Luigi’s Mansion 3 – Hands On @ E3 2019
Luigi’s Mansion 2 was one of the standout titles for Nintendo 3DS, and the original GameCube launch title had tonnes of personality, even if the game itself was very short. So I when I heard the third instalment was playable at E3 I was right there! I was lucky enough to get some hands on time with Luigi’s Mansion 3 at the E3 2019 show floor and I can honestly say that Nintendo have done it yet again – it’s outstanding!
The gameplay is familiar and it’s not long before I’m fully immersed again in this spooky world, vacuuming up ghosts, solving pesky puzzles and finding hidden treasures. A few things have changed this time around. Firstly, it’s not a mansion at all, it’s a hotel with multiple floors. I only got to play a small snippet during this demo, but I assume that each floor will have a different theme, as the different mansions did in Luigi’s Mansion 2. The franchise has never looked so good, taking advantage of the processing increase from 3DS to Switch with it’s superb HD graphics, capturing every scared mannerism that Luigi expresses as he wanders the corridors of this haunted establishment.
Luigi also now has some new abilities to help him dispatch those pesky ghosts. The often-overlooked brother can now slam ghosts into the floor, objects and most importantly, into other ghosts to weaken them and capture them in his Poltergust G-00 vacuum cleaner. He can also fire a plunger at objects, which sticks to the surface and then can be sucked and pulled to reveal new pathways and hidden areas. Some ghosts also carry shields which protect them from the being stunned by Luigi’s torchlight, and the plunger is necessary to remove the shield so you can resume normal ghost hunting techniques.
Certain obstacles and puzzles require a helping hand and that’s where his best new ability comes in. I hadn’t noticed it until that moment, but Luigi has been carrying a container of green slime around with him. Clicking in the right thumbstick summons a green slimy copy of Luigi called Gooigi. This goo-copy can walk through spikes and other hazardous objects to solve puzzles that he flesh and blood original simply can’t reach. One puzzle saw a fan operated lift which Luigi would stand inside while Gooigi controlled the fan with his goo-Poltergust, allowing him to ride the lift down to the area below.
After making my way through the many rooms, I finally arrived at a boss battle. The area was designed like a jousting arena with many cardboard-cutout ghosts spectating my battle with a knight on horseback. As the boss rode around the arena I had dodge his movements and arrows from the side walls. When he got tired of me dodging his movements, he would launch a full frontal attack, aiming his jousting pole directly at Luigi. The idea was to stun him with the torchlight as he drops his guard, which is unfortunately just before his jousting lance hits Luigi. The window of opportunity is quite small and I’m not embarrassed to say that I was caught by him and thrown into the air by the lance a couple of times. However, a successful stun opens him up to have a plunger fired at his chest and then slammed into the floor multiple times. With each flurry of slams, the attack phase gets harder as the knight rides faster and more unpredictable and fire more arrows from the side walls.
And with the knight’s defeat, the demo is over. I’m left with a huge smile on my face that Nintendo seem to do so often with their games. I can’t wait to play more, but for now my time is over.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 will be available sometime in 2019 only on Nintendo Switch.
Pre-order it right now from The Game Collection.
- Nathan