Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Review

It turns out plumbers can not only save princesses, but also be Ghostbusters.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon for the 3DS is a sequel to the original Luigi’s Mansion from the Gamecube back in 2001 on the Gamecube as a launch title. The game starts off with the brilliant, and perhaps crazy, Professor E. Gadd who is studying paranormal activity in Evershade Valley. He studies with a group of friendly ghosts, until they start to go hostile. It’s soon discovered that their change is linked to the Dark Moon than hangs over the valley,  that was broken into shards by an unknown perpetrator. Professor E. Gadd once again employees the help of Luigi to pick up a flashlight and ghost-sucking- vacuum once more to discover the mystery of Evershade Valley and return the Dark Moon to normal. And by employ I mean take Luigi from his nice safe house to his lab via television portal.

This action/adventure game has a simple set up. The player controls Mario’s brother, Luigi, as he travels through five haunted mansion defeating ghosts and solving puzzles to progress. In order to capture ghosts, Luigi has to stun the ghosts with his flashlight, and then use the vacuum to suck them up. Players have to move in the opposite direction of the ghost trying to escape the ghost sucking vaccum in order to bring down their health. Every single type of ghost is different leading to all kinds of different strategies to fighting ghosts. For example, some ghosts will show up with sunglasses, making it impossible to stun then. Therefore Luigi has to suck the sunglasses off before he can stun them. Other ghosts can attempt to attack Luigi, and only after evading an attack and they become tired out are the open to being sucked in. Along the way to traverse through each room, Luigi will have to solve a number of puzzles to unlock rooms as well discover clues to what he searching for.

Progression in the game departs from the formula of the original game. There are five mansions instead of just one large one. Each mansion is also divided up into a series of missions. Each mission provides a different goal as each mission slowly opens more parts of each mansion. It breaks up gameplay, and the game automatically saves only once upon completing a mission. This is very different compared to the original where the player wandered around a very large mansion filled with rooms having to go back and forth continuously with Toads scattered through the mansion that would save the game for you. While the player will collect cash just like in the original, in “Dark Moon” the player receives upgrades when reaching certain amounts of money, which gives much more incentive for gathering up cash as quick as possible.

The exploration of each mansion is just good fun as each one has a different theme leading to all kinds of exploration. From the icy underground caverns of one mansion, to the sandy relics of an old factory. Each new room offers new ways to explore as well as new items and upgrades to help along the way.

However one problem that stood out at first where the controls. Several times it’s easy to get X mixed up with Y, and often times you’ll perform the wrong action causing you to lose a ghost or get hurt doing do. However the largest flaw at times can be the vacuum control. Once the vaccum starts sucking up ghosts, Luigi has to change direction based on where the ghost is traveling so he can rope them in faster. However it is nearly impossible to rotate Luigi, only move him. This gets very annoying when locked within close corridors, which happens very often. So it’s very important to figure out one’s surroundings before going after the ghosts.

If anything gets major points though, it’s the boss battles that happen within the game. Each one is unique and creative. At most times it brings in a completely new element of catching ghosts making the player think on their feet which is a very fun challenge. While at times its funny causing the player to laugh, it’s also knowing that the game is presenting a challenge. So it’s very safe to say that the game keeps you on your toes. 

An interesting addition to the game is multiplayer. The multiplayer is called ScareScraper where players connect over the internet and challenge others to a series of levels in a tower with different modes. One mode is just simply clear all of the ghosts off every floor as quick as possible. However gets the most points, wins. A different mode has players chase after a Polterpup (a ghost dog) that players will have to scan floors for clues to its whereabouts.  While it is impossible to verbal communicate to players over the 3DS, with the directional buttons players can select a few phrases Luigi to talk to teammates such as “Help! Help!” or “Good Job!” With a variety of modes and difficulty levels, ScareScraper is something that can be played over and over again and not get bored of.

Playing “Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon” has been a fun and rewarding experience. At times the puzzles can be a little more than challenging, and several different varieties of ghosts keep up the intensity. However if players want they can simply go back and replay previous missions. This allows them to find more cash or possibly find hidden secrets. There is a hidden Boo in every mission in the game, and once finding every boo in a mansion, a new secret mission unlocks. It’s satisfying to see a game in the original idea that to get new levels, players have to earn their way to get it instead of having to put out some cash for DLC.

Total Rating: 92/100

New Tomb Raider is worth it!

Originally written in mid March 2013.

Lara Croft is back in possibly her most intense journey yet.

“Tomb Raider” is a reboot of the series going back to a new beginning of the main character, Lara Croft. Being recognized as one of the most recognized video game character since appearing on the Playstation in 1996. In this new adventure explores Lara as she is on an expedition to find an ancient civilization with a team. Being a recent graduate she hopes that this discovery will put her on the map. However as they approach an island, an intense storm approaches and destroys the ship. Waking up injured and alone after the shipwreck, Lara has to learn how to survive and find her friends. Lara has to survive the dangerous terrain, as well avoid being killed by a cult group on the island that has kidnapped one of her friends. 

Tomb Raider is an action adventure game that puts players to the test in order to survive trials on the mysterious island. The beginning of the game is focused on basic survival tests on staying warm by making a fire to hunting in order not to starve. It only lasts for a short before gameplay goes from only having a bow for hunting to using a handgun to take down those who are trying to kill the character for simply being an outsider of the island. It’s a bit of a quick transition in game play. 

The nice part of moving around the island is that is a semi-open world. You can go back to any previous parts of the game by resting at a camp and using fast travel to camps you have visited before. In order to traverse areas the player has to climb rocks surfaces with a climbing tool and use a rope with a bow and arrow to create ways to traverse gaps. While also resting at camps the player can increase or add skills using experience they have gained. They can also take salvage parts to make modifications and improvements to their weapons leaving a lot of choices in the player’s hands. While traversing the land there are all kinds of side missions of collecting series of collectables that build experience as well as give background information about the mysterious island and the cult that lives there. 

There are also a series of optional tombs that the player can access which sadly should have been a larger part of the game. The player has to traverse a room or two of puzzles that really makes the player think on how they need to travel. While it fun to jump around area to area and take down bad guys, it seems it focuses more on that than going through tombs and discovering secrets. But then again this is a re-boot, and no game in the past of the series has explored the beginning of the character. The game progress from someone to who is alone and scared to a hardened woman who will do what it takes to save her friends.

The only true negative portion of this game is a multiplayer mode that players can play with others online. It is sadly one of the worst examples of online multiplayer and was obviously added quickly at the end. Without a doubt though one can ignore the multiplayer and still have a fantastic time enjoying the game. While the story is dark at times, it’s a story with a young Lara who hasn’t been exposed to desperate situations before. The story shines showing the progress of a character overcoming an extreme amount of challenges. “Tomb Raider” is action packed game filled with hours of fun. If more games like this come out the only thing that needs to happen is an increased amount of tomb exploration, but it’s a start of something great.

Stars: 4/5