It’s been a long time since his big day under the shadows on the old Nintendo GameCube, but Luigi doesn’t look like his ghost busting skills have gotten rusty over the years as he takes on King Boo in Luigi’s Mansion 2 Dark Moon on the Nintendo 3DS. With very cool 3D cartoon graphics, ghostly puzzles and some pretty funny cut scenes, it’s a a great new game for the hand held console.
It picks up with Professor E. Gadd some time after the original game as he’s conducting research on the friendly ghosts of the great Mansion under the protective charms of the Dark Moon. However, when a shadowy figures creeps out of the dark clouds and shatters the crystal magic of the moon, the ghosts the Professor’s come to know as friends turn loco, forcing him to run away in search of the phantom fighting skills of Luigi once again.
Like Zombi U, Luigi starts off in a specially protected bunker with no special powers or weapons to protect him from the punishment of the ghosts of the mansion. Though he only has a little flash light to begin with, Professor Gadd soon steers him in the direction of the Poltergust 5000. With this and the strobescope flashlight, Luigi has all he needs to shock the ghosts for long enough to get them under the suction power of the Poltergust 5000, locking them into its proton pack containment facility-like hoover bag.
There’s a huge amount of puzzle action to get through to make it through the missions, but the real fun gets going when you come face to face with a spook. They don’t always give in easily and the further you get into the game, the tougher they become to bag, which starts to build a little tension, especially for the game’s boss ghosts.
It’s a lot of fun hunting them down and there’s plenty of comedy moments that makes the dialogue easy to run through, but Luigi’s Mansion 2 Dark Moon isn’t a full steam action thriller. It’s a puzzler with a lot of fun elements that will leave you either laughing or smiling every time you play. Even getting past the bosses will take a little grey matter as you have to work out how you beat them using your Poltergust 5000, strobescope and surrounding objects.
The only downside to the game is that there’s not a great deal of space to manoeuvre at times, which does add to the comedy claustrophobic appeal, but takes a little away from the free roaming possibilities of the ghost catching fun. However, there are twists and turns a plenty to make up for the trapped-in-a-house feel and as you progress you start to get a bit more space to move around in.
As well as the main campaign there’s a whole series of multi-player games to take on, whether you set things up locally with a few friends, or team up online with Luigi loving people from all over the world. The multi-players add a new level of frantic fun to Luigi’s Mansion 2, giving the 3DS title even more longevity. There’s plenty of different game modes in multi-player too, ranging from getting to the hatch before the timer runs out, hunting down polterpups and all out ghost warfare.
While there are plenty of slow paced moments of the game, it is a lot of fun to play, with just the right amount of action and puzzles. The ghost battling concept of flashing the strobescope and sucking up the nasties with your Poltogust 5000 is pretty cool, especially when there’s a room full of the gits and you’re down to your bones in terms of health. With a good online and local multi-player section and a brilliant main story, Luigi’s Mansion 2 Dark Moon is the year’s best new Nintendo 3DS title release, making it a must get for any Italian plumber fans.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 Dark Moon review: 4.2/5
You can also check out the Luigi’s Mansion 3 final boss to see how King Boo features at the end of the third game too.
