Ghosts aren’t all the dangers that Luigi has to contend with in Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. He also encounter vicious plants and bombs. (Nintendo/TNS)
Everything old is new again in gaming. The industry has caught on to the idea that modernizing classics for contemporary tastes makes money. With these fresh takes on classics, developers upgrade the visuals and fine-tune the gameplay. Levels are reworked and that’s often done in service of improving the storytelling.
Capcom has mastered the art of revamping old titles (See the Resident Evil series), but that doesn’t mean it’s the only company that has had success. Nintendo does the same thing albeit with a lighter touch. The venerable video game company splashes new coats of paint on their remakes, upgrading the visuals, but Nintendo mostly leaves the gameplay and level designs to speak for themselves. It’s a testament to their games’ keen sense of fun.
The publisher did this with The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening and the recent Mario vs. Donkey Kong. Now, Nintendo is giving Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon the same treatment and labeling it Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, a nod to its Japanese titles. The project originally launched on the Nintendo 3DS and it was a great game that had flaws tied to the hardware limitations.
With the enhanced entry’s arrival on the Nintendo Switch, the game benefits from a more powerful system and better control scheme. Both of these factors shore up some of the original’s weaknesses. Although Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon took advantage of the portable console’s 3-D gimmicks, it had more ambition than the small screen could handle. It’s a game that feels more at home on a bigger screen with a Nintendo Switch Pro controller in hand.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD updates the visuals and some control issues of its previous iterations on the Nintendo 3DS. (Nintendo/TNS)
Gearing up to capture ghosts
The sequel again finds Mario’s little brother teaming up with the eccentric Professor E. Gadd. A mysterious entity has broken the Dark Moon into several pieces, and the once friendly ghosts in Evershade Valley have run amok. E. Gadd tasks Luigi to resolve the crisis. In the first mission, he’s tasked with acquiring his main weapon — the Poltergust 5000. It’s essentially a powerful vacuum that sucks in ghosts. It’s reminiscent of how Ghostbusters capture creepy crawlies with proton packs.
From there, Luigi acquires two other useful tools: the Strobulb and the Dark Light Device. The Strobulb stuns ghosts so that the Poltergust can suck them up. It also activates some of E. Gadd’s locked doors and other gadgets. Meanwhile, the Dark Light Device reveals objects hidden by Boos. If players get stuck, it’s usually because they need to cast a Dark Light on a concealed area.
Five locales, many ghosts
The Poltergust 5000 is mainly how players interact with the Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD’s five locales. It captures ghosts, but it can also suck down curtains or unfurl carpets to uncover secrets. Players can also reverse the function and blow objects that Luigi picks up at targets.
Although these tools have simple interactions, the developer, Next Level Games, layers them together to create complex puzzles and delightful battles through the campaign’s 34 missions. Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is more than just hunting ghosts from room to room, but the team blends puzzles and secrets that test how players read a level and find solutions for the obstacles.
In the first three mansions, the level design is basic and the developers ease players into the action. They’ll tug on levers to find secret switches or find ways to set path-blocking cobwebs ablaze. The campaign grows more difficult as players face bombs that activate when hit with Strobulb or they’ll find more subtle scenarios that require experimentation and problem-solving.
Next Level Games adds little flourishes to break up the levels. Luigi sometimes slides down to another part of level or he’ll come across a situation that needs him to use the blower mode on the Poltergust to form a makeshift balloon so that he can travel to another part of a concert hall. These little wrinkles are smart but don’t always work.
The balance beam scenarios that force players to carefully walk across a narrow path is the most frustrating part of the game. Part of the reason is that Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD uses motion controls as a default. Tilting the controller up or down allows Luigi to aim the Poltergust up high or down low. It’s a decent way to solve the awkward aiming issues in the game. Unfortunately, when the motion controls are used anywhere else like crossing a chasm, it’s an awful experience. Thankfully, that can be turned off and the balance beam obstacles are easier but still annoying.
The other issue with Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is that the jumps in difficult between the fourth and fifth worlds. Ghosts become harder to take down, so players need to work on their skills or they can replay old levels to gather treasure that allow E. Gadd to upgrade Luigi’s equipment.
Those lingering flaws don’t ruin the experience. In fact, the Switch hardware makes Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD easier to play than the original version. It’s a remake that opens up the game to a new generation of players who may not have a Nintendo 3DS but still want to play a smart classic.
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Online: tinyurl.com/yadensmn
