Game: Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD
Genre: Action, Adventure, Puzzle
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer|Publisher: Next Level Games | Nintendo
Age Rating: EU 7 | US Everyone
Price: US $59.99 | UK 49.99 | EU € 59,99
Release Date: June 27th, 2024
A review code was provided, with many thanks to Nintendo Europe.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD One of the Best 3DS Games Now on the Nintendo Switch
Luigi’s Mansion 2 was first released on the 3DS back in 2013. It’s hard to believe this game is now over ten years old; time really does pass quickly when you’re gaming. Some consider this one of the best 3DS games on the beloved handheld. While I did own the console, I did not get around to playing Luigi’s Mansion 2, and I imagine many were the same.
I was very excited to finally get a chance to play Luigi’s Mansion 2 with the HD release on Nintendo Switch. After spending ample time exploring the game and catching ghosts, I can see why this game is so adored. It’s a highly entertaining game suitable for absolutely everyone. Delivering all the fun, feel-good vibes, Nintendo is known for starring one of its most iconic plumbers.
The Green Plumber Returns
The plot of Luigi’s Mansion 2 contains all the humour and charm you may expect from a Nintendo title. King Boo, a character familiar to Nintendo fans, is up to some mischief. He has destroyed The Dark Moon, scattering its fragments across the land and turning friendly ghosts into mischievous terrors. Professor E. Gadd, the eccentric scientist from the first game, once again summons Luigi to save the day.
Welding the Poltergust 5000, a special ghost-catching vacuum cleaner, Luigi must explore multiple mansions, catching ghosts and collecting the Dark Moon fragments. The premise of the game may seem spooky and scary, but I can assure you the only person that’s going to get scared is Luigi in this game. This is a game dripping with humour and easy-to-understand dialogue. This is Nintendo at the top of their family-friendly game.
Clean up the Ghosts
The gameplay is a clever blend of exploration and puzzle-solving. Unlike the first and third games in the series, Luigis Mansion 2 opts for a mission-based approach to its design. This stems from its handheld routes, allowing the player to progress through the game in manageable bite-size chunks. Since the Nintendo Switch is a handheld, its design still fits the new platform.
Most missions involve exploring a new location, looking for a specific item, and catching several ghosts in the process. A handy mini-map, which originally was present on the second screen of the 3DS, is now located at the top right of the screen to point you in the right direction.
Luigi’s main tools to get the job done are a flashlight and vacuum cleaner. The flashlight can be charged and sparked to stun ghosts giving you an opening to begin sucking them up with the vacuum. Once you start this process, you want to pull against the ghost, much like a fishing rod draining its stamina, and then press a button to catch them finally. If you’re quick with the flashlight, you can stun multiple ghosts at once. A secondary function also allows you to reveal secrets in the environment.
Ghosts come in a wide variety of types, each of which requires careful observation to find the right opening to stun. The process of catching ghosts felt simple but a lot of fun, no matter how many times I did it during a level. Controls are easy to get to grips with in the game, providing simple tutorials for new players. Playing through this game felt like going on a spooky easter egg hunt. I was never quite sure what I was going to find each time I entered the mansion, but I always felt driven to press on and discover more.
Explore and Puzzle
Your tools are not just put to use on the ghosts but also on the environment. Although your move set is quite small, you need to make clever use of it to solve environmental puzzles and get the better of the boss fights. An example of this includes sucking a bucket up, then filling it with water and using it on a pressure pad to unlock a hidden area. It’s an approach to puzzle solving that doesn’t hold the player by the hand, leading to quite the rewarding feeling when you finally figure it out.
The slight downfall to this design is that once you know the solution, it reduces the appeal to replay. Luigi’s Mansion 2 does, however, attempt to address this by adding extra missions, such as finding hidden gems and ghosts in each level. You can also vacuum up a heap of money, which is used to upgrade your abilities gradually throughout the game. When you complete a level, you are also given a score based on performance and given an incentive to replay and better it. If that’s not enough, there is even a multiplayer mode.
Multiplayer
In addition to the single-player game, you can play up to 4-player co-op mode locally (provided each player has a copy of the game) or online with friends and random players. Sadly, there is no split screen. The goal of the multiplayer is to work together with other players, catching ghosts and progressing through multiple floors of a building known as Scarescraper.
You can select difficulty and how many floors you wish to explore depending on how long you want to spend playing the game. You can also choose between three game modes, two focusing on ghost catching and a third looking for a cheeky ghost dog. I tested out the online mode with random players and found it to be a lot of fun. The co-op gameplay lends itself to a friendly experience, with the only competition being who can catch the most ghosts. Communication is also delivered by small emotes on the D-pad.
Graphics
Graphically, this is a typical hallmark Nintendo title, and I mean that in a good way. Characters, including the ghosts themselves, have this charming, colourful, family-friendly feel to them, much like a beloved CGI animated film. There are 5 key mansions to explore, each with its own theme and personality. The new HD look makes this an incredible upgrade for a game that was squashed previously onto a much smaller 3DS screen. The 3D depth feature may not be present anymore, but it’s likely only dedicated 3DS fans will miss. Performance was excellent in TV and handheld modes.
Additions From 3DS
The big question for some players is what’s new compared to the 3DS entry. Well, this really is a good-looking port of the portable game. The main additions are the upgraded graphics, and you now have the use of a second analogue stick for the controls, which is very useful. Other than that, it appears the changes are just smaller quality-of-life improvements. For the price of entry, you have a large campaign with 5 mansions to explore and multiple missions, and then there is the multiplayer to add even extra legs. It’s a good package but not a lot new from the previous 3DS version.
Conclusion: Spooktacular
Ghost catching never felt so good in a spooky yet positive experience. It’s a combination of two themes only Nintendo can seem to pull off. If you have never had the chance to play Luigi’s Mansion 2, then this is the best way to experience the game. There may not be a lot of incentive for players who invested heavily in the 3DS version of the game to return. However, I was left smiling from ear to ear through much of my playthrough playing Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. If your world is feeling a little dark these days, then maybe Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD will shine a light on your day for a few gaming sessions at a time.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot
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I find it hard to understand why Luigi’s Mansion 2 is so underrated. I’ve been trying to decide whether to purchase this, but due to having a backlog of games to play, I think I will leave it, mainly due to the fact I’ve played it before and there are other games I need to play. I can however recommend this game to anyone who hasn’t played it before.