Taller but Shorter (Luigi's Mansion (GC))

Name: Dringostarr

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Product:	Luigi's Mansion (GC)
Date:	29/05/02 (225 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nintendo magic, Graphically brilliant, Original

Disadvantages: A little short

Luigi's Mansion has suffered a collection of underserved stick since its release on May 3rd. Luigi's Mansion was the main launch title for both America and Japan (Star Wars Rogue Leader in Europe) and as it didn't live up to the normal ground breaking title expected at a Nintendo launch then therefore it is bad. But despite this it is still a damn good game. So what we have here is Luigi, a guy who has somehow managed to win a Mansion in a competition he didn't enter. Upon visiting his prize he discovers it isn't exactly what he expected, for starters it is crawling with ghosts. Upon coming under attack a weird scientist named Professor E. Gad appears in an attempt to save Luigi, now you learn this mansion has only just appeared and that Professor E. Gad's prized ghosts trapped in painting have been let loose in the mansion by rather annoying boo's, your mission is simple to get E. Gad's ghosts back. But you're Luigi, a scared tall green plumber, why should you help him? Well because your brother is also trapped in there and with the assistance of the ever-vigilant Toad you set about sucking up ghosts, collecting keys and grabbing a few things for the Professor as well.

Graphically we have an incredible game, something that shows the Nintendo's graphical power to its full. Luigi is rendered perfectly, the backdrops are incredibly detailed and so much of the "special effects" avalible within the console is used. The lighting is good, explosions are done brilliantly and those ghosts are well done, if this were a movie it would put Gorge Lucas to shame. But of course no matter how good looking it is if it doesn't play well then it is a waste of money, thankfully like most games from Shiguru Miyamoto this isn't the case. The game allows you to get to grips with the marvelous GameCube controller; the C stick allows you to look up and down whilst the analogue stick moves Luigi. Now for Luigi's ghost bu
sting equipment

1: The torch, avalible from the start the torch enables Luigi to stun ghosts temporarily and expose their life source.

2: The Poltergust 3000, this device enables you to suck anything in including ghosts; it is also customable so it can shoot Fire, Water and Ice.

So as you can tell the game is original and what is particularly nice is that one move can do so many things. With the Poltergust 3000 you can pull back curtains, pull a tablecloth off a table and suck up balls and fling them at ghosts. So it is never just the simple case of stunning and sucking and this prevents the game from going stale and dull. But no matter how many ideas Miyamoto can come up with to keep the game feeling fresh it does eventually dumb down, after you catch all 50 boo's and beat all of the painting ghosts you start to get a bit bored of the system and just as you do the game ends. Yep you can beat the game in 4 hours which is incredibly short, hidden mansion has been included to help additional play but by the time you get everything the game would have still only lasted you 10 hours. It is the only major grumble of this highly original and addictive game. It is oozing with graphical splendor and originality but it doesn't last long enough. Despite this the old Nintendo charm is still here especially with other game references, in the music room old Mario tunes are played and two of the boo's are called Game boo and Game boo advance, very funny there Nintendo.

This game is different from the normal Mario adventure or one of his spin offs and so we have different music, the theme tune is quite nice something which attracted me to the game. Another in game joke is Luigi humming the tune as if he is well aware it is playing, his humming also gets more frantic as his health goes down as does his yells of "MARIO". The sound effects of explosions and ghosts are also impressive and I dare you to try not laughing at the
noises Professor E. Gad comes out with. Great fun and well worth it, you won't find a better ghost busting game out there.

Dringo.

Summary: