Luigi's Mansion 3

It has been a few years since I played Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon. That experience was fine but it left a bad taste in my mouth compared to how much I enjoyed the first game. Thus my expectations for this one was a bit lower than before. I was glad to see this game managed to overcome the issues of that one. But first lets set the stage by recapping whats going on this time.

We start our tale with Luigi's and his pals coming to a luxury hotel that they were invited to as guests. After check in things start to unravel quickly as it is revealed that the hotel owner is a ghost and has bought Luigi & Co here to trap them all in paintings as a gift to King Boo. After barely escaping their trap he finds the poltergeist-G0 and starts catching all the ghosts no matter how scared he is of them.

Gameplay wise this remains very similar to what has come before. Luigi can flash ghosts with a light-bulb to stun them. Then suck them in his ghost vacuum cleaner. Other stuff that he has got along the way is also available like the UV light that can reveal things in the environment that aren't visible otherwise. As for the new stuff he can shoot a plunger that can pull down objects or shields away from enemies. Being able to use the air from his vacuum to push away enemies is also very useful.

Yet the biggest addition is Gooigi. As his name implies it is a goo version of our hero. This lets him set off traps or go into holes that Luigi wouldn't be able to do without him. A added benefit is that this also lets a second player join you on the adventure at any time. Near the end I got a chance to check that out. Since he has all the abilities of Luigi it doesn't feel like your being limited by being player 2. Pretty much makes the game easier and more fun since the pace speeds up a lot.

Unlike the last game this one has a ton of personality. Since this is set in a hotel each floor Luigi goes to is a different experience entirely. Between going to a opera house or a fitness gym the boss of each area is unique. Offering up a new challenge for the player to overcome with his wits. None of them are very complex but by the end they do expect the player to be pretty good at dodging stuff. Getting a game over is certainly possible even though most of the game is on the easy side.

I spent a lot of extra time going through each floor again after I caught the boss ghost to pick up all the collectibles along the way. Every collectible is hidden fairly well and I just enjoyed destroying each room to solve whatever puzzle I needed to find em. Which is a lot different than what I did in the previous game. It doesn't hurt that you can use the cash you find around the hotel to buy items that point out where all the gems & boos are so you don't waste your time exploring a room with nothing in it.

The only main issues I have with Luigi's Mansion 3 is that nothing here really changes up the core gameplay any. It really just feels like a much better version of Dark Moon. Heck it doesn't even include some elements from the first like elemental ghosts that at least changes up how you had to deal with certain types of enemies. Sure the core of a game doesn't need to change for it to be a fun time. Catching ghosts is the core of this series but after this game raised the bar back up I would like to see what else they could do with this premise other than just make another one.

Overall this was a game I enjoyed a lot. It has a lot of what I wanted from the previous game Next Level made. I'm glad they found what was wrong and made a better game. Roaming the haunted halls of the hotel was a enjoyable time and each floor always had a new challenge for me to overcome. Honestly took me a bit longer than it should have to solve some things since I never quite think to use all of my equipment to solve a issue. If your looking for a fun time catching ghosts with Luigi then it's certainly worth picking up this game.