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Luigi's Mansion

by Max Lake - May 25, 2001, 12:44 pm EDT

Still not completely recovered from E3, PGC's Editor-in-Chief begins getting his GameCube impressions online. What better place to start than Luigi's Mansion?

After getting Michael “the Younger Plumber” registered for E3 as my “Underage Guest” we departed to go play GameCube. I asked TYP what he’d like to play first. What else? Luigi’s Mansion! We hit the surround sound booth and took turns playing through the demo. I only played a bit of the game before handing the controls over to the Younger Plumber though I was able to get a pretty good impression of this title.

The demo boots up immediately (remarkably with no load time, as noted previously) and shows Luigi tip toeing cautiously into the mansion. Upon entering the dark, creepy house ghosts assault him from all sides and Luigi starts screaming in terror, backing into a corner as the spirits close in.

During Nintendo’s pre-show, we saw the small mad scientist, (Dr. Gad) running around with a vacuum and wondered if he might be playable. As it turns out, this scene is part of the opening cinema; Dr. Gad rescues Luigi, dispenses of the ghosts and pulls him into his secret lab. Dr. Gad (speaking in Banjo-Kazooie-ish gibberish) is there as your guide and explains he is there researching the spirits in the mansion. He then explains how the ghosts can be captured and sets you off on a training mode.

In the training mode, ghosts come at you at all sides, while you must hit them with your flashlight before sucking ‘em up in the vacuum. The control at first can seem very awkward as you need to utilize both of the analog sticks, the left one for movement, the right “C stick” for maneuvering Luigi’s flashlight. The flashlight is used to “stun” the ghosts, stopping them in their tracks long enough to hit ‘em with the vacuum. Until you get the hang of the control scheme, the ghosts will get away every time and/or wallop Luigi.

Growing accustomed to the control takes a bit of time (I didn’t completely master it and only bagged 4 ghosts while training) but the setup is perfect for the game. There are several times Luigi must turn quickly, or shine his flashlight in a certain direction at just the right time. Certain ghosts play “hide n’ seek,” popping in and out of visibility as Luigi walks by and making it tricky to trap ‘em with the beam. Once you do stun them with the flashlight, sucking up the ghost in a timely matter is another challenge. You actually have to wrestle with the ghosts a bit and to trap them only have a given amount of time before your vacuum gives out. It ain’t easy bustin’ ghosts!

The graphics are phenomenal, from the transparency of the ghosts to reflections of Luigi and his flashlight showing up in a wall mirror. There is also a lot of visible facial expression from Luigi; he looks nervous as he tiptoes around and completely freaks out visibly when frightened by a ghost. It’s both amusing and impressive. The animation is fantastic, especially the cut scenes with Luigi reaching for the door. The detail seen in his trembling hands and the shiny doorknobs look incredible.

Music also deserves a mention as practically every staff member of PGC who took Luigi for a spin got its music caught in their head for the duration of the show (heck, I can still hear it!). It’s light and playful, matching Luigi’s cautious tip toeing and the haunted house setting perfectly. Hearing it in the surround sound booth only accentuated how good it is. As mentioned recently in an update our Luigi’s Mansion preview, it turns out Koji Kondo is involved with the game’s music; no wonder it’s so groovy!

There were only a few rooms playable in the demo and Luigi’s Mansion isn’t your typical game from Nintendo. Personally, I’m very impressed with this simple title. It’s almost like Nintendo’s cartoony version of Resident Evil with a lot more gameplay packed in. People who were watching TYP play would cheer as he reeled in some of the trickier ghosts and would go “aw” when they got away… It’s very engaging! It’s a different direction for Miyamoto and Luigi’s first starring role, both of which are good things. With all the great games coming to GameCube, it’s hard to say whether or not Luigi’s Mansion will be among the games I buy at launch. Still, I enjoyed what I saw & played a lot and look forward to seeing what the final version has to offer!

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Genre Action
Developer Nintendo
Players1

Worldwide Releases

na: Luigi's Mansion
Release Nov 17, 2001
PublisherNintendo
RatingEveryone
jpn: Luigi Mansion
Release Sep 14, 2001
PublisherNintendo
RatingAll Ages
eu: Luigi's Mansion
Release May 03, 2002
PublisherNintendo
Rating3+

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