If you’ve played any previous games in the series, you’re probably wondering about how the controls fare. I would say they work pretty well, with some provisos. It’s easy enough to use one Joy-Con to move my flashlight around and move Luigi with the other. It’s also easy to use the shoulder buttons to suck things up or blow them out. The problems come with how many moves are mapped to a single Joy-Con. To use the Dark-Light, you have to hold X while also using that stick to move it around. If that sounds difficult, that’s because it really was. The same problem happens when I needed to hold the Strobulb with A to unleash a massive flash of light. Neither of these would be as problematic if it didn’t require holding a button and then moving the stick on the same Joy-Con simultaneously. This is also exacerbated by accidentally summoning Gooigi, which is done with a single press of the right stick, and often happened when I was just trying to aim. While I did eventually find a Dark-Light workaround, which was moving Luigi side to side while training the Dark-Light in front of me in a crab-like manner, it was far from comfortable. Only much later did I discover there’s an alternate setup, which is holding L and R and then moving the right stick around to maneuver the beam. Problem was, the game never told me this, and I only found out due to a fellow gamer informing me. I really, really think Luigi’s Mansion 3 should have allowed the remapping of buttons to the other Joy-Con, which would have easily solved many of these problems. Cause while these weren’t enough to make me hate the game, it did turn what could have been a perfect experience into a one that was less enthralling.
Though I managed to beat the game in a little over 12 hours, there’s a ton of replay value here if you want it. Each floor of the Last Resort has 6 deviously well-hidden Gems, and there’s also tons of vindictive Boos hidden in dark corners. The latter are always tricky to find, though I liked how the vibration feature of the Switch was cleverly used to indicate how close you are to them. There’s also something called Rare Ghosts, which can only be found in the multiplayer mode, though I was unable to find a single one. Because the game kept pushing me forward, I didn’t focus on many of these optional searches, which is probably why I got rewarded with a measly C when I beat the game. I’m glad optional items are there to offer incentive to play longer, though I don’t believe they gate anything truly important behind them. I was under the misconception that after beating the game you couldn’t return to that file and keep hunting, since when you go up to fight King Boo, the game indicated I had reached the point of no return. Considering the game only autosaves, I worried that meant I had to start a new file first, which I did. Thankfully, my friend pointed out that even though Luigi’s Mansion 3 autosaves, it uses multiple autosaves, so you’ll always have the option to go back and play from a different slot, even after you’ve beaten the game. Having said that, I’m still confused by E. Gadd’s Gallery having an empty spot where a boss ghost should be somewhere in the middle.
I rarely cover multiplayer when I review a game, but given how much Nintendo pushed it for Luigi’s Mansion 3, I felt obligated. Me and a friend tackled the Scare Scraper, since it allowed us to play without both using the same system, unlike Scream Park. Quite frankly, I was very disappointed by the multiplayer. In theory, it sounded fun to wander about, teaming up with a buddy and hunting ghosts. In execution, it was a garbled mess. For one thing, multiplayer doesn’t actually encourage you to play cooperatively. Every time I wandered into a room, the door instantly shut on my partner, forcing me to stop the ghosts solo. You’re also encouraged to split up so you can solve each floor’s mission in the small amount of time allotted. Even though you can grab some more time, you’ll never have enough to lounge around for more than a few seconds, and even with my partner constantly grabbing clocks, we ran out the timer more than once. Each floor seems to have a different mission. The first one was a simple clear all the ghosts in time, whereas the second involved finding and bringing a group of Toads to a safe haven. That mission was royally screwed up because I didn’t realize where to take the Toad, and thought I had safely deposited him, only to have him follow me into another room and get captured by those bastard purple ghosts. When you throw in other features like carpet traps that wrap you up and prevent you from leaving for up to half a minute, and which can oddly only be freed by your partner, you start to see why we didn’t much enjoy Scare Scraper. Thankfully, I almost never play a game focused on the multiplayer, so while I didn’t enjoy it, the experience also didn’t lower my final score any.
Besides the multiplayer, there were other aspects of the game I didn’t feel were as polished as they could have been. One is that sometimes, the controls are more than a bit finicky. I would occasionally try and suck up a drape, and try getting far enough to rip it off, and not have the right angle to do so. Other times, aiming and firing either plungers or grabbed items with precision was a serious hurdle, especially during tense battles. I also didn’t like how the camera would go farther away from you whenever you summoned Gooigi, making it harder to make out precise details on screen. And while this last one isn’t a serious problem per se, it is worth noting. Despite how much larger the Last Resort is than previous locales in the series, it felt both too short and too long simultaneously. Maybe that was due to the linear focus of the game, but even Dark Moon somehow felt more substantial to me. Perhaps I was just hoping for more freedom to explore like in the original Luigi’s Mansion, but I feel fellow fans should be aware of the issue.
Visually, I have zero complaints with the game. Luigi’s Mansion 3 is beautiful, haunting and bursting at the seams with goofy humor. Luigi makes the absolute best faces of terror, and even the ghosts show a wide range of personality. I liked how most every floor had a different style and flavor from any other, even when they made absolutely zero sense, such as a pirate ship or pyramid inside a hotel. There’s some really cool environments on display, though one of my all time favorites is the Garden Suites, which involves a giant stalk growing out of control at the hands of a demented gardener. The game also uses color really well, despite the general dark hues the game utilizes, and I never was bored stylistically. And as I stated earlier, the bosses are all great, and have wonderful designs that distinguish them all. Musically, the game is also top notch. There’s not a lot of music tracks, but they all do a good job of keeping you invested and setting the sinister and playful mood. Special shout out to Luigi’s many yells of terror, the startled shrieks of captured ghosts as well as the indescribable noise that Gooigi makes every time he’s summoned, including his trademark “bye bye” when you retrieve him into your tank. And perhaps best of all is the gibberish sounds each character makes while talking, from the chipmunk ramblings of E. Gadd to the screeching metal laughter of King Boo. As far as design goes, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is of the highest caliber.
In the end, I did still have a great time with Luigi’s Mansion 3, despite the quirks I ran into. Sure it’s not perfect, but fans of the series should be happy, and you still get a lot of game for $59.99. I’m happy this is a Switch exclusive, since it has that trademark Nintendo magic. While I would like it if the overall experience was a bit more polished, I still had a lot of fun exploring the Last Resort. Also, Polterpup and E. Gadd are now some of my favorite Nintendo characters. The puppy is easily the MVP of the entire game, an adorable rescue animal to help the constantly flustered plumber. And E. Gadd is delightfully strange and just twisted enough that I kind of want him to become a villain in the next game. Overall, I’d say this one is worth the price of admission. Here’s hoping it’s not the last haunted adventure of Luigi and company.
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| Overall |   |
Review Copy Purchased by Author
