Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

Voices of: Charles Martinet, Kazumi Totaka, Samantha Kelly
Developer: Next Level Games
Publisher: Nintendo
Directed by: Bryce Holliday
Rating: E
Genre: Action-Adventure
System: Nintendo 3DS
2013

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: Luigi must retrieve pieces of the broken Dark Moon, to pacify the ghosts of Evershade Valley.

Review:
Tim: This is actually the 3rd Luigi's Mansion game I've played, so I'm quite familiar with the franchise at this point. I played it on a Nintendo 3DS, too. I'm always a bit surprised by how much Nintendo packed into their handheld games. You could look at this first sequel and expect it to be a lesser game, a scaled-down version. You'd be wrong. There's a ton of content here, a game that improves on the original in many ways and delivers a fun, memorable playing experience.

I've always been a big Luigi fan and I love that he's been able to branch out into his own series. Familiarity with this franchise helped me slip right into the game. As always, the design is fantastic. The basic premise is the same- Luigi moves through different stages, sucking ghosts up into his Poltergeist 5000 and finding coins, dollars, and gold bars in various places. The premise of the game is simple- my 9 year-old son and my 6 year-old daughter both played this game and loved it. However, like the best Nintendo games, the complexity increases as the game goes on. This is worth noting- my daughter really loves this game. She accomplishes a shocking amount on her own, but asks for my help to bust the harder ghost challenges. This is a great strength of this game- it's colorful and silly, so could be viewed as a "kids' game", but some of the challenges are quite intense. There's a lot to enjoy here, even for very experienced gamers.

The game does a great job of throwing different challenges at you as you progress through the game. There's the level itself and the challenges you need to overcome. Then, you can upgrade your Poltergeist 5000 by collecting specific money milestones- that's a great deal of fun to watch your bank account increase and become more powerful. Then, there's something like a baker's dozen different gems that are hidden throughout the level that you need to find. And, each level has a hidden Boo that you need to collect with your dark light. That's quite a bit of content! This is good and bad. It does lengthen the game, because you'll need to play through each level multiple times to collect everything. However, this can get a bit tedious at times- there's a few levels I got so sick of, because I had to play through the whole thing, just to get one final gem. There is one other aspect of the game that pushes this to an extreme- you can get 1, 2, or 3 stars on each level. Your rating is based on a number of secretive factors, like damage taken, money collected, and time to complete. You never quite know the formula to get three stars. I had so little interest in this aspect of it. I did decide to get a minimum of 2 stars on every level, but it was ridiculous to think through how many replays you'd need to do to get those terrific runs for 3 stars. The reward for 3-starring every level felt minuscule, so I didn't bother. I will say that even trying to 2-star some of the bosses felt challenging. I definitely didn't enjoy having to beat the final boss a second time to accomplish this. But, yes, I did 2-star every level and got a number of 3-stars there, too. So, I caught every boo in the game, collected every gem, completed every level and ended with 59,681 gold. I unlocked all upgrades. I accomplished all this in 23:17. So, not a "long" game, but one with a surprising amount of content. There's also a Scarescraper, multiplayer mode. I played this game after the online servers for the 3DS were shut down, so I could only play this as single-player. It wasn't that fun solo- I did get to Level 5, just to experience it. I wasn't interested in climbing all the way to the top.

The story was engaging and fun. Luigi has to collect pieces of a shattered "dark moon" to free Mario from a painting. The story is secondary, but it's enough to hold the game together and propel you forward. The writing was not great- I groaned whenever Professor E. Gadd called me. I knew I was in for a bunch of weak exposition that never really told you very much (side note, it's agony when my daughter asks me to read what he's saying to her- there's nothing to hammer home bad writing like having to read it aloud). I did enjoy saving Toads, although having to get them to follow you could be frustrating at times. That's actually one of the other issues I had with the game- there's so many rooms to explore and while the game gives you exclamation points to mark where you need to end up, there's a ton of time wasted trying to remember how to navigate from one point to the next. That gets frustrating.The bosses themselves can be quite challenging the first time through- they really require multiple attempts to defeat them easily. Even the final boss- I struggled the first time, but the second attempt, I was able to 2-star it. This can be good or bad, depending on your viewpoint. I will state that there's no way to claim this game is "too easy".

So, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is a big success. It jumped the franchise to the handheld device, while maintaining a high level of quality and innovative gameplay. It was a top 12 selling game for the 3DS and it further proved that Mario's little brother was more than capable of having his own grand adventures. I loved playing this game and it's yet another wonderful experience crafted by Nintendo.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Luigi's Mansion, Luigi's Mansion 3