Author Topic: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions  (Read 5363 times)

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Offline MegaByte

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Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« on: January 24, 2013, 12:00:09 PM »

Don't-a cross the streams!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressions/33056

In my latest demo session, Nintendo laid out a big surprise -- Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon has a full-blown multiplayer -- and it has local, download, and online play! In multiplayer, one to four different versions of Luigi climb the "scarescraper," a tower of semi-randomly generated room sets. You can choose from among scarescrapers with 5, 10, 25, or endless numbers of floors and three difficulty levels, normal, hard, and expert.

I spent some time playing Hunter Mode, which suggests there are other multiplayer types that they haven't yet revealed. In Hunter Mode, players must clear the entire floor of ghosts within a limited time. The gameplay is simple -- explore the mansion, find the ghosts, and suck them up with your vacuum. Time is relatively short, so it works best when players spread out to uncover the ghosts and then pair up to bring them down. Players generally play cooperatively, but in Zelda: Four Swords style, players also compete for coins.

As in the first game, you must first shine a light on ghosts before you can vacuum them up, but the new strobe light mechanic makes capturing ghosts a little more time-sensitive and strategic. Many of the ghosts have adapted by putting on masks to block the dazzling attack. You can also vacuum larger items and eject them back out by reversing the flow. 

While the original game used twin stick control, Dark Moon only uses one. The controls have been adapted to only use one stick, and it's occasionally frustrating since your walking and vacuuming direction are tied together and Luigi may not face the way you want, but it worked well most of the time. You can read our earlier impressions for more control details.

Hidden objects and items are disbursed throughout the mansion, which can be uncovered by shining the dark light at suspicious sparkling areas. While many are beneficial, there are a variety of booby traps as well. For instance, players may end up with a giant jar stuck on their head, or become "cursed" and end up with reversed controls. Much like Luigi's Mansion in Nintendo Land, fallen players can be revived with the strobe light. Attempting to resolve situations like this with rooms full of ghosts can lead to a comedy of errors leading to the downfall of the entire party.

Upon clearance of a floor, a red coin challenge is introduced where red coins appear in several rooms. Very limited time is given to collect them all, so players should coordinate to collect them all. If the team is successful, a roulette bonus appears, which awards a treasure or upgrade. Players who collect more red coins have a higher chance of winning the roulette. There are a number of treasures within the game, which also appear in single player. An additional mode called E. Gadd's Vault allows players to spend cash to buy items and upgrades.

At the end of each session, a full board of stats is displayed, including coin totals, vacuum weight totals, kills, deaths, and the like. Players also gain "achievement" stats such as "MVP," "bulldozer," and "leecher." Even if you don't do anything notable, you're humorously awarded with a "participator" title. After every five floors, a boss battle ensues.

In single player mode's story, the "dark moon" has shattered, causing the ghosts within Evershade Valley to become evil. It's up to Luigi to collect the pieces of the moon and put them back together in order to restore peace to the valley.

Unlike the original game, there are a number of mansions that are each expected to take around two hours to complete, and each mansion is broken down into missions. The first mansion, Gloomy Manor's, missions include Poultergust 5000, Gear Up, Quiet Please, Visual Tricks, Sticky Situation, and Confront the Source, and you're awarded rankings upon completion of each.

I had a chance to play that last chapter, which is a boss battle against a spirit-possessed giant spider. The battle is a multi-stage puzzle where you must use aspects of the environment to defeat the beast while dodging various attacks. I won't spoil how it played out, but the setup and progression was very clever.

The online multiplayer mode is a surprise and welcome addition to Dark Moon, which now looks to be content-packed. The variety of ghosts complement Luigi's humorous personality, and the boss battle was engaging and really renewed my interest in the game.

Aaron Kaluszka
Contributing Editor, Nintendo World Report

Offline Evan_B

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2013, 12:52:50 PM »
It's so unfortunate that the aiming mechanics have been broken down from the original title.
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Offline Pixelated Pixies

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2013, 01:56:20 PM »
It's so unfortunate that the aiming mechanics have been broken down from the original title.

This worries me too. Does that mean, for example, that if a ghost is approach from the left Luigi is not able to move right (i.e. away from the approaching ghost) while still aiming left? I've never played the original Luigi's Mansion, but to me that seems like it might be problematic.
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Offline PogueSquadron

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2013, 02:03:32 PM »
Only thing I'm really worried about is that framerate...is it going to stay stable?

Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2013, 02:06:37 PM »
Oh please include circle pad pro control option : (
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Offline Killer_Man_Jaro

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2013, 04:43:24 PM »
Multiplayer Luigi's Mansion is above and beyond what I expected from this game, and I'm so glad. Looking forward to the inevitable Community Night.
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Offline MegaByte

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2013, 05:14:11 PM »
Oh please include circle pad pro control option : (
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Aaron Kaluszka
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Offline NWR_Neal

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2013, 05:16:24 PM »
I am beyond excited for this game. My main concern are the controls, but considering I found the E3 2011 demo okay and also like Kid Icarus: Uprising's controls, I think I'll be fine. But a lot of people won't be.
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Offline Mop it up

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #8 on: January 24, 2013, 06:43:54 PM »
The multiplayer sounds like some sort of dungeon crawler, or maybe Gauntlet. I always enjoy a good co-op game, so this'll be a nice bonus for the game.

Offline ShyGuy

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #9 on: January 24, 2013, 07:08:29 PM »
Pink Luigi is in touch with his feminine side
Blue Luigi is color blind
Orange Luigi is a party dude.

Offline NWR_Neal

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #10 on: January 24, 2013, 08:01:19 PM »
Aaron - are there any gyro controls?
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Offline MegaByte

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #11 on: January 24, 2013, 08:18:06 PM »
Aaron - are there any gyro controls?
I did not see it and it wasn't mentioned during the demo. I can't see it working particularly well unless the perspective was changed.

This worries me too. Does that mean, for example, that if a ghost is approach from the left Luigi is not able to move right (i.e. away from the approaching ghost) while still aiming left? I've never played the original Luigi's Mansion, but to me that seems like it might be problematic.
Basically, yeah, though if you're already vacuuming a ghost, you will walk backwards. It's okay most of the time, but it can be a little frustrating when the action gets heavier and you're flailing around trying to get off a shot (whether it be the flash bulb or ejecting something from the vacuum).
Aaron Kaluszka
Contributing Editor, Nintendo World Report

Offline Pixelated Pixies

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #12 on: January 24, 2013, 08:36:46 PM »
@MegaByte
 
I guess we'll see how that works out over the course of the game.
Good to know. Thanks.
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Offline azeke

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #13 on: January 24, 2013, 10:49:26 PM »
Pink Luigi is in touch with his feminine side
Blue Luigi is color blind
Orange Luigi is a party dude.
Pink -- Raf
Blue -- Leo
Orange -- Mikey
Regular green -- Donny, i guess
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Offline ShyGuy

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #14 on: January 24, 2013, 11:03:35 PM »
Pink Luigi is in touch with his feminine side
Blue Luigi is color blind
Orange Luigi is a party dude.

Pink -- Raf
Blue -- Leo
Orange -- Mikey
Regular green -- Donny, i guess

Pink -Peter Venkman
Blue - Egon Spengler
Orange -Winston Zeddemore
Green - Ray Stantz

Offline Stogi

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #15 on: January 24, 2013, 11:18:48 PM »
Pink - The Asian chick
Blue - The white dude
Orange - The white chick
Green - The black dude
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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #16 on: January 24, 2013, 11:25:12 PM »
Aaron - are there any gyro controls?
I did not see it and it wasn't mentioned during the demo. I can't see it working particularly well unless the perspective was changed.

This worries me too. Does that mean, for example, that if a ghost is approach from the left Luigi is not able to move right (i.e. away from the approaching ghost) while still aiming left? I've never played the original Luigi's Mansion, but to me that seems like it might be problematic.
Basically, yeah, though if you're already vacuuming a ghost, you will walk backwards. It's okay most of the time, but it can be a little frustrating when the action gets heavier and you're flailing around trying to get off a shot (whether it be the flash bulb or ejecting something from the vacuum).

So there's no strafe button or other kind of aiming lock unless you're actively using the vacuum?

I'm getting some Super Mario 64 DS vibes from this.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #17 on: January 25, 2013, 01:08:03 PM »
Luigi's Mansion's controls used the dual sticks so well you figured that Nintendo came up with the game to teach Cube owners how to use dual sticks.  So from that they come to the conclusion to release a sequel on a system without dual sticks?  It just seems like someone didn't think this through very well.  The Wii U would be a much more logical platform for this.  It just sounds like a boardroom exec decision instead of a development one.

Now if only there was some way to use dual sticks on the 3DS.  Oh wait.  What is Nintendo's beef with options?  Put Circle Pro support in this as an optional control scheme and let the smart people play it the real way while the rubes can still **** around with the makeshift default scheme.  "No, if we do that then we're effectively admitting we fucked up with the one stick 3DS design."

Offline Stogi

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #18 on: January 25, 2013, 02:56:33 PM »
I remember Nintendo taking time out of their presentation of Luigi's Mansion to highlight the physics of the game. They were so proud of that. So I actually agree with Ian. They could have made a very interesting game for the Wii U.
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Offline tasi12

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Re: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Impressions
« Reply #19 on: January 28, 2013, 07:22:44 PM »
 Multiplayer Luigi's Mansion is above and beyond what I expected from this game, and I'm so glad. Looking forward to the inevitable Community Night.