Despite playing my share of Nintendo games & consoles from the NES through the GameCube era, I'm now what you might call a "lapsed gamer". Things like dual joysticks and complicated button schemes are often overwhelming to an old geezer like me (!). I like to poke around with "the new stuff", especially when it's nostalgia-based, but that's about all. In that sense, "Luigi's Mansion 3" was the perfect Switch game for me-featuring an ultra-simple premise and very forgiving learning curve.
For a very basic overview, this game sees Luigi, Mario, Princess Peach, and some Toadstools trying to vacation at what looks to be a luxurious hotel. But as so often happens to the residents of the Mushroom Kingdom, it turns out to be a trap set by King Boo-imprisoning all but the nervous, green-clad plumber. So, once again paired with Professor E. Gadd and his trusty Poltergust vacuum, Luigi must work his way to the top floor of the hotel (by collecting elevator buttons) via defeating any number/type of ghostly figures along the way.
I remember the original "Luigi's Mansion" being the first game I loaded up on the GameCube back in 2001 and enjoying it more than the consensus back then. I didn't play the sequel at all, but this third incarnation (much like, say, Mario 3 back in the NES days) eclipses them all. I think the key component here is just how much darned fun it is! Hardcore gamers need not apply (not that they ever would, this being Nintendo and all), of course, but for those looking for a supremely fun and unthreatening experience, LM3 is perfectly suited.
Gameplay-wise, the gist here is similar to all the other LM games: go around sucking up ghosts to unlock new areas. The big twist here is that now the player can spawn Gooigi, an ectoplasmic, amorphous copy of Luigi, who can help out when "two vacuums are better than one". This mode is fine for single player action, but also really helps to make the game viable for two players at once.
The big draw (or drawback, depending on who you are as a gamer) with LM3 is its overall ease. From beginning to end-even the final "boss battle" is paltry by most standards-this is a game that doesn't take almost any technical expertise to complete. Truly, the only skill required is deciphering the ways in which the final villain of each stage can be defeated. Other than that, this whole experience is far more about immersion/fun than anything skill/thinking-related.
All in all, I found "Luigi's Mansion 3" to be a wonderfully fun and frivolous romp that helped connect my nostalgia to the current Nintendo era. The only reason I can't give it the full 10 stars is an endgame that somewhat let me down. But as someone who is oft-overwhelmed by the time/skill necessary to learn/beat modern games, LM3's focus on fun was a breath of fresh air.
