Luigi finally makes his debut on the Nintendo Gamecube in “Luigi’s Mansion”.  The story behind the game is simple.  Luigi won a mansion in a contest that he did not enter and Mario went ahead to investigate.  Once Luigi arrives at the Mansion, he meets with professor Elvin Gadd who tells him that the mansion is hunted.  He gives Luigi a Poltergust 3000 to catch all the ghosts in the mansion and find Mario.

     The graphics are good.  The ghosts in the game are transparent and they look really good on the Gamecube.  The atmosphere of the game is also great, dark and creepy.  You could say that this game is a PG version of “Resident Evil” from Capcom.  The graphics are similar in greatness except they are much goofier and more like a cartoon in this game.  You can also see how Luigi makes funny faces during the cut scenes.  You can also see the dust that lifts from the haunted house as you walk trough and the smoke that comes out from the Poltergust 3000.  I can’t complain about the graphics in the game.

     The sound is also good.  The funniest thing in this game is hearing Luigi call out to Mario.  Although professor Egad talks, he talks in a weird language that I could not understand.  Other than that there is not that much voices during the game.  The special effects are great: the way Luigi walks, opening of doors, catching of ghosts and other things.     

    The Controls are very easy to learn.  You have two control configurations to choose from.  One lets you change luigi's direction with the analog control stick and the other just makes luigi walk and you have to make him turn with the C analog button.  The basic controls are the C analog button rotates Luigi and aims the lantern or the Poltergust 3000.  The A button opens doors, chests, talks to people, searches around the mansion.  R button makes the Poltergust 3000 suck in stuff while the L button makes it blow away stuff, one thing is that the harder you press this buttons the more power either action will have.  The Z button shows you a menu of how much money you have, items you have picked up and special ghosts that you have caught.  The Y button gives you a map of the mansion.  The X button lets you access the “Gameboy Horror” which is a first person view that allows you to examine things but you can’t move.

      The Gameplay is really innovative for a Gamecube game.  Catching ghost will remind many people of the movie “Ghostbusters”.  You walk around the mansion catching ghost with the Poltergust 3000.  First you must surprise the ghost with the flashlight this will expose a heart and you will be able to suck them in with the Poltergust 3000. It is really interesting since ghost will fight you and you must fight back by sucking in harder or moving in another direction.  They have life points, which decrease depending on how you suck them in with the Poltergust 3000.  When you clear a room of ghost a chest will appear containing either a key to open a door to another room or treasure.  The “Gameboy Horror” allows you explore areas that you can’t see in the third person view.  Toad can be found throughout the game to give you some hints and allowing you to save your game.  There are many types of ghost in the game.  There are ghosts that throw banana peels in the floor, others that pop down from the ceiling, ghost that grab you, etc.  There are also special ghosts that you can only suck in if you do something special in the game like opening a window to let the breeze in.  Another thing is the Boos, which appear halfway trough the game.  These ghosts can only be found after you have cleared a room of all other ghosts.  They hide in items found in the room and you must let them out by using the Poltergust 3000 or searching the item.  The good thing is that these Boos can be found at random on any room.  Once you find one you have to chase it trough the mansion.  If it goes trough the wall to another room, then you can be sure it is hiding in that room.  It is really fun to chase Boos around.  There are also ghost bosses in the game which are much harder to catch than normal ghosts. 

      Overall, Luigi’s Mansion is a great game.  The only complain I have is that this game is too short.  I guess this makes it easier to play the game again to see all the different endings that depend on how much money you earn.  I will recommend you to rent this game.  .  This game is selling for around $35 but you will probably find it cheaper on Ebay. But if you are like me then you are probably waiting for Super Mario Sunshine and would prefer to just rent Luigi’s mansion (specially with Blockbuster's video one week rental).