GameCube! I've been drooling over this system for months! It's always exciting when something new and different enters the Nintendo family, and this promises to surpass all of its predecessors. I'm not one of those people who values just graphics--pretty graphics are only good when you have an equally great game to back them up. But the combination of stellar graphics and solid game play makes legendary titles (like the N64 Zelda games). So here at last we enter the next century of gaming, and the almighty 'Cube will be the king of them all. (I only hope Bill Gates is reading this!)
I'm also pleased to see Luigi breaking out of his brother's shadow. I love Mario dearly, but I've always felt bad for poor Luigi getting stuck as player #2. The lame cameo he had in Paper Mario irritated the H out of me. They're brothers, and I think it's high time Mario stopped being such a glory hog. Luigi has finally made his big solo debut as a skittish and funny ghostbuster in Luigi's Mansion, and I must say that it's a good effort. The graphics by themselves are amazing, showcasing only some of the potential of the 'Cube. The dust in the house moves quite convincingly (I heard some poor sap at Nintendo was programming the dust for 6 months!) and the ghosts dissapate in realistic particles. All in all, it's a grapical masterpiece, and it puts the chunky look Mario had in Super Mario 64 to shame. Luigi is smoothed out and slick, teetering on real. And he has a very expressive face, the likes of which I haven't seen since Link's startled expressions in Ocarina. Luigi's screams, shivers, and sometimes desparate calls for Mario are hilarious. You have to see them to believe them!
OK, enough about the damn graphics. The game is pretty good too. Hunting down all the ghosts is fun and a bit challenging, not to mention different. There's lots of exploring to do, since the house is quite big and you're required to search every room. The action flows pretty linearly, so there's no worry about getting lost, but this also limits how much exploring you get to do. The only real snag are the controls. I love the shape of the GameCube controller, since it just melts in you hands, but it's taken me longer than usual to get used to the button placements. The over-sized A button makes it tricky to find some of the other buttons when you're flustered or still a newbie. The analog C-stick is some kind of upgrade to the four C buttons on the N64 controller, but I'm not sure if it was that well thought-out. The controls for this game are a little awkward. You get used to them after awhile, but it really shouldn't take that long to figure them out in the first place! Oh well.
This is Luigi's big break. Nintendo has finally placed him in his own game and we get to know the guy in green a little better. The game was certainly well-designed and exquisitely executed, but it is a short adventure and a bit tricky to control at times. Overall, not bad. Mario himself couldn't have starred in a better launch title. :)