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'Luigi's Mansion 3' forgoes the whole mansion in its third installment and throws Luigi in the midst of a haunted hotel. This move by the game designers proves to be a brilliant strategy as it allowed them more creative freedom in terms of level design and gameplay. The incentive this time is to explore each floor of the hotel in order to save three Toads, along with Peach and Mario, who have all been encased in paintings buy King Boo.
Each floor has its own theme, which is the biggest factor in keeping not just the franchise but also the game itself from becoming redundant or stale. As the player completes each floor, they attain an elevator button which allows the player access to the next floor. Occasionally, the player will also receive an upgrade to the Poltergeist 3000- the tool that Luigi has used throughout the series to capture ghosts. Each new upgrade not only plays a part in the next level, but generates new opportunities and replay value for prior floors that the player has already explored.
The level designs exemplify Nintendo's seemingly boundless ingenuity. The controls are fairly smooth and intuitive, but not without their quirks. There are some cumbersome aspects to the game mechanics, but they generally feel more intentional than not. If it was too smooth it would be too easy. Survival horror games, which the Luigi's Mansion series is a kids version of, typically employ some techniques to add to the tension, often in odd camera framing or awkward controls. In the case of Luigi's Mansion 3, it is sometimes both.
Regardless of some of it's shortcomings, Luigi's Mansion is a quality game well suited to be adorned with Nintendo's seal of quality.
RATING: 4/5 STARS
'Luigi's Mansion 3' is available at the Brown Deer Public Library along with dozens of games for the Nintendo Switch as well as other popular consoles such as the PS4 and XBox One
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