4/5 ★ – isolate_connect's review of Luigi's Mansion.

Fire up either the Ganecube or 3DS Luigi’s Mansion and the first thing that will hit you is the charm. Professor E Gadd, the ghosts, Luigi, and the Mansion work together to create an amusement park like environment that is fun to explore. I played two and three before I played the first and Although the sequels control slightly better, I found myself enjoying the design choice of exploring one mansion rather than multiple in 2, or the hotel in 3. The one mansion has more character, and the ghosts that inhabit it are more of a cohesive cast of characters. It’s hard not to think about Ghostbusters and Disneyworld’s The Haunted Mansion theme park ride while playing the game. Those are surely touchstones for the game, but Luigi’s Mansion manages to carve out its own space mostly because of Luigi. His scaredy-cat persona is hilarious to control. There is a Mario button, where you can call out for Mario in a shaky, uneven voice. It’s funny. Because you can move Luigi in 3D space but all of the environments are static, the game’s controls feel a bit outdated. I’ve struggled in all three games to aim well, and I always feel like I should be hitting a ghost with my vacuum when I miss. It’s a little frustrating. People dogged on Luigi’s Mansion when it was released for what it wasn’t. But it is a unique adventure game with light puzzle elements that is engaging and fun for its 8 to 10 hour runtime.