As always with Supergiant, this game looks and sounds gorgeous. Every screenshot of this game looks like a gorgeous painting, and every song on the OST is a banger. The futuristic setting and hacker aesthetic worked very well, especially in contrast to the old Western vibe of Bastion. I also really like the combat in this one - I've definitely appreciated how SG isn't afraid to keep experimenting in this department. You can play this one like a fairly standard isometric action game a la Bastion or Hades, but the real fun bit in my opinion is the Turn() system. You can pause time and plan out a sequence of attacks that are executed when you resume time - it's something like an XCOM or VATS system from the Fallout games. It makes for a fun little wrinkle, especially if you ramp up the difficulty using Supergiant's typical difficulty modification system.

The story and the characters are a little different from the other Supergiant games. There's really only 2 "big" characters - Red and Transistor - and most of the rest of the plot and lore comes from reading logs and ability descriptions. There's a lot of detail and care taken with these, but it's a bit tedious to go through them and it feels disconnected from the main gameplay. I think it's an improvement over Bastion but weaker than in the Supergiant games that followed it.

The BEST thing about being a parent is when you buy things for your offspring that you really really want to use yourself. I can't honestly say that I told them that the Switch was just for them, but I bought my daughter Luigi's Mansion 3 with the intention that it was HER game. So.... I had to borrow it. I'd never played a Luigi's Mansion game before and I had to ensure it worked correctly, didn't I?

Well - it definitely works properly with the exception of some frustratingly fiddly control issues. I've spent 15 hours on this and the vast majority of LM3 is fantastic. It looks, sounds and plays like a dream - it's funny, the gameplay is varied, it's just the right length and the way the hotel is designed is very clever indeed.

I'll be honest - I'd LOVE to stay in the hotel in which this game takes place - 17 floors of mayhem! The formula is pretty standard - each floor is its own themed level, with a boss ghost to defeat at the end. Each boss ghost is in possession of the button for the next floor on the hotel's lift, so the more you progress, the more you can explore. I thought it started fairly normally, but by the time I'd managed to collect all of the buttons for the lift, the themes become far less hotel-centric and more into batshit mental territory. This is not a criticism because some of the themes are fantastic.

Early on, you're told that a key part of LM3 is collecting ghosts in a similar way to Dr Venkman and co - suck them up into your backpack. The subsequent 'combat' style of bashing the ghouls using the A button until they submit to the vacuum NEVER gets old, and there are a small variety of spirits which require different methods to capture. There maybe could have been a few more ghost types but sometimes, they are armed with extra items that mean you have to adjust your strategy accordingly so the lack of ghost types isn't a massive issue.

Luigi has a decent array of tools at his disposal to help him in his quest - aside from the aforementioned backpack, he has a plunger, a special light which can find hidden items/doorways and Gooigi - a very helpful clone made from goo who can squeeze through bars/grills, and help Luigi with some puzzles, a bit like the Lego games. I didn't go back and collect all the hidden objects (I don't think some items are collectable until afterwards anyway, due to extra abilities/perks you pick up along the way), but I'm sure there must be another 5 hours worth of gameplay to be had for the completionists out there.

The boss ghosts found at the end of each floor/level are all very unique, wonderfully designed and - MOSTLY - good fun to work out how to defeat.

One exception can fuck right off - I've looked in the dedicated LM3 thread and it seems I'm not alone in detesting the design of one particular level that almost had me pulling my hair out in frustration. The boss battle at the end of this level was even worse. There are also a few rather tedious run ins with a pesky cat which overstayed it's welcome. Not a bad idea, but grew tedious by the end.

Other issues include some poor controls - you can't invert them which I know for some people is a bit of a deal breaker. Personally, I found it really annoying trying to aim Luigi's light/plunger devices. During some of the more tense boss battles, this can make a difference between completing the level or dying. Also, there's a huge amount of coins/notes to suck up pretty much everywhere from the very beginning of the game. Some puzzles reward you with giant wads of cash which is all well and good, but there really isn't enough to spend this on. Aside from 'buying' extra lives or the locations of rare ghosts or gems, there's nothing more you can spend this money on which means that by the end of the game, you have way more than you can spend. I think I had in excess of 25,000 coins which is a bit daft when the extra lives (by far the most useful thing you can buy) only cost 1,000 each. This could and should have been improved as you spend so much time collecting coins - I'm not the kind of player who sticks the challenge up to the hardest setting, but even so - I'm not going to want 25 extra lives to complete this! (Disclaimer - I originally had 3 in reserve and completed it with 1 extra life remaining....)

But honestly, these frustrations within LM3 can be forgiven because it's such a funny, entertaining game. There's also a decent multiplayer option in which a friend can help in the main campaign by controlling Gooigi, as well as some cool mini games you can play with others. They're not exactly essential to get the best out of LM3 but they're a decent addition.

It's one of the prettiest Switch games I've played thus far - the cartoony style, the lighting effects, the tremendous character animations. The sounds are just as impressive - so with the perfectly pitched game length (roughly 15 hours) it's a tidy, well polished title you can enjoy solo, or with friends. Or indeed your daughter who is pretty annoyed that you've pinched her Christmas present.

The surreal style and great humor really carried this. Lots of cool levels (especially visually) and ideas even if i feel like some levels could of leaned into their themes a little heavier. And for a game like this the story is good. Not amazing or anything but it works well with the rest. Only thing really holding it back is the gameplay. You will not be forgetting its a PS2 game while playing. Honestly the gameplay kinda sucks and this would be a lot lower if the rest of the game wasn't as strong. Its not always bad and sometimes its fun even especially with all the psychic powers but too much of it feels janky and imprecise, sometimes downright infuriating. But by the end of the day after finally beating everything I can certainly say it was worth it, and I look forward to the sequel