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Luigi's Mansion
by Julius Bautista
Thursday, November 22 2001
Far from "the best" launch title, Luigi's Mansion is still decent.
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Title:
Luigi's Mansion
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Platform:
Gamecube
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Publisher:
Nintendo |
Developer:
EAD |
#
of Players: 1 |
Genre:
Adventure
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Origin:
Japan
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Expected
Release:
November 2001 |
Grapevine:
Coated with a polish that's distinctive of its designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi's Mansion is amazing, yet *SHORT* of amazing. |
"Mario? MARIOOOOO!?"... In the absence of "woohoos", wall jumps, and butt-stomps, Nintendo launches the GameCube console without Mario. In his place is his not-so-brave home-alone ghostbusting brother, Luigi. While this title isn't the next "big" (and by that I mean size & scope) Mario adventure many had hoped for, Luigi's Mansion serves its purposes well: an experiment in GameCube development, and a player's introduction to the hardware -- graphic capabilities, and more importantly, the controller. Coated with a polish that's distinctive of its designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi's Mansion is amazing, yet *SHORT* of amazing.
So what's with the mansion? To be brief, Luigi won a whacked-out mansion in an unknown contest and asked Mario to meet him there. Upon arrival, Luigi was abushed by candy-colored ghosts and rescued by a shorty "Professor E. Gadd" who informed our green hero that Mario is missing. The professor then entrusts Luigi with his special ghostbusting vaccuum, who sets off to find Mario and solve the mystery of the spook-infested mansion.
If the vaccuum wasn't any hint, Luigi's Mansion's gameplay is unlike the previous Mario adventures. Heck, Luigi doesn't even jump! Viewing the action from a cut-out "dollhouse" perspective, you "jog" Luigi around using the control stick. Analog sensitivity makes no difference here since he jogs friggin' slow no matter what. The C-stick aims his flashlight/vaccuum upward, downward, left/right, rotating him even while he walks. R-button operates the "inhaling" action of the vaccuum while L-button runs it in reverse (expulsion). The A-button is his generic action button for opening doors and such, while the B-button turns his flashlight on/off. X/Y/Z-buttons are informational, to look at your map and progress. Parallel to Mario jumping on enemies, Luigi's basic action(s) are: 1) Shining his flashlight on ghosts, surprising them, revealing their "heart", then 2) Sucking them up into the vaccuum during that moment of surprise, resulting in a tug-o-war between you two. It's an amusing process that requires a little timeing, but it's present to the very end of the game. And thankfully, the controls are always precise and spot-on. Success in LM indeed requires the successful use of the analog sticks with the shoulder buttons, and players' C-stick skills will definitely be put to the test, particularly in the game's few boss battles.
Now, the whole ghost-cleaning bit gets old quickly, but puzzle solving and environment interaction are LM's true substance. It's a little bit of Zelda, with a Mario flavor. The vast majority of the mansion is closed off behind locked doors. To get the keys you must visit each open room and clear it of all ghosts, but usually there're "special" ghosts (unique ghosts that don't jump into your vaccuum like the other weaklings) that require some creative thinking before catching. Some spooks have to be "found" while others have to be surprised in certain ways, so interacting with the mansion's objects using the vaccuum makes the action refreshing and interesting. Blowing out fires, pulling drapes, and spraying water are some of the basics, yielding a good variety of creative situations. Nearly all of the mansion's furniture and tapestry react to the vaccuum, and the physics are reasonably realistic. Overall, the gameplay isn't very dynamic yet entertaining. Controls are good, puzzles are nice, but the main adventure is awefully short. I completed the adventure and caught the 50 "Boos" (yes, the classical Mario ghosts) in roughly 6 hours. The mansion seems so small once you're done; it's quite disappointing.
While not the best graphical showcase (*cough* Rogue Leader *cough*) for GameCube's launch, Luigi's Mansion still looks very nice. A "3D cartoon" is a great description. Luigi and all the other characters are nicely modeled, composed of moderate polygon amounts giving soft, rounded looks. Character and object animations are top-notch, so everything's very alive with personality. The obvious stars of the show are the special effects, making great use of next-gen capabilities. Lighting, shadowing, and transparencies up-the-wahoo here. It is stunning, and the effects are performed accurately, especially when Luigi shines his flashlight on his environments and how all ghosts sport glows and transparencies. The physics also deserves mention thanks to the way water & fire particles and fabrics waver & flow realistically in conjunction with the vaccuum stream. Both gameplay and cutscenes run smoothly with no real slowdown, with no significant clipping to be found. On the low side, most textures shown are low-rez, with practically no bump-mapping. A lot of the mansion's furniture could've used quite a bit more polygons as well, but it look fine. This is a pretty game, no doubt.
Luigi's audio department should've had a bit more work. The sound effects are practically perfect, providing everything you expect from what you see, and they sound great in Dolby Surround. Only a spoonful of voice acting is present, and it's all Luigi's, utilized like sound effects in previous N64 games. Professor E. Gadd doesn't really talk, he just has a bunch of meaningless Ewok gibberish. Not much voice, but it comes out clearly. The music is appropriate in most cases, composed of quirky beats that repeat the game's theme. And there's a couple "creepy" music tracks for those crazy engagements. Luigi even whistles the theme when it's quiet, but that's part of the problem: the theme is heard too often, and as you progress (when a room or hallway is cleared) there's less and less music to be heard, which is annoying. A few classic Mario Bros. themes do make cameos, which is very cute, but they don't fix the lack of music we already have.
Presentation is OK for the most part. The cutscenese aren't exactly plentiful, but they're entertaining (besides the all the door-unlockings). On-screen indicators are clearly visible and well-drawn, while menu screens and the like are also clear and easy to navigate. The main menu is very simple as well, and lacks anything truly flashy like the other menus. LM's presentation is pretty simple and adequate throughout.
"Replay" would not be Luigi's middle name 'cuz there practically isn't any. Like we've all learned, Luigi's Mansion is VERY short. Seriously, once you've walked through the game once, you've seen just about everthing. Beating the game does unlock a "hidden mansion" mode of sorts, but it's identical to the original mansion, only with adjusted difficulty. And there really isn't anything to compell players to meet those same ghosts a second time, since the gameplay isn't very dynamic -- there's no challenge in solving old puzzles you've figured out. You may want to catch the 50 Boos and complete the Hidden Mansion in hopes of getting a higher ranking in your ending, but again, it'll all be over too quickly.
I hope what I meant is now apparent when I said "experiment" and "introduction". Luigi's Mansion could've been wholly more satisfying by simply lengthening the adventure. Considering it's a launch title supposedly meant to introduce the hardware, we can say Luigi did well in that respect. Yeah, it didn't last long, but it was good while it lasted.
--- Julius Bautista
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