Luigi's Mansion

It turns out the apparently Luigi has won a mansion in a special competition, you know, like you do. He is told to go over there and meet Mario, but on arrival the portly-plumber is nowhere to be found. In fact, the whole place is totally deserted! After searching a few eerie-looking rooms, a ghost jumps out at you and before you know what's happening a strange little man appears from nowhere with what looks like a vacuum cleaner and sucks the spectre up. He then hastily introduces himself as Professor E. Gadd, explains how these phantom spirits have escaped from the paintings around the immense house and promptly informs Luigi that his brother has most likely been abducted by the cheeky ghosts. Therefore the whimpering Luigi must rapidly learn how to use the vacuum contraption, otherwise known as the Poltergeist 3000, and head off on his set mission to suck as many ghosts as he can...

 

No, your eyes certainly are not deceiving you! This is indeed a First Generation GameCube title, and yet the graphical prowess exuded throughout is, mmm, simply splendiferous. If anything, the level of quality is not far from that of Super Mario Sunshine, which was released over half a year later. Now surely that says something? Whilst wandering around the mansion you will feel the urge to simply stop and admire the attention-to-detail on the furnishings of the haunted house

 

Although there is not an abundance of digitised speech contained within Luigi's Mansion, what there sparingly is manages to satisfy on many levels. The humorous aspect is covered by Professor E. Gadd and his inane mumbling, which should raise a smile on even the most serious gamer's face, whilst the spectres and Luigi himself add to the creepy ambience. The game's hero, when on full health, will hum the game's theme tune while wandering around the abandoned corridors, and then call out "Mario...Maaa-rio!" in an attempt to coax a reply from his portly brother. But as soon his energy levels have taken somewhat of a beating, visibly shaken, Luigi's voice begins to warble a little and the humming becomes more disjointed, and the calls to his sibling ever more unsteady

 

Many people will tell you that this game is far too short, and to be honest that is an extremely fair point to make. But there are some reasons why the game's length is just about right, and the main one that can easily be argued is that if Nintendo had made this title much longer, things might just have become slightly stale. As fun as the game is, there is only so much wandering around and sucking up of ghosts that can be done before boredom sets in. This is why the addition of playing through the game once more on completion, albeit with a trickier difficulty level, does not appeal on the whole. Perhaps if Nintendo deems Luigi's Mansion's sales impressive enough to warrant a sequel, the Japanese behemoth will increase both the length and difficulty, whilst also including several more attachments for the Poltergeist 3000 and extra side-quests.