What parents need to know
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is a high-definition remake of the game of the same name released in 2013 for the 3DS. We find exactly the same adventure, but this time with textures and graphics in high definition.
When a mysterious ghost appears and shatters the black moon that overlooks the Valley of Shadows, the ghosts working in Professor K. Tastroff’s lab lose their minds. The inventor of the Poltergust-5000, a ghost vacuum cleaner, then calls on Luigi again to help him restore order to the valley of shadows.
Since the adventure was originally designed for a smaller, less powerful handheld console that is usually played in shorter sessions, the large mansion that was explored in the first installment of the franchise has been swapped for 5 smaller areas, which are themselves subdivided into levels (usually 5 chapters, plus a boss encounter and a secret level unlocked if the player flushes out all the Boo in the previous levels).
If we know Luigi as the number 2 player in Mario’s platform games, here, Luigi doesn’t jump. Action and somersaults give way to exploration and horror. Luigi must explore the rooms of the mansions that come his way and solve the puzzles that block his progress.
The puzzles make clever use of our limited arsenal, consisting of the Poltergust, a flashlight that stuns ghosts, and the Spectroflash, a special lamp that reveals objects hidden by ghost illusions.
For example, in a room, air must be expelled on the ceiling fan, which then acts as a crank and pushes back a section of wall, creating a path to a previously inaccessible room.
Of course, you also have to face the ghosts. Once they are caught in the jet of our vacuum cleaner, we have to shoot in the opposite direction of the spectrum that it is struggling, until the numerical indicator that appears next to the ghost’s head reaches zero. The enemy is then trapped in our vacuum cleaner and defeated.
As the adventure progresses, some ghosts learn to protect themselves from our assaults, and it takes strategy and ingenuity to defeat them… but we’ll let you discover that for yourself!
The game was provided for review purposes by the publisher. It does not influence our opinion.
Details
Level of experience required
| Age | 3+ | 7+ | 12+ | 16+ | 18+ |
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Evaluation
The game has horror themes and could be slightly scary to the youngest, but in the end, the tone remains good-natured, and the ghosts are more naughty than evil. We see them doing more bad things than being really scary. There is no blood or graphic violence.
Nothing to note.
As the game has no voice (apart from a few wobbly “Mama Mia!” from Luigi), you have to know how to read a minimum to be able to understand the story and the objectives given to you. However, the level of vocabulary remains accessible.
Luigi overcomes his fears to help K. Tastroff and save his brother Mario. Once the positive influence of the Black Moon is restored, the ghosts instantly become friends of our protagonists again.
The controls are quite simple. The handling of the vacuum cleaner jet can sometimes be a bit capricious, but the game takes this into account and is all in all very forgiving.
We appreciate that there are no aggressive monetization practices in Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, but we maintain that the base price is far too high for what’s on offer.
Local game modes
The main activity is the single-player story mode. Once the player has unlocked Luigi’s three pieces of equipment (the Poltergust-5000, the flashlight and the Spectroflash), the Haunted Tower, a multiplayer mode offering 3 mini-games, is added.
Online Game Modes
Haunted Tower can be played online.
Expansions/Add-ons (DLC)
No extension announced.
Our opinion
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is a successful game. The formula of the Luigi’s Mansion franchise has proven itself, and the sauce is taking off once again. On the other hand, it is difficult to recommend this episode, for two major reasons.
The first reason for our reluctance comes from the design of the game itself. We understand the desire to divide the large mansion of Luigi’s Mansion 1 (and the imposing hotel of Luigi’s Mansion 3) into 5 separate mansions of smaller scale for this episode originally intended for the 3DS.
But the Switch isn’t just a handheld console, it’s also a home console, and that compartmentalized design isn’t as suitable for long gaming sessions. Since each chapter is subdivided into several levels, we are constantly forcibly brought back to K. Tastroff’s laboratory, which breaks the rhythm of the adventure a lot.
We also often go back to the same rooms, often with minor changes. One of the pleasures of the Luigi’s Mansion franchise is exploring a large environment and seeing it gradually open up as we progress. Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD’s tiered design breaks that magic.
But we would forget this mistake if the price of the title were more reasonable. However, Nintendo has chosen to ask for $79.99 for this title. Luigi’s Mansion 3, which in our opinion is far superior to this second installment even though it was released in 2019, is frequently discounted to $54.99.
Worse still, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD doesn’t feature any major additions to Luigi’s Mansion 2 released on 3D outside of the graphics update. However, just a few years ago, Nintendo offered Luigi’s Mansion 2: Dark Moon in its Nintendo Selects range for $29.99 CAD (€19.99). Does this graphical update justify a $50 increase? In our view, no.
