 A review that is long overdue, but it's not too late. Luigi's Mansion 3 on the Nintendo Switch. I absolutely adored the first Luigi's Mansion, released on the GameCube in 2001. That was my most replayed GameCube game by far. After that first game it was silent for many years. And then we got Luigi's Mansion 2, also known as Dark Moon. And I had my expectations unfortunately sky-high for that game. I actually ended up leaving Luigi's Mansion 2 feeling a bit disappointed. Mostly because of the massive gameplay change to the old formula that I knew from the first one. This time being more like episode based and you couldn't really explore one mansion freely. Now again, it was silent for years. But then we saw Luigi's Mansion 3 was in the making. Excited and hopeful to see if they could return to the old original formula and maybe make it right this time around. Luigi's Mansion 3. Buy or not. Story. I like the story. I actually think it's pretty genius. This time Luigi, Mario, Peach and her toads and Luigi's dog decides to finally go on a well-deserved holiday. Because we all know that they have been through a lot. They have seen some shit. However, the hotel that they are staying at turns out to be not how they expected. That old hag that runs the hotel had decided to free older ghosts from their previous imprisonment within picture frames, including good old King Boo. And then instead gets all of Luigi's friends captured in picture frames. They are just never left alone to enjoy a goddamn holiday. Now, Luigi is all stressed out, understandably. And has to rescue them all. He comes in contact with Professor E. God again. And with his and the dog's help, he slowly but surely collects elevator buttons to be able to traverse higher and higher up the hotel. To hopefully find and rescue his friends. And if you didn't know this, you collect ghosts by flashing them with your flashlight and sucking them into your vacuum cleaner. That is exactly what I do with my ghosts as well. Gameplay. This is essentially actually a puzzle game, if you didn't know. This is not a platformer. It is not an adventure game. It is not. In Hack and Slash, it's not really a combat game. It is. Well, there's a little combat. But essentially it is a puzzle game. I didn't necessarily feel like there were so much focus on puzzle solving in Luigi's Mansion 1. But there seems to be more of a focus on that in this game. The camera is for the most part, if not always, fixed in one position. And you control Luigi around like normal. You control his movement on the left analog stick and his aim at the right analog stick. Luigi has some new movements and skills this time around. Like slamming ghosts around or even at other ghosts. Once you have gotten a hold of one with your vacuum cleaner, there is a suction shot where you shoot a plunger at an object to get a better hold of it. And then you can smash it around to even break other objects. And there is burst and blowing air out of your vacuum cleaner. Another interesting ability is the dark light device, which you can use to find hidden objects. I suggest you to use your dark light in every room, in every corner, everywhere. You can find a lot of hidden stuff. Gouiji is also a new ability. That means Luigi as Gou. You can control him as well to solve several different puzzles where you can put Luigi at one point and Luigi at another. Gouiji can also walk through bars, but he cannot touch water. Then he will, you know, dissolve. Each floor of this hotel has its own theme. There's like a garden theme, like a movie set theme. There's like a shop theme, all sorts of themes you can find in this hotel. This time you have the virtual boo. Earlier we have seen Gameboy Horror and Dual Scream. The virtual boo, it is bad. I didn't like the virtual boo. It was kind of hard to navigate around in the maps. The maps are just not really good in the virtual boo. It's not even in 3D. Even the Gamecube version had the maps in 3D on the Gameboy Horror in Luigi's Mansion 1. So that is definitely a downgrade in my book. Now each floor has collectable gems on them, cleverly hidden. So it's very hard to find all of them. There are several gems on each and every floor. So here's the collectability of the game. If you want to collect everything, there's that. The game autosaves every time you go through a door, which is nice. If you lose all your HP, you are game over. Unless you have some dog bones, which serves as an extra life. And you can purchase more of that down at EGAD's little, you know, hut. In the basement, there are treasure everywhere in Luigi's Mansion 3. This is also a huge part of the gameplay. Collecting coins, bills, gems, gold bars and pearls. Just about everywhere you go. And with this currency, you can purchase dog bones and gem and boo finding cartridges. Often I felt like you had to backtrack in the story. Backtrack in the game. I'm not a fan of backtracking. And actually I found myself to be very often stuck in this game actually. You know, it is not for kids. I wouldn't say that this is for kids. It's really super hard game. It's difficult. A lot of the puzzles are just super difficult. Some of the riddles are actually mind-blowingly hard. And in no way could I solve some of them on my own without looking up on the internet. I was that stuck. This game is just, like I said, too hard for kids. This game is for smart adults. Graphics. Okay, so have a look at the details here. Because there are small and incredible details to be found everywhere. Like how items and even Luigi himself look when being vacuumed. And the lighting effects and the general use of light and shadows and contrasts. There is also the variety of all the floors. And you can really feel that this is a Nintendo game. It is in a whole other league than the usual indie games, that's for sure. First part in Nintendo games are always top notch in the details department, in my opinion. Luigi is full of expressions and I love it. Music. Okay, so funny story. I've replayed the first Luigi's mansion with my mom for years. So naturally we were excited to play this one together as well. So for me, this has been a great family game. I have played this game with my mom. Almost the entire game, exclusively with my mom. And she was like, don't play it without me watching. And she also played it a little bit, you know, but she kept on dying. So in the beginning of the game the music felt new. Very new, I didn't really recognize the tunes. But as we progressed further up the hotel I was like, listen. That tune, we recognize the old mansion theme. That was a moment. So in other words, there's something new and there's something old and familiar to hear in Luigi's Mansion 3. And again, I have to say, this is a Nintendo game. Of course the sound effects and soundtrack has been well perfected. But the low health noise when you are low on health. They should have dropped that because that got annoying really quickly. Verdicts. In my very own and personal biased opinion. I think I still like the original first game for the GameCube the most. But I openly welcome Luigi's Mansion 3. And who knows, I may grow to like it more and more in time. With the new gaming memories that I'm making currently with my mom. Because this is our series. If you have a family member to play this with, I suggest you do that. As like I said, it is a very family friendly title. Luigi's Mansion 3 is actually all the way quality. Just be in mind that this is a puzzle game. So that you beforehand, you know, know what you are getting into. And it is really hard. The puzzles are mind-blowing. I give Luigi's Mansion 3 a 9 out of 10. Because it is very solid for the genre that it belongs to. That is. 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