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

To The Moon Review

Sometimes in gaming, you come across something that sets it apart from the rest.

To The Moon is an independent game by Freebird Games that was released back in November 2011 becoming avalible on Steam almost a year later. It still has been still remarked as a wounderful jewel of a game, so I decided to final pay for the game and see what I was getting into.

To The Moon is about two scientists, Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts that work for a special agency that goes into people's memories. The sole purpose for the machine is for those who are dying to relive their lives in a different way than they wanted. The two are called on assignment to a man on his deathbed by the name of Johnny. His request is simple: He wants to go to the moon.

What first may catch some people's attention is this game looks like it came from a Super Nintendo cartridge as everything is sixteen-bit sprite based. It gives a slight nostalgic feel because everything is pixel detailed, and it's a new way of getting into the environment. And it's nice to see such a professional release of someone using the RPG Maker program.

However the game is not so much of a game, but more of a visual novel with some aspects of an adventure game. Most of the game the player will find themselves guiding the doctors clicking on objects and interacting with them or other people. There are also some puzzles as the unlock mementos in Johnny's memory so they can go further into his past to plant the idea of wanting to go to the moon. So if one is primarily concerned with gameplay, this is not something for them for the game is heavily based on story.

That being said, how good is the story? It's pretty good actually. Granted I often find one of the most amazing aspects of gaming is that it is like an interactive story, so I was easily hooked onto the premise. It starts off with lots of explanation, setting up the story, but once it gets going, it gets going. There are also good moments of comedy to lighten up certain situations, and other parts that are just plain enjoyable. It is without a doubt the creator of the game, Kan Gao, highly enjoyed writing the story.

The characters start off very simple and I wasn't interested in them so much until the story progressed. At the beginning I didn't know what to think of Neil has was arrogant and seemed rude, but then made all kind of nerd culture references that I began to like him and laugh at his jokes. However near the end his true character began to shine in situations that I really favored him to originally favoring Eva.

However controls at time were frustrating. In order to move characters around, the player has to use the arrow keys to move, and the enter space to interact and continue text. Or use the mouse clicking where to move the character next, which they could move in the direction you didn't want or interact with something you didn't want to. It's not the worst thing in the world, but it got annoying from time to time.

In the end, To The Moon is a very short game, but it is worth the experience.  I found myself glued to the screen, not wanting to stop as I wanted to find out what happened next. I was worried about what was going to happen to Johnny in the end, and the game did that very well. So if you've ever wanted a good story focused video game with some fun humor and won't take up all your time, you owe to yourself to pick this game up.

Score: 5/5