Review by dirtycup II

"Could've been better, and longer."

When I first purchased my GC, it came in a bundle, and included was a copy of Luigi's Mansion. Yeah, I really wasn't too interested at first, even a bit mad that EB had forced me to buy it. I decided to try it out, and got exactly what I expected; a mediocre game, but not really a bad game at all. It was short, but sweet, before it started getting repetitive.

Gameplay: 6/10

Unique concept; but that's expected of Nintendo. They depend on original, fun, and creative ideas to sell their games, not excessive gore like other companies. Luigi's Mansion proves just that. It's not like any other game exactly. However, while unique, it is not necessarily a good unique. I had a bit of fun sucking up ghosts for a while, but it just wasn't enough to build a game around of. It got boring before the game was over.

This brings up another thing; length. It's a very short game. About 4-5 hours and you've won. Don't even worry about a huge battle with the last boss; he's fairly easy, and a couple of tries is all that is needed to defeat him.

Graphics: 6/10

Why is everyone saying they are astounding? Hello, is it not apparent that the backgrounds are pushing less polygons than many Dreamcast games? Not to be rude to Dreamcast, but it's out dated and the GC can do more.

Bland textures, low polygon everything, but some good lighting effects. Yeah, the sucking up of sheets is neat, but it looks exactly the same every time you do it. The lighting is good, but not phenomenal. Very unimpressive, doesn't even use the bare minimum power the GC is capable of.

Controls: 6/10

Not really hard to learn, but hard to master. Moving is simple enough, but rotating the vacuum or the flashlight is a hassle, as it is done with the C-stick. Sucking up ghosts requires stunning them, and very quickly start sucking them up. However, it is difficult sometimes to grab on to a ghost as the ghosts are vulnerable only for a second and Luigi is a slow guy. Very slow. When walking, he takes his sweet time, and doesn't seem to have the will to move out of the way of harmful objects coming his direction.

Replay Value: 7/10

Okay, collecting all the money, playing the Hidden Mansion, getting pictures with good frames and the rest does add replay. But, to do this you must still go through the whole sucking up ghosts routine, which gets more than old the first time through. A big downside is not having the ability to fight the last boss after beating the game. You have to play the whole way through again, which is tedious.

Rent or Buy:

Rent. Very short with not a lot of incentive to go back. Of course, some may love the style of gameplay and want to do it more. It's a real hit or miss, so rent it first if you're skeptical. Trust me, 5 days is plenty long enough to play through the game and get tired of it.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10 | Originally Posted: 12/31/01, Updated 03/28/02


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