Luigi's Mansion 2

[Serebii]

Been playing some online on this, great fun!

[Grazza]

I've done the 3rd "Mansion" now, which I didn't enjoy much. I didn't like the tone and found it a bit laborious. The 3rd boss felt like they'd tried too hard to fit it to the theme, and not worried whether it was fun in its own right. A case of over-polishing, perhaps? Too long a development time?

 

The 4th Mansion does seem better though.

 

I don't know, this game just seems a bit strange to me. It's wonderfully polished, is full of wit, has fantastic graphics... and yet it just feels like hard work a lot of the time.

[Ronnie]

I wasn't so keen on the third one either, felt a bit off somehow. The fourth is better, though its boss is ridiculously bad.

[f00had]

I finished the story last night, all I can say is that I love the Toads in this game

 

Now to try and find all the Boos and gems

[flameboy]

I've done the 3rd "Mansion" now, which I didn't enjoy much. I didn't like the tone and found it a bit laborious. The 3rd boss felt like they'd tried too hard to fit it to the theme, and not worried whether it was fun in its own right. A case of over-polishing, perhaps? Too long a development time?

 

The 4th Mansion does seem better though.

 

I don't know, this game just seems a bit strange to me. It's wonderfully polished, is full of wit, has fantastic graphics... and yet it jt feels like hard work a lot of the time.

 

I do agree somewhat and think it comes down to the somewhat repetitive nature.You have to find something (be it a key, 3 pieces of something) that then is taken away and you have to work to get it back.

[Haden]

Been playing some online on this, great fun!

 

What sort of times do you play? Would be good to get a group of us playing.

 

Really been enjoying this game, I am on to the 4th mansion. Love the sense of exploration and each room, one of my fave 3ds games so far

 

Has made me laught out loud on more than one occasion great sense of character.

[Happenstance]

Finished the first Mansion earlier. I'm liking the game but I wish it wasnt split into missions, not enjoying the stopping and starting.

[V. Amoleo]

@Ike @londragon

 

The Luigi's Mansion 2 survey on Club Nintendo is now working.

[flameboy]

Finished the story today. Really enjoyed the game I certainly felt they upped in the ante in terms of scope here and the new ways of working in elements and new uses for hoover really were something else.

 

There were certain niggles I had mostly musically themed lol

[Ronnie]

Someone please tell me there are more than 4 levels in the 5th mansion. I was disappointed they cut the 4th one short, but only 3 levels before the boss battle?? I assume there's a final battle after it, but still, for such a huge mansion 3 regular missions is poor.

[Grazza]

Someone please tell me there are more than 4 levels in the 5th mansion. I was disappointed they cut the 4th one short, but only 3 levels before the boss battle?? I assume there's a final battle after it, but still, for such a huge mansion 3 regular missions is poor.

 

Yes, there are more than four.

 

Six

 

 

Is that a good thing though?

[Ronnie]

Finished the game, loved it. Fun final battle though I expected it a little more twisted and freakier. Nintendo are the masters at ending cutscenes.

 

My only real issue with the game is I think the lighting looked a little flat. This was obvious when there was (rare) lightning and the scenes briefly looked stunning and infinitely moodier.

 

Oh and there should have been more upgrades. Surprising number of bugs too for a Nintendo game. But all in all, fantastic

[Haden]

Does anyone play this online? Would love to get a group together one night.

 

I am up to the 5th mansion, I enjoyed the 4th mansion and boss a lot thought the 4th mansion had tons of atmosphere.

 

I quite like the pacing of this game, it has made me laugh and think quite a few times which is rare for games nowadays.

[RedShell]

I've made some more progress on this game now (at last!), seeing as my MH addiction is waning a bit.

Up to the 3rd mansion now.

 

So much humour, it really is great. And the majority of it comes simply from the fantastic character movement and reactions, the animation in this game is just superb.

There are clearly some legendary animators working at Next Level Games, I remember being blown away by the quality of the animation in Punch-Out!! too. :awesome:

[Fused King]

Does anyone play this online? Would love to get a group together one night.

 

I am up to the 5th mansion, I enjoyed the 4th mansion and boss a lot thought the 4th mansion had tons of atmosphere.

 

I quite like the pacing of this game, it has made me laugh and think quite a few times which is rare for games nowadays.

 

I would also like to do 25 stages on Expert mode with fellow N-Europers sometimes.

[Grazza]

Finally finished this. The 5th Mansion's boss was much better than the "middle" few bosses, and generally it was an exciting end to the game.

 

Overall, I thought it was an experience of two halves. The presentation was pure Nintendo magic - the dialogue was hilarious at times and the story was utterly charming. It was immersive, atmospheric and, as people have said, it has brilliant animation.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't find the gameplay side of things as satisfying. I just never quite understood what the gameplay "hook" was meant to be. You have a variety of tools (Poltergust, Torch, Dark-Light) and for most of the game you are just trying them out in different rooms. Sometimes this is logical, such as when you have to blow a window closed to stop the draught, but more often than not you just have to press every button in every area. This applies most of all to the Dark-Light (but also to the sucking action of the Poltergust). Although some invisible objects are logical (in that something should be there), it is also true that anything could be anywhere, and as such you pretty much have to flash the Dark-Light in every space you see!

 

The mission structure is another negative point. Whereas Metroid uses save points and in most Zeldas you can save at any time, at least both series let you save your progress in one way or another. In Luigi's Mansion 2 you could have spent ages on a mission, inadvertently finding loads of Gems, and yet if you can't work out how to finish the task (some of them can be baffling), you'll have wasted your time. Arguably, it would have been better if you could just explore each Mansion at your leisure, completing more and more of it until you've unlocked the boss.

 

There are also a few difficulty spikes, such as Mission E-5. This could be very frustrating if you make a mistake, which isn't hard, as it's very difficult to avoid attacks when you're busy capturing a ghost.

 

So, not a terrible game, but not a brilliant one either, in my opinion. It's exciting on occasion, but never addictive, and arguably lacking fun gameplay hooks. A nice game in many ways, but definitely not in my 3DS Top 5.

[flameboy]

Finally finished this. The 5th Mansion's boss was much better than the "middle" few bosses, and generally it was an exciting end to the game.

 

Overall, I thought it was an experience of two halves. The presentation was pure Nintendo magic - the dialogue was hilarious at times and the story was utterly charming. It was immersive, atmospheric and, as people have said, it has brilliant animation.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't find the gameplay side of things as satisfying. I just never quite understood what the gameplay "hook" was meant to be. You have a variety of tools (Poltergust, Torch, Dark-Light) and for most of the game you are just trying them out in different rooms. Sometimes this is logical, such as when you have to blow a window closed to stop the draught, but more often than not you just have to press every button in every area. This applies most of all to the Dark-Light (but also to the sucking action of the Poltergust). Although some invisible objects are logical (in that something should be there), it is also true that anything could be anywhere, and as such you pretty much have to flash the Dark-Light in every space you see!

 

The mission structure is another negative point. Whereas Metroid uses save points and in most Zeldas you can save at any time, at least both series let you save your progress in one way or another. In Luigi's Mansion 2 you could have spent ages on a mission, inadvertently finding loads of Gems, and yet if you can't work out how to finish the task (some of them can be baffling), you'll have wasted your time. Arguably, it would have been better if you could just explore each Mansion at your leisure, completing more and more of it until you've unlocked the boss.

 

There are also a few difficulty spikes, such as Mission E-5. This could be very frustrating if you make a mistake, which isn't hard, as it's very difficult to avoid attacks when you're busy capturing a ghost.

 

So, not a terrible game, but not a brilliant one either, in my opinion. It's exciting on occasion, but never addictive, and arguably lacking fun gameplay hooks. A nice game in many ways, but definitely not in my 3DS Top 5.

 

Couldn't disagree more! The only thing I really agree with is the difficulty spike and the sometimes intrusive mission structure. Also still think the best boss was the very first one.

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

Finally picked me up a copy of this, give myself a well deserved break from Monster Hunter! (on 3DS at least) Looking forward to getting stuck into the single player, however are there many of you playing online at all? Once I get to grips with it would be up for some bustin through the various multiplayer modes!

[Blade]

Finally picked me up a copy of this, give myself a well deserved break from Monster Hunter! (on 3DS at least) Looking forward to getting stuck into the single player, however are there many of you playing online at all? Once I get to grips with it would be up for some bustin through the various multiplayer modes!

 

Id be up for playing online.

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

Id be up for playing online.

 

Haha is there voice chat? Been a highlight from the first time we played MH online having a lark about and laughing, lets make it happen on Luigi's too!

Be keen to get a few games in, give me some time to get to grips with the game and will sort out a few sessions!

[Londragon]

No voice chat in luigi's, but I'll be up for online. Depends on when you want it. Keep me in mind.

[Hero-of-Time]

I'm having a real hard time getting into this. I think i'm only mission 1-5 but it's failing to pull me in.

 

The animations are great and visually it looks fantastic for a handheld game. My problem lies within the mission structure. There is far too much going back and forth to see the Prof and it just breaks the momentum up of the game. I can see why they did it, I mean it's a handheld title and a mission structure is probably more suited for being on the move. Of course they could have just made it so you could save at any point which would have fixed this problem.

[RedShell]

I'm having a real hard time getting into this. I think i'm only mission 1-5 but it's failing to pull me in.

 

The animations are great and visually it looks fantastic for a handheld game. My problem lies within the mission structure. There is far too much going back and forth to see the Prof and it just breaks the momentum up of the game. I can see why they did it, I mean it's a handheld title and a mission structure is probably more suited for being on the move. Of course they could have just made it so you could save at any point which would have fixed this problem.

Yeah, I'm up to the 5th mansion now, but I agree about the mission structure.

 

It doesn't really help with the whole handheld/on the move thing either, in fact I think it's less handheld friendly as a result! It's easy to spend quite a lot of time exploring (or getting lost ) in this game, and with no way to save your progress without completing a mission, you're in trouble if you need to stop playing suddenly.

 

I suppose you can just use Sleep Mode in those situations, but a quick save feature would have been nice.

[Magnus]

My favorite local games journalist reviewed this today and gave it 3/5.

 

She kept referring to it as Luigis Manson 2.

[RedShell]

A reference to getting on the hype train for E3, or just coincidence?

 

 

*EDIT*

And game is beat, 14 hours on the clock.

Loved the ending.

Edited April 23, 2013 by RedShell