Luigis Mansion; Dark Moon review

[teddymeow]

This truly is sublime. Up there with 3D Land as best 3DS game.

In a lot of respects this is better. The graphics are incredible and the lighting just amazes me. The effect.of the torch when you turn to face the camera is brilliant.

I'm up to mission A-4 and actually got "stuck" on the previous one. Lots of poking about looking for secrets.

The music too, and sound effects, are great. Luigi humming along again is a highlight.

I do miss the calls of "Mario...Mariooooooo" though.

[SUMIRE]

Played some more of this. Definitely a quality release, as good, if not better than the original. The only thing I am disappointed with is the 3D, I just thought it could have been loads better.

[Wools]

Played the first 2 hours of this and I've just put the cogs back into the wall and stopped the Piano from playing. I'm taking so long just absorbing the details, Luigi humming the theme, being able to blow a rug back, the marvellous art design of the mansion, everything screams that this game has had the time to gestate and polish.

I never played the original on GameCube so the gameplay is new in my eyes, the actual feel of the game is a more detailed but less bloody version of Resident Evil and the mechanics of fighting the ghosts is fantastic and a little tricky. After an hour I got to grips with it (Had no idea that when you start sucking a ghost with the vacuum, you have to pull the analogue stick in the opposite direction!) and really adore how well it's been put together.

Although its probably unfair to compare the games, I traded back Bioshock Infinite for this and the difference is night and day. Bioshock has fairly dull mechanics we've seen hundreds of times before and the story always dictates the experience. Luigi has fantastic and unique mechanics all wrapped up in a breezy, funny and quite scary story that never gets in the way of the player playing the bloody game.

If you haven't already, run out and buy this game.

[BIG EDD]

Half way through the second mansion and this IS classic Nintendo absolutely sublime
Lighting and sound effects are brilliant I'm playing this the same time as bio shock infinite which is another grand game but luigi is occupying my time

[Synthesthesia]

Played some more of this. Definitely a quality release, as good, if not better than the original. The only thing I am disappointed with is the 3D, I just thought it could have been loads better.

I feel the opposite tbh, yeah it's a quality release, but I don't feel it's as good as Luigi's Mansion, definitely not better. There's nowhere near as much skill to catching the ghosts, there's no unique ghosts, everything feels a bit disjointed and chopped up (probably intentional because it's a handheld game but I still prefered the pacing of the original) and I think the 3D is excellent and one of the best uses I've seen to date.

Even saying all that, it's still the best 3DS game I've played, and I'm really enjoying it. Always have a smile on my face when I'm playing it, I just wish that there was more skill to trapping the ghosts. It also doesn't feel quite as satisfying as in the first due to not getting the portraits after and being able to browse them in the gallery. I really enjoyed that it showed how well you captured them by (if I remember correctly) changing how extravagant the frame of the ghost was with jewels/gold etc.

Catching the

->Open Spoiler<-

Boo's

however is much better in this one, I LOVE the animation that Luigi does when he finally gets its health down to 0 and stomps it in to his vacuum cleaner

[parkinho]

Been playing this gem after getting it from the US E shop on Sunday.

Slightly OT, but how did you go about buying this from the US e-shop? Each time I have tried to use a credit card it asks for my zip code, is there anyway around this? Or do I need to be buying the prepaid cards from VG+ or somewhere similar?

[The Mole]

Slightly OT, but how did you go about buying this from the US e-shop? Each time I have tried to use a credit card it asks for my zip code, is there anyway around this? Or do I need to be buying the prepaid cards from VG+ or somewhere similar?

Change your region to Canada and state to Alberta. This combo accepts a UK debit or credit card. a $39.99 game with $2 tax works out at ?28 and a few pence

[parkinho]

You are a superstar, thanks very much pal!

[The Mole]

You are a superstar, thanks very much pal!

Thanks but i can't take credit for this one, it was briareos_kerensky that helped me out with this tip. Nintendo USA tend to put a lot of the major titles in the shop also meaning i can have them on day of US release.

[briareos_kerensky]

It was ETC, I suggested going pre-paid cards...I'm not a fan of having my credit card in any console.

[briareos_kerensky]

Absolutely loving this. As with many game I've played in this time frame, it's a bit lacking in the challenge department, but it's an abolsute joy to play. I really like how Luigi, as a character, comes alive in this game more than Mario in al of its games put together: his animations, the voice, the way he hums according to the BGM...there's a charm that even many Nintendo games lack.
The art direction is superb, and it has the best use of 3D yet: never too strong or too shallow, and the art direction further increases the sense of depth, without resulting annoying.
I also love that all gyro-related controls are duplicated by buttons, though I'd like to have the possibility to skip all dialogues and cutscenes from the start, I don't need to see a key disappearing after using it the 100th time.
Other than that, absolutely great.

[briareos_kerensky]

Completed the game during the afternoon.
I admit that I was hesitant when started the game, so far I only had a chance to play Super Mario Strikers from Next Level (Punchout Wii is in the backlog) and I never was a big fan of it.
However, even from the first impressions, it became apparent that the developers poured so much love into the game that it turned out to be a great game, not without its problems, but a great game nonetheless.
For me there are two main problems: lack of challenge (if not for a single stage) and that it drags a bit in the end, with two boss fights more annoying than anything else. The rest is absolute bliss.
Graphics and animations are superb, denoting an incredible artistic direction that makes the 3DS shine even when compared to current home consoles; shadows might not be smooth and on an XL, it's hard not to notice how aliased everything is, but the subtle use of 3D, lightinging and effects (oh, the reflective surfaces are so sweet) more than compensate for this. Animations are even better, from Luigi to the tiniest spider, it's simply a sublime work.
Puzzles aren't that bad either, and every one blends into the rest of the game perfectly; if anything, they could have been a bit harder to figure out, because the vast majority of them is limited to dark light reveals and browsing through objects. The last mansion has some great puzzles, and it's a shame that other mansions wouldn't take advantage of some of the ideas found there.
During the last two mansions, however, the game does drag a bit, its mechanics become a bit stale, as what changes is the environment, mostly, with little changes to puzzle mechanics and ghost fights repeated over and over, only with opponents that take longer to be captured.
But yeah, I hope to see more games following Luigi's footsteps.

[unknown_citizen]

Just want to chime in with what people are saying on here for this excellent game. It's so densely packed with hidden secrets and treats that it rewards a lesiurely playthrough .

Ghost hunting is satsifying and rarely gets stale as new ghosts are introduced throughout. Though these action sequences are relatively easy (I only recall dying a few times through the whole 12 hour game), I found it shifts the focus onto exploring the intricate environment and avoids what could otherwise turn into frustrating repeated playthroughs of the same level. Seeing the sublimiley animated Luigi interact with the world really is half the fun. More please!

[Golgo]

Really want this but my resolve is holding firm to keep it for Halloween (how childish, I know!)

Anyway, what's the 3D like? Is there any...ghosting?
/snigger

[unknown_citizen]

Really want this but my resolve is holding firm to keep it for Halloween (how childish, I know!)

Anyway, what's the 3D like? Is there any...ghosting?
/snigger

I only had the 3D effect turned on during the short cutscenes because my eyes are wonky, but it seems like one of the better games for it. There seems different layers to scenes, rather than just background and character on top, which sometimes happens.

It uses motion controls for some actions, so some ghosting