Review: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

I know I said my next my next review would be Ocarina of Time, but since I recently got this game and I have some extra time, why not?

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is the latest game in Mario series and the sequel to Luigi's Mansion. It brings back the fantastic charm that Luigi's Mansion had and brings a little bit more with it.




















The story begins in EvershadeValley, a home to many friendly ghosts, where Professor E. Gadd is doing research on ghosts with the assistance of some friendly but mischievous ghosts. When out of nowhere, King Boo appears and takes the Dark Moon, a strange, gem-like moon that keeps the native ghosts of the valley friendly, and breaks it into six pieces.

The Dark Moon

Upon breaking it, all ghosts in the valley, including E. Gadd's assistants, become aggressive and wreak havoc across the valley. The only one who can stop King Boo's plan is Luigi, who already defeated the undead king once. E. Gadd and Luigi get one Dark Moon piece which landed near E. Gadd's lab. Afterwards, Luigi must collect the last five pieces, which landed in certain mansions across the valley. Only then will the ghosts return to normal.












Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is nearly similar to the original title. You capture ghosts in neat mansions with Luigi's Poltergust 5000. Each mansion has its own interesting theme. Unlike the original, catching ghosts is slightly different. In Luigi's Mansion, you just simply shine Luigi's flashlight towards a ghost and the suck it up with the Poltergust. Now, he must use a new attachment called the Strobulb, which emits a flash that stuns ghosts. The Poltergust 5000 also has a feature called Dark-Light, which allows Luigi to find invisible surroundings. The Game Boy Horror has also been updated, now being a new gadget called the Duel Scream, which looks like the original DS. One downside to it is that the first person mode is taken out, but the Duel Scream still shows you your map and allows you to contact E. Gadd. The first person mode technically does return, but it's kind of limited and involves peeping through windows and holes into other rooms (see picture of the garage below).

Poltergust 5000

Duel Scream

The downside to the game is that each mansion is broken down into missions. It's not a big or terrible thing, it just makes free roaming the mansions more difficult, which was something I liked to do in the original. Basically, after you complete a certain task in each mission, you have to return to the lab. Even though it's not my kind of thing, it does help organize the game better. Also there is and unlock able time attack mode in each mansion that can be treated as a free roam if you wish.

The game also comes with a really fun co-op multiplayer called the Scare Scraper, which up to four people can play. Each person must play as Luigi and capture all the ghosts on the their current floor in order to advance. It is available for both online and local use and is very fun. However, it is bother bother trying to join a co-op game. Not sure if that's just me or the way the game was designed.

Playing in the Scare Scraper

The graphics in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon are really good and make good use of the 3DS and its capabilities. The mansions are slightly more goofier looking in design compared to the one in the first game. See below:

Luigi's Mansion

Room in the original mansion

                 

The first mansion in Luigi's Mansion:
Dark Moon

Room in newer mansion

Each mansion has a good design and are fun to explore. The characters and ghosts are really good looking and look better than the original game in my opinion. Overall, the graphics are really good and make full use of the 3DS.













In Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, there is a lot more music in the game than before. Instead of just hearing Luigi's constant whistling, now we get a tune in nearly every place available. Most of the time, like in Luigi's Mansion, it's usually the same song just re done. The songs are very good, mysterious and sometimes a little creepy. They fit the mansions perfectly and are impressive. Also, for the record, Luigi still whistles but not as much as before.














Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is a fun game that continues the Luigi's Mansion story. With its cool mansions, interesting story and more along the line, it is definitely a game that should be added to your 3DS library.


Gameplay-5
Graphics-5
Music-5
Sounds/Voices-5
Controls-5

Overall-10

Next Review

Already said I would do Ocarina

of Time, so I'm sticking to that.