Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire might have been straight up busted on the field workplace, however fortunately there’s one other spectre-stalking journey to take pleasure in this 12 months – albeit a really acquainted one. Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD – a remaster of the 2013 Nintendo 3DS unique that was often known as Luigi’s Mansion: Darkish Moon within the US – has arrived on the Nintendo Change trying higher than ever, however virtually solely unchanged so far as its gleeful ghostbusting gameplay is worried. It’s subsequently one of the simplest ways to expertise Luigi’s second foray into catching cheeky Caspers, nevertheless it’s not one of the best entry within the collection since this Darkish Moon-based journey has subsequently been eclipsed by Luigi’s Mansion 3 in 2019.
Right here’s what our reviewer stated in her evaluation of the 2013 unique:
That sentiment nonetheless stands, and Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD stays an entertaining journey as spooky as it’s foolish, its dual-screen setup seamlessly smooshed right into a single panel and sharpened to a visible commonplace that solely simply falls wanting that of Luigi’s Mansion 3. The staff at developer Tantalus, which was additionally chargeable for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD in 2021, hasn’t merely boosted the decision for this remaster, it’s additionally added noticeably extra detailed textures, proper all the way down to the reflective sheen on fits of armour and the threads on Luigi’s dungarees. As well as, drastically enhanced lighting means this Change model’s haunted dioramas have been given sufficient depth that I didn’t actually mourn the absence of the unique’s stereoscopic 3D. (Though to be truthful, I’m undecided I even used stereoscopic 3D within the first place.)
It’s not more likely to win any awards for greatest visible design in 2024, however in comparison with the 2013 unique the distinction is evening and day. I bear in mind Luigi’s Mansion 2 having a charismatic solid of characters and enjoyably spooky settings to discover, nevertheless it was a shock to revisit the 3DS unique 11 years after it launched solely to have my eyeballs assaulted by sufficient jagged edges to grate cheese with. Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, nevertheless, has been polished as much as a stage that enables the playful nature of its phantom menaces and its many magnificently crafted corridors to actually shine on display.
These enemies and environments are nonetheless successfully the identical as they had been a decade in the past, nevertheless. Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD options no further ghosts to bust, ranges to look, or bosses to level your Poltergust 5000 at. None of Luigi’s strikes from Luigi’s Mansion 3, like his plunger-powered suction shot or his capability to summon the Gummi Bear-like Gooigi, have been retrofitted into this journey, which makes for a spook-hunting and puzzle-solving expertise that preserves the intelligent stage design of the 3DS unique, but one which noticeably lacks the expanded number of interactions that the collection’ third installment loved.
It does, nevertheless, function twin-stick controls just like that of the third recreation. For no matter cause the unique didn’t help using the Circle Pad Professional, the cumbersome Nintendo 3DS peripheral that added a second stick with the system whereas additionally making it more likely to bust a seam in your trouser pocket. This meant that in Luigi’s Mansion 2 on 3DS, the taller Mario brother was caught going through in a single path anytime you wanted him to intention his flashlight or vacuum up a startled soul. That’s not the case on this remaster, which lets you swivel Luigi’s intention round with the appropriate stick. That undoubtedly feels rather more versatile and intuitive, and though the issue curve right here stays fairly mild – the goofy ghost enemies are extra dork souls than darkish – I used to be relieved to search out that the management system by no means annoyed me prefer it did within the unique.
I do want extra had been performed to Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD’s multiplayer, nevertheless. In contrast to Luigi’s Mansion 3, which allowed two individuals to play on the identical system, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is strictly one participant per console, whether or not you’re enjoying on-line or regionally on a LAN. The multi-levelled multiplayer mode, Scarescraper (generally known as Thrill Tower within the unique launch), remains to be a whole lot of frantic, phantom-wrangling enjoyable, nevertheless it’s the sort of enjoyable I want I might share with my youngsters with out having to purchase a number of further Switches and copies of Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD with a purpose to take pleasure in. Sadly, there’s no split-screen help to be discovered right here.
That stated, I actually nonetheless had a ghostbusting-ly good time for the dozen or so hours I spent with Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. Whereas I desire the sprawling, single construction of the third recreation’s resort setting, I respect that the extra compartmentalized ranges of Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD’s 5 distinct environments make it simpler to slim your seek for any missed collectibles upon finishing the principle story. Plus, there are some fantastically phantasmic moments that I’d forgotten about within the decade since I first performed it, from the splendidly puzzle-heavy first boss combat with a supersized spider, to tumbling down a prolonged haunted staircase afterward that feels akin to a extra G-rated model of the climactic sequence from John Wick: Chapter 4.