Fans of Nintendo's long-standing icon, Mario, are sure to have made acquaintance with Mario's brother, Luigi. Luigi has tagged along, or made cameo appearances in, a number of Mario games, but in Luigi's Mansion, he is finally the star of his own game.
Luigi's Mansion for Nintendo's Game Cube takes kids on a mission through a haunted house in an attempt to find Mario, who has been captured by ghosts. Despite the haunted mansion setting, the game is generally quite comical and lighthearted instead of creepy. Still, just enough suspense is generated to keep younger players on their toes.
Children need to lead Luigi, who is equipped with a vaccuum-like device called a "Poltergust 3000" and a flashlight, through the many rooms and floors of the mansion, where ghosts of all shapes and sizes lurk. Traveling through each room generally requires some kind of puzzle to solve, which, if completed successfully, earns players a key to the next room. Mastering all the rooms in a particular area of the mansion will lead to a "boss" challenge.
The challenges of capturing the ghosts are made interesting with the character differences of different types of ghosts -- some are easier to catch, while others resist capture more aggressively (the resulting tug of war with the more ornery ghosts is quite humorous). Some ghosts have hearts of ice, water, or flame, and kids will need to get Poltergust upgrades in order to capture these. While some of the ghosts are out in the open, others creep up on Luigi from behind or even above, and some need to be chased. Capturing many of the ghosts requires attention to clues about their character. Besides the main mission of capturing ghosts, children collect gold coins, jewels, and more, in an attempt to boost their money totals.
The visuals in the game are really quite fun and appealing. The attention to detail in the game's graphics adds much to the overall experience. Luigi expresses his cowardliness with facial expressions that are delightfully comical, for example. The controls are a little tricky to master at the outset, but cease to detract from the gaming experience quickly enough for most kids.
Essentially, this video game plays more like a series of puzzles than a heart-racing action-packed game. Children actually need to use their brains in order to figure out how to deal with the mansion's different varieties of spooks. Although these puzzles do work the brain, they are never too challenging to be frustrating for children ages 7-10. Kids over 10 will likely "beat" the game far too quickly, making Luigi's Mansion better as a rental than a purchase for the older crowd.
