Dear Luigi’s Mansion fans – we finally got to play Luigi’s Mansion 3 last week at E3 and we are happy to say that we quite a lot of positive impressions to say in regards to the long-anticipated console entry sequel to one of the most original games of all time. Luigi’s Mansion 3 is coming out sometime later this year and by that notion that means it took Nintendo 18 years to release another mainline entry to a Nintendo home console. The last Luigi’s Mansion game was released in 2013 on the Nintendo 3Ds titled Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon which is known as Luigi’s Mansion 2 and it never came out on a Nintendo home console.
We’ve spent a solid 20 minutes playing Luigi’s Mansion 3 last week at E3 and its time that we have given our personal impressions of what we think of the game and how the sequel is shaping up to be and let me tell you right now that so far it’s terrifyingly fun and yes I mean that in a positive way. Let’s jump in into the details.
If you’ve played a Luigi’s Mansion game before then you obviously already know the drill and if you haven’t well basically the idea of the game is for Luigi to clean up the mansion of evil spirits and put them back into portraits where they belong. The last 2 games actually did take place in his own mansion that Luigi won in a contest, the only issue was that King Boo freed the ghosts from their portraits and the ghosts started roaming free. Luigi’s Mansion 3 actually takes place in a haunted hotel this time around instead of an actual mansion. Obviously the name was kept the same for consistency purposes and ease of understanding that this is indeed a sequel to the franchise.
Luigi Mansion 3 first and foremost looks and runs beautiful on the Nintendo Switch hardware. It keeps the same art-style, classic animations, music and sounds that are near and dear to the franchise. The demo ran quite smoothly at 60 FPS with some occasional dip here and there, but for the most part it was quite solid and you also have to take in consider that the game is still a few months out and it is a demo build that was put up for purposes of E3. It’s very nice to see Luigi getting another mainline game on a Nintendo home system, because it means that the developers will take full advantage of the hardware at their disposal.
As far as the gameplay goes, Luigi’s Mansion 3 has a few new tricks up its sleeve. One of those new mechanics is the ability to swing ghosts around once you have sucked them in by tapping the A button and pushing the analog stick the opposite direction of where the ghost is. It creates a really interesting interactive effect between the player and the ghost that makes the game feel engaging and fun. I really enjoyed this mechanic, because now its more than just sucking in a ghost and calling it a day. It’s a small addition, but it actually adds just enough depth to where it feels good and more interactive then ever before.
Another new mechanic that Nintendo has added is the ability to split into another Luigi in a gooey type form. The gooey Luigi is able to get past sharp obstacles such as spikes and he is also able to interact with the environment such as levers, buttons and things like that. In the demo there were a couple of puzzles that required the use of Luigi’s second form in order to progress throughout the rooms and get to the next area. For example, in one of the earlier puzzles I had to split into gooey Luigi to get past a platform with spikes on it that were blocking the path to a lever that opens up a door. And another puzzle where I had to figure out how to properly use gooey Luigi to get the real Luigi down into the basement floor using an elevator and a pulley system using two different forms at once and interchanging when needed.
One last mechanic that the demo was also introduced was the ability to shoot out a plunger from the vacuum that sticks to certain objects. Once the plunger has been stuck, you can then use the vacuum to suck the plunger and pull of certain objects of surfaces or find hidden secrets. The plunger can also be used for certain ghosts. Ghosts that usually carry some sort of a shield with them that protects them from your flashlight. You use the plunger to pull the shields away, then light them up to scare the ghosts and suck them up and slam them repeatedly on the ground until they perish.
All of these new mechanics add a lot more variety to the game than any other Luigi’s Mansion game ever did. The puzzles do not feel annoying or pointless. Instead, they make the gameplay feel fun, engaging and of course they actually force you to use your brain instead of just running around from room to room until the end of the game. The plunger also creates new and engaging combat scenarios that we have never seen before in any of the previous titles.
At the end of the demo Luigi had to face a ghost boss in a gladiator arena. The representative told us that we won’t be seeing this boss in the final game and that all of this was specifically made for demo purposes and that there are no spoilers. Unless, the representative was wrong or misinformed in any shape or form we take her word for it and give her the benefit of the doubt. With that being said, the ghost is sitting on a horse and every so often the boss will try to charge you. For the first phase Luigi had to point his flashlight at him when he gets close right before he slams into you. You can then suck out some of the ghost’s life out and rince and repeat until the next phase. In his second phase the ghost carried a shield with him, so this time around Luigi had to use his plunger to be able to take the shield away, light up the ghost and hurt him. The boss fight took roughly 3 or 4 minutes the first time I fought him. A few minutes to figure out the mechanics and of course the other few minutes to actually do the fight properly and finish him off.
Overall, our experience with Luigi’s Mansion 3 was quite fun and it definitely brought me back to the old good days of the Gamecube era. If you are looking forward to the next Luigi’s Mansion game or are looking to get into the series then I’d highly recommend you keep your eyes peeled for Luigi’s Mansion 3. Our only complaint during the demo time were the controls. The game now has a lot more functions and with the addition of new mechanics, the controls can get a bit confusing. We’re hoping that Nintendo polish up some of the control schemes and find a way to make the experience more smooth and less confusing.
For now, we’re going to continue be frightened by the ghosts and keep waiting in our brightly lit rooms until Luigi’s Mansion 3 launches sometime later this year. Stay tuned for our full review and game guides for Luigi’s Mansion 3 at Gaming Instincts.
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Which was showcased at E3 2003.