Oh, mamma mia, if Luigi keeps getting mansions, how much time is left before he becomes a landlord?

Me and this series have a very curious relationship, I first discovered it when I got Dark Moon as a birthday present (tho here in Europe it's simply called Luigi's Mansion 2) and while I never got around playing the first one since I didn't had a Gamecube and back then emulation was a unknown topic for me, I still watched some gameplays of it and I was really mesmerized by its style and much creepier feeling... for a kid, I mean. I will probably do reviews for them both individually in the future, but for now I already let you know: I really liked these games from the moment I discovered it, as so many people do... but now with hindsight and much more experience playing much more games since then, it's clear their condition prevented them for being greater experiences; the first was a short experience meant to be as a showcase of the Gamecube's capabilities first and a full fledge game second, and Dark Moon was a sequel for a much less powerful console, and as such, many, MANY concessions had to be made for its designs to fit for the handheld, plus some stylistic changes that weren't welcomed by some. They both were great games on its owns, but they seemed to be made as technical showcase or adapted, and as such limited, for the consoles they were on, which is why seeing Luigi's Mansion 3 being such a well-designed experience feels like the culmination of this franchise, but at the same time it’s frustrating seeing it do some dumb mistakes.

Even if it isn't sold as a showing of the console's capabilities, make no mistake, Luigi's Mansion 3 is probably one of the best looking games on the Switch, and honestly one of my favorite Nintendo games visually wise. It feels like a playable Pixar movie, the animation just feels so... smooth; everything just feels so fluid, all the characters ooze personality simply because of the way they move and sound, Luigi specially is the star of the show, his expressions are so vivid and make see him run or scared is incredibly funny, tho NOTHING in the history of gaming will top E.Gadds' running cycle. The environments are the best in the series by far, the original Luigi's Mansion felt kinda samie after a point and Dark Moon, while varied, the rooms felt crammed and with some exceptions, the puzzles weren't exactly really inspired. 3 however, doesn't pull any stops, all set pieces and rooms look gorgeous, unique, and each floor has its own theme that fits perfectly with the idea of this being a haunted hotel. It all feels straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon, but with its own creepier spin, which is what they were going for and they did it spectacularly.

The gameplay also didn't lack this clear attention to detail, not only does Luigi controls amazing, but it's moveset has seen an huge upgrade. Initially, the basis is lift from the previous entry, but from there, they add so many things that make both combat and puzzles just so much fun: the slam for crowd the control, the suction shot, and the best of the best, greener Mario Gooigi, a fantastic way of implementing co-op and a addition that makes sections more unique and fun; every time this guy was needed for something, I knew it was gonna be a fun puzzle. The boss fights are also the prime example of the best in the game; the main bosses are very distinct visually and personality wise, making encountering a new one an exciting prospect, and are all the fights have more thought put into it than entire sections in other games. Like, there's a fight against a T-Rex fossil, A FUCKING T-REX. How is this not gonna be a good game?.

Sadly, this is where the problems start to arise. While there are a lot of boss battles, there are surprisingly few normal ghost, and almost all of the ones there are just re-designs of ghosts from Dark Moon, and in personality they are the exact same, so the sensations of Deja-Vu were many very much presents. There are still some neat encounters with these and the normal blue ghost add a lot more spice with different mechanics and ways to defeat them, just like the green ones in the previous game, but this time less annoying.

Honestly, while the game mostly expanded upon Dark Moon in a good way, in some respects following the steps of that game ended up being detrimental. Structurally it's kinda dumb, it has a nice premise of unlocking new floors of the hotel as you beat the last one, but the problem with this is that, aside some exceptions at the beginning, you unlock them in numerical order, and when you beat a floor, you have little to no reason to go back, and when you HAVE to go back, with the exception of returning to the deepest floor, it just feels like padding, especially when you have to trail the damn cat, those sections are horrible, tiring, slow, repetitive and just not fun. Rather than feeling like an unique building, the hotel just feels like its divided in missions... just like in Dark Moon. It still shows that handheld design that honestly should have stayed behind, or at least they should have made something more akin to the first game's approach, 'cause the elements for doing something like that are here, but not to their full potential. There are mechanics that are barely used, combat can feel repetitive after long sessions... make no mistake, the game is not perfect, but god DAMN is it good.

It's still the best Luigi's Mansion, it's visually jaw-dropping, it's unique, it's fun, it's charming, it's flaws may be present, but they don't over-shadow the good elements at play here. It's sad that once again a game on the series doesn't reach its full potential, but this one comes extremely close.