Luigis Mansion 1: Step Forward and 2: Steps Back?


It’s spooky how fast time flies. The original Luigi’s Mansion appeared as a launch title for the Nintendo GameCube (two console generations ago now) and so, rather short-sightedly, I had stopped actively yearning for and expecting a sequel. Once I was aware that one had indeed been released at long last, it played a large part in me pulling the trigger on buying a 3DS.
I’m not sure which of the following factors chiefly contributed to this feeling but the sequel left me with an overall sense of disappointment, despite having had a lot of fun actually playing the game.
In an effort to better understand why this was the case I’m going to take a quick look at both of the games in this scribbling.

The first Luigi’s Mansion scared me. A lot. While playing through the 3DS sequel I was acutely aware of how much less frightening I was finding the experience. I initially dismissed this as simply the result of me being older and perhaps less susceptible to being scared by entertainment but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that there are one or two further reasons aside from just that.
Firstly, the soundtrack in the sequel is vastly inferior both in terms of the atmosphere it creates and in general overall quality. I’m probably totally off on this but for me the musical philosophy of the original’s soundtrack seemed to be ‘take the lurching, chomping piano from the ghost level of Super Mario 64 and infuse it with some actual musicality.’ A lot of parts of the first game’s soundtrack set my nerves on edge with ease, especially the sections of the game with the baby, occasionally sounding like someone picking a particularly aggressive fight with said piano.
While playing 2, I was dismayed to find that the level music was simply repeated with not much satisfying variation going on at all. It was just plain lazy. Merely switching to a xylophone or whatever for a snow level does not cut it for me, I’m afraid (and not in the good way), especially given Nintendo’s storied history of excellent soundtracks. Strike 1.

The other element I feel leaves the game lacking is the absence of formerly-alive human ghosts. The original game featured a lot of ghosts with a clearly human appearance, paired with eerie backstories that added an extra layer of creepiness to their moans as you snuck up to try and capture them.
The bland, cartoony ghost are something that contribute to what feels in the end like a pretty massive tonal shift towards very kid-friendly. Don’t get me wrong though, the original game was perfectly suited to be played by children; I played it as a child and loved it. Perhaps the term ‘kid-friendly’ would be best substituted with ‘watered-down.’ I don’t understand why they chose to do that, for me level of horror in the first game was perfect. Strike 2.

Fortunately for the sequel, to me, there’s no third strike and frustratingly besides those major (to me) elements making the game less scary overall, I found it totally fantastic.

The animations they made for Luigi were absolutely astounding, leagues ahead what they’d done for Luigi’s Mansion in terms of how fluid they were. His little pot-belly was like a character in and of itself, jiggling franticly when Luigi did a little run. The whole game, in fact looks totally stunning. The only criticism I have from a visual standpoint ties into my last point about the games lacking horror.
The lack of darkness. In the first game, before a room was clear of ghosts you would be in there in almost pitch black dark, the only thing illuminating your surroundings being the torch, casting creepy shadows all over the place.
The enhanced animations were coupled with a stellar vocal performance from Charles Martinet, probably the best Luigi performance he’s turned in so far. I’ve heard it said and I very much agree with it that Luigi is a more interesting character with more personality than Mario. I don’t buy the excuse that a silent character can’t portray as much emotion or personality (Mario and Luigi aren’t totally silent anyway, but close enough) when we have countless examples to the contrary. Just look at Gromit from Wallace and Gromit.

In terms of gameplay where the developers really did themselves proud were the additions to the gadgets at Luigi’s disposal. They were pretty much all great, in particular the ability to suck up weird rubber condom plants and inflate them in order to float. This raises questions about why you would have helium in your hoover or condom flora but it’s a videogame, I’ll let it go.

The level design was also spectacular, with a lot of sections exhibiting just the right balance of having to think about how to advance but not being so tricky as to force me to put the game down for a while or (SHUDDER) look up a walkthrough. The boss battles were also usually pretty cleverly designed.
Ultimately, the sequel has a lot more pros than cons but just managed to miss hitting all the expectations a long-awaited sequel inevitably generates. I’m a little disgruntled that I never had the chance to say that this game sucks and blows at the same time but that’s the way things are. Curse you game for being really good.

Does Luigi's Mansion 2 compare well with the original to you? Let us know in the comments below!

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