darthvadern's: Luigi's Mansion 2 - Video Game Review
Ah yes, Luigi's Mansion 2, or just Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, the sequel to the original Luigi's Mansion on the Gamecube and 3DS. So far this is the only Luigi's Mansion game I have played. This is a game I have been kinda excited to review. You see, this is a game that Iisn't even mine, it's only my brother's. So I had to play it on my brothers 3DS since the game only exists on his 3DS digitally, sadly. Good thing though is that he allowed me to play this game on his 3DS, so I have been able to play this game on his 3DS, unlike my other video game reviews though, I haven't even played the whole game yet as I'm making this review! But I really wanted to review this game some days before Halloween, so yeah. And to be honest I feel like I have played enough of it to actually review it, when I've completed the game I will make some Luigi's Mansion 2 lists. Oh, and also, shoutout to B1ueNew who gave me the idea to review this specific game, without further ado, let's start with the review!Luigi's Mansion, a game series containing two games so far, is a different series not really related to the main mario game, it's a game series that both fits as its own series and a series part of the mario canon, one reason it fits with the mario canon is beacuse obviously it has Luigi in it! But even then it feels very different! One notable difference is the story. Unlike the mario series which is mostly about rescuing Peach from Bowser, this game has a different story! I haven't played the original so I won't look at the story of that one. But this sequel has a great story! So basically in the intro we see Professor Elvin Gadd, a professor who lives in a mansion who has been researching ghosts in Evershade Valley, he gets help from the greenie ghosts then and then, but one night, the ghosts suddenly go all hostile and E. Gadd must leave and get help, from (you guessed it), Luigi. Later in the intro they realize why they've gone hostile. The Dark Moon, a special moon in the sky, which is what made the ghosts peaceful had disappeared from nowhere, and it's Luigi who must find out where it is and why it's gone. This is a great story in my opinion that not only is unique, it's different from the original game's story (I haven't played the original but obviously I know the story is different when the Dark Moon is in the title of the game!). It's a really great story and I'd probably give it a B+! Because despite being so unique, the story gets a bit more cliché as the game continues. Oh well, it's not that big of a problem luckily
This game sure has some good gameplay. In this game you are playing as Luigi equipped with his Poltergust 500, an upgraded version of the Poltergust 3000 from the original. With it you can do several actions, the most common being that you can suck up ghosts and stuff by pressing the R button, you can also blow with it as well by pressing the L button, it's not as useful as the sucking up method but it's useful at some parts. But those aren't the only things. By pressing the B button you can run around making Luigi go faster (thankfully since he walks so slow otherwise), and you can look up by pressing X. As you progress through the game you can also flash your light to stun ghosts by pressing A, and even later on you can use dark light to detect illusions by pressing Y. The gameplay works very good and I like the controls as it doesn't feel awkward and it feels rather smooth. Gameplay in my opinion recieves an B+, the same score I gave the story.
A mario game is widely known for often having great level design and creativity. And that's what we're going to look at now. A negative thing about this is that this game is very linear, sure you solve puzzles and stuff and you might explore the mansions during this, but even then it always seem to have a linear objective, on the touch screen it even tells you where to go! I don't really hate that, I rather think it's ok since it's a bit hard to locate yourself in the mansions, but it feels linear. Oh well, the level design though? I really like it! Very much! Even though this game has different mansions you explore unlike the original where everything was in one mansion, each mansion in the game is something completely different! They all have different themes and a sub-theme as well! Sure there's the standard tutorial mansion, but the other mansions are great! Such as the third and fourth mansion! They are two worlds that feel completely different with completely different themes! Creativity recieves an D+ and level design recieves an A, so mixing them up I'd give level design and creativity a solid B!
You know what? Despite these positives above, the game's soundtrack is super dissapointing! Kind of suprising for a nintendo game. One thing that makes the soundtrack so dissapointing is the fact that pretty much all the song is a remix on one and another! The only very good song was the original Gloomy Manor theme, all the other songs just remixed this one and they didn't even sound that cool. It's disapointing if you ask me. Soundtrack recieves a poor ol' D.
But wait, the reason you came here to read the review was probably to know if it's scary and something you'd want to buy for halloween? Well, the answer is quite simple. Is it scary and something scary you could play at Halloween? No, not really. Despite being a spooky horror game, this game was very, VERY cartoony for me. The designs of the ghosts look kinda childish and the sounds they make are as well. Now I will admit, some of the bosses look kind of unsettling like the one in Haunted Towers, but it still has a cartoony feel to it. So, well overall, this game is not that scary at all! It's more cartoony than scary.
Overall Opinion: Well as you read above, story, gameplay and the creativity in level design is pretty excellent! They are the highlights of the game! However, the linear gameplay makes it somewhat straight forwad, and the boring soundtrack and cartoony "scaryness" makes this game not a masterpiece, so yeah, I'd say that this is a great game, I definitly recommend you playing it! It's very fun and you'll have a great time! However, if you want to get this for halloween, I would say you'd still be able to sleep during the nights.
Score: 8/10 or 83%
Other Info:
Console: Nintendo 3DS
Year Released: 2013
Metacritic Score: 86 and 8.5
Please comment down below what game next you'd want me to review next