting and only truly opens up the game after almost two hours of running around for E. Gadd in order to fully equip Luigi for the main mission of the game: to save Mario, Princess Peach, and the Toads.
Luigi’s way of saving his family and friends is by confronting special ghosts that serve as bosses, each of which are holding onto different buttons that allow access to new floors of the haunted hotel. In between those bosses and Luigi are hordes of various ghosts that reside in almost every room and hallway of the hotel, hoping to make Luigi faint for a Game Over. The combat in Luigi’s Mansion 3 is very similar to the original Luigi’s Mansion, where Luigi needs to stun the ghosts with a beam from the flashlight and then suck them up with the Poltergust. Additionally, after being tugged in the right direction, ghosts can be slammed into the ground or walls (or even other ghosts) with the A button for big damage. It’s a simple idea, but in practice the combat can be very engaging. And when paired with the whimsical sound design, the gameplay is nothing short of a blast.
Something that becomes abundantly clear early on in Luigi’s Mansion 3 is how much of a puzzle game it is. It seemed like after every ten minutes or so I was given some sort of trial to make it through a door, or fight a ghost that managed to pick up a pair of sunglasses before deciding to post up and fight me. Usually the puzzles took no longer than a minute to figure out and solve, and if the fight wasn’t tied to general progression through the level, it would yield either money or a jewel, which at the end of the game serve as part of the metric when grading the playthrough (much like how Luigi’s Mansion rewards a mansion at the end of the game depending on the amount of money obtained at the end). The puzzles served as a nice reminder of all the available abilities, but I will admit that there were a handful of moments where a puzzle felt like a lot of work for almost no payoff, serving as an unnecessary difficulty spike.
Level design in Luigi’s Mansion 3 is lush with variety and almost every floor has its own theme and identity within the hotel. Floors can range from relatively mundane, like a kitchen, dining areas, or a large-scale gym, to something more pronounced like a movie studio, or even a series of suites that became overgrown with large fauna that make the whole place look like a rainforest taken out of the upcoming Dolittle film. There are 17 total floors in the game. Each floor was memorable because of how much each differs from one another and how not a single one lacked a memorable quality. On top of each area’s aesthetic difference, they also have their own tone in the background music, matching either the boss or the area itself, adding to the everflowing charm of the game.
My favorite part of the gameplay in Luigi’s Mansion 3 came in the form of its many boss designs and their clever mechanics. Each of the bosses either taught me different applications of my abilities or forced me to use the abilities in sequences that were both challenging and enjoyable. One of my favorites to fight was Dr. Potter, a gardening boss that required use of a buzzsaw that was cleverly introduced as part of an earlier puzzle, which is used to destroy the killer plant that shielded him from being sucked up. Another gem was Amadeus Wolfgeist, a ghost that plays a piano while possessing different debris in the concert hall where the fight takes place. None of the bosses felt like they were forcing their different mechanics onto me, nor did they ever grow tiresome. Even the introductory bosses like the Steward and Maid, who mostly serve as tutorials on how to fight ghosts that have special circumstances, still did their job in teaching the different mechanics while being fun to fight. Even through to the end with the final fight against King Boo, Luigi’s Mansion 3 never gave up in making the bosses a treat.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 is a charming surprise that makes use of Luigi’s underdog status to deliver one of the year’s best games. Memorable level design, fantastic bosses, and some hilarious slapstick comedy blend together for an almost narcotic indulgence. Even the minor details are charming, like Luigi’s terrified mannerisms and constant shivering, and how he slowly starts to struggle to reach a button – due to his smaller stature – in the elevator as the floors get higher. Luigi’s Mansion 3 masterfully explores the smaller details of its setting, giving Luigi the sort of hero’s journey his character deserves.
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