Luigi's Mansion 2 really is a charming little game which left me feeling all the warm and fuzzies. This isn't a review but a write up of my favorite parts and what inspired me.

Character - Luigi

I've always felt that Luigi was the underdog in the Mario franchise - I think this is intentional of course. Yet, even side characters, like Toad, mistake  him for Mario during some of Luigi Mansion's quests. Finally Luigi gets a new game to himself and he's still stuck in Mario's shadow. Personally, I've never been a fan of Mario as a character. He's portrayed as a character that everyone just loves because he's the main guy on the box but actually lacks a lot of character himself. Whereas Luigi has a much nicer connection with the audience. He overcomes his fears in this game and his adorable "I did it!" at the end of every mission is just makes you want to hug him and it's lovely. He shivers in fear as you adventure and even sings along to the background music. These touches are what give us a stronger connection to the character. 

Poltergust 5000 - hoover/vacuum mechanic

The main tool Luigi uses during this whole adventure is a hover/vacuum (whatever you call it where you're from). Looking at the possibilities this concept has to offer gives us a mechanic with no physical conflict for the whole game. Kudos Nintendo! They've looked at this household object and thought: "How can we create a game around this!"and made a very interesting style of play. With the addition of a torch and creative thinking we have a lot of interactive puzzles with this tool. The hoovers sucking/blowing feature is used to complete puzzles and capture ghosts which creates a lot of nice animations and encounters. It all comes together to make a very nice experience.

Antagonist - Ghosts

It's a staple of any video game to create antagonist with different variables of attacks and effects. From small and quick enemies to slow and fat enemies, I love to see what developers bring to the table to make the player use their tools in new ways. Luigi faces off against many cartoon style ghosts which have a lot of humor behind their character and conflict towards the player. To capture them he much shock them with a flash light then suck them up with his hoover. You'll have to play it to see yourself how each ghost creates a different approach to game play but it was nice to see a range of ideas used. 

I was sad to see Boos were mostly a collectible in this game. They are a real puzzle to come across which involved Luigi using a unique mechanic: A flash light which reveals hidden objects in the scenes. When an invisible boo had the light shone on him he gets scared and stunned by the light. Then Luigi must use his hoover to capture him. The addition of finding a new boo each level adds extra depth to the challenge but collecting them didn't really push the story or player experience forward. 

Puzzles

Some of the puzzles in this game were so difficult! One of my friends asked me if her 6 year old son would like this game and I told her I honestly wouldn't advice it as even I found some of the puzzles too difficult. Even though they were difficult, when I eventually figured them out they were so creative and challenging I left feeling achieved. Puzzles are focused around the hoover mechanic and flash light/strobe light which involves lots of problem solving in many creative environments.

All of the puns!

If there is one thing I love in life it's puns! They make me giggle so much! From the Professor E. Gadd to the names of the boos. You must play just to see them! 

Like I said, this game is full of charm and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for some head scratching adventures!