--Hellen Gravely, Luigi's Mansion 3
Mario's brother Luigi, while not a completely obscure character, does not enjoy the same level of popularity as Mario himself. All the same, the Luigi's Mansion spinoff series has exemplified how Luigi can easily handle being the titular character. The newest addition to the series has Luigi, Mario, and Peach travel to The Last Resort hotel, a massive structure owned by Hellen Gravely. Of course, the stay quickly becomes a perilous one, and Luigi must once again use his ghost-hunting skills to save his brother.
Production Values
As one might expect from a first party Switch game, Luigi's Mansion 3 showcases the system's graphical power very well. The animations are smooth, the colors are vibrant, and the environments are detailed. The lack of spoken dialogue (spoken by voice actors, that is) does not stop the audible grunts and sighs from adding an extra dimension to the characters.
Gameplay
Players control Luigi as he explores The Last Resort, finds elevator buttons that allow access to new floors, and frees his companions from the paintings in which King Boo places them. Periodic ghost bosses test players' ability to adapt to specific patterns, and many of them show up near the end of one's progress through a given floor of the hotel. The variety in these floors is a key factor of the gameplay, as different areas might house different types of puzzles.
Armed with a vacuum device that lets him throw ghosts around and pull them into captivity, Luigi is able to accomplish quite a bit on his own. However, he is not alone: Gooigi, a doppelganger of Luigi made out of goo, can be summoned, controlled, or dismissed at any time past an early point in the story. Gooigi can enter certain rooms that Luigi cannot, squeezing past barriers that any completely solid being could not get past. Some puzzles require that the player use both Luigi and Gooigi (one can alternate back and forth or have two people play the game at once in co-op).
Story
Mild spoilers below!
Upon receiving an invitation from Hellen Gravely to The Last Resort Hotel, Mario, Luigi, Peach, and several Toads set out on a travel adventure. Once they arrive, it quickly becomes apparent that Helen Gravely lured her guests into a trap for King Boo. Luigi is the only visitor (other than his ghost dog) who is not trapped within paintings, and thus he begins to search for his missing friends.
Intellectual Content
Puzzles, exploration, and collectibles are integral parts of the Luigi's Mansion formula, just as they are foundational parts of Nintendo's other major intellectual properties, like Metroid and Zelda. Collectibles are not mandatory, but completionists will find that some of them are concealed in clever ways.
Conclusion
Luigi's Mansion 3 is a Switch exclusive that no Nintendo fan is likely to want to pass up. From the quality of the visuals to the construction of the "levels," its strengths make it one of the best titles on a platform already full of great games. If anything, one of the weakest aspects of this excellent sequel is its relatively short length of around 10-13 hours. Despite its comparative brevity, though, each hour is full of colorful graphics, diverse environments, and clever puzzles. This is a hotel worth visiting!
Content:
1. Violence: Luigi must use suction cups and a device that acts as a spirit vacuum to defeat a multitude of ghosts as he searches through The Last Resort.
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