Saturday 17 August 2013

Luigi's Mansion 2 (3DS) Review

In the Year of Luigi, his greatest year... does this game live up to the standards of the original? Or is it a bad ghost busting game?

Spoilers!
 
I’m sure most of you know about the original “Luigi’s Mansion” game, and that most of you have played it (I haven’t still…) but back in March, we saw the release of the sequel. Luigi’s Mansion 2 hit stores and since day 1, I got it. But does the hype continue to now, or have I gotten bored of the ghost busting action?

Back to ghost busting - the frightened brother returns.


In the game, you continue like the first game in Luigi’s and Professor E Gadd’s adventures on chasing ghosts and exploring mansions (notice I say mansions, not mansion). The Dark Moon which keeps the ghosts happy is shattered by a mysterious figure (I shan’t say who it is as you could probably guess straight away) and all the ghosts go chaotic. It’s down to Luigi to put things right as you could guess.

The controls are actually user friendly. The circle pad moves Luigi about, the right trigger allows you to hover, a allows you to flash your flash light, b allows you to run, x lets you look up or interact with an object, the left trigger allows you to blow items back and y allows you to use your dark-light which you aquire later on. Despite the 3DS not having dual analogy sticks (like the GameCube controller), the use of the buttons are very clever, essentially acting as both the item user and the right hand stick which doesn’t exist.

Also, the graphics for a 3DS game look stunning. Nintendo did a very good job on this game and I’m pleased to say it’s impressive none the less. The 3D feature works effectively too, giving you a real sense of depth in the game.

The game spans over 6 mansions in total – breaking them down into around 6 levels each. Each level gives you a goal and at the end of the level, you are ranked out of 3 stars. Personally I was hoping to be able to roam free in the mansion rather than being pretty much locked into a particular section of the mansion. But the system works and I still had a great time playing.

Work competitively, or co-operate with fellow players.

Other than the main story mode, there is the Thrill Tower. This is the multiplayer mode, where you work your way up to the last floor (which can be floor 5, 10 or 25 depending on the number of floors you want). This mode can be played with 4 people, either locally (including those who do not have a copy of the game themselves) or online with friends or random people around the world. There are 4 modes to this:
Hunter
Polterpup
Hatch
Surprise.

-Hunter is the ghost busting mode, where you hoover up ghosts till you reach the final boss.
-Polterpup mode is where you catch ghost dogs. The further up you go, the more dogs there are to get in each floor.
-Hatch is a race to get to the “hatch” and all players must arrive at the place in order to succeed. You start off with 30 seconds and collect time to increase your chances of victory.
-Surprise is a combination of the past three, so each floor is randomly chosen a type of mission. Want something interesting to happen with knowing what comes next? Here’s your mode.

I had endless fun on this mode, still playing it now as its so much fun. My only criticism is that people are able to leave the game, and I found that most of the time it was left down to me being in the game. I don’t think the option of leaving the game should be allowed as that does getting annoying if you play to be with others.
Final thoughts on Luigi’s Mansion 2: It’s a very very good game. Looks stunning, plays very well, and multiplayer is a lot of fun even after the adventure is over. Want a good game for the 3DS, pick this one up cause it’s certainly worth the money.

9 . 2
OUT  OF  TEN                                                                                                                Reviewed by Christopher Nguyen
 

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