The main message here -- presented in lighthearted, cartoonish, playful way -- is to be brave, have confidence, confront your fears. Courage doesn't exist without fear. Multiplayer encourages teamwork, can foster positive local social gaming experience.
Positive Role Models
some
Luigi is scared, but perseveres in order to save his friends. He's also smart, using his wits to solve puzzles and figure out how to defeat crafty ghosts.
Ease of Play
some
This one's a bit trickier than you might expect from a cartoonish Nintendo game. Controls are a little confusing to start -- movement direction is relative to Luigi, not the player -- and some puzzles can leave players stumped. A hint system that players can call on whenever they like provides helpful tips, but not in every situation.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Luigi's Mansion 3 is a comical, lighthearted haunted house game exclusively for the Nintendo Switch that sees Mario's brother exploring a ghost-infested hotel. He's pretty scared, flinching at the slightest sound, teeth chattering whenever he sees something spooky. But he faces his fears in order to take on the hotel's unnerving matriarch, who has captured and frozen his friends in paintings. Puzzle-like locations and ghosts force him (and the player) to put on his thinking cap and figure out how to defeat them. Violence is cartoonish and mild, involving only a vacuum cleaner that Luigi uses to grab onto and suck up ghosts, whacking them on objects and other ghosts to weaken them. But parents should note that this game can prove a bit tricky thanks to some tough puzzles that could leave players stumped. An on-call hint system is helpful, but it doesn't provide guidance in every situation.Under the CCPA law you have the right to protect your personal information.Make a Do Not Sell request to Luigi's Mansion 3.
Fun solving puzzles and even provided a couple challenges for Daughter and Daddy
I bought this "for me" as a late Christmas gift. I play Mario Kart and Mario Party with my daughter (we'll call her Princess Peach), and Dad needs something fresh. I had seen the gameplay for Luigi's Mansion 3 and noticed you could play it with two players on story mode. I've been playing games my whole life and naturally wanted to get Peach into them. So knowing Peach's level of critical thinking, I thought she might do well to challenge herself and learn a game that didn't drive for her (i.e. mario kart drive assist). Peach will be 5 in July 2020.
Peach has got a pretty good grip on most the controls. You'll be using both thumbs, the left to move Luigi around and the right to aim the Poltergust (vaccuum) or flashlight. She moves around just fine, can open doors and interact with objects. There was a learning curve that I had to walk her through, but it didn't take her long to pick up on it at all. She sometimes struggles with aiming the Poltergust and getting the ghosts (which can get tougher the further up the mansion you go). Still, we were able to beat the entire game, but there were times I had to take on Luigi so we didn't die. I tried to have her use Gooigi who can die and come back to life as many times as you want. One note on Co-Op: You will be unable to play the story on co-op until you get through a "tutorial" portion at the beginning of the game - once you get the poltergust and defeat the bellhop ghost in the garage, you'll have to get a briefcase which gives you access to Gooigi and finally a 5 minute tutorial on how to use him. Then you can turn on Co-Op through the pause menu.
We needed a little help from youtube on some of the bosses/puzzles where I was just missing something to solve. Some of the later bosses were actually kind of tough. But we were able to talk to one another, explore together and solve puzzles together. You're able ot buy gold bones which revive you if Luigi dies, and we were never really at any point where we were in danger of getting the game over screen once they were available for purchase (got to beat few levels first). Mom or Dad don't have to be gaming professionals, but you will be doing most of the ghost encounters on your own until the little one picks up on it (early on, I had to take out 100% of ghosts, but even now, it's 90%/10% at best) and you will have to do most of the directing and prompting to get your 4-6 year old to solve puzzles. You'll also want to consider taking over Luigi on boss fights if your little one is unconcerned for Luigi's well being. But the game starts out easy and gets progressively harder, so you have time to get acquainted with the controls if you are generally new to gaming. But it was great fun and I'm so glad I bought this game. So much so, that Peach has asked that we play through the whole game a second time.
I give this a 5 star because it is the perfect fit for what I was looking for - a game that challenges my daughter to think about how to solve the puzzle at hand, introduce her to the next step in coordinating both thumbs to move and aim concurrently, and it's super fun, silly and cute. It's not going to be that challenging for the experienced gamer, but Dad is happy sincec Peach is always asking me to play it with her and spending time with her is why I Luigi's Mansion 3 in the first place.
this is a good game and it is very fun, my littlest one loves it a lot and plays it for hours on end. the only slight issue is that there is one character named helen gravesly i believe, who shows some cleavage with the outfits she is shown in and i understand some parents dont like their kids to look at that kind of thing. overall great game though!
What’s It About?
LUIGI'S MANSION 3 begins with Mario's easily spooked sibling receiving a special invitation to visit a luxurious hotel with his friends. But things go awry once he arrives. His pals are captured by the hotel's villainous proprietor, who freezes them in paintings. Worse, it turns out that the hotel is brimming with ghosts eager to scare Luigi senseless. It's up to Nintendo's green-clad hero to search the place floor by floor, sucking up spirits with his trusty vacuum cleaner while trying to locate and rescue his chums. Play is broken into a couple of elements: exploration and ghost battles. Players need to use Luigi's growing arsenal of paranormal gadgetry -- including a dark light that reveals secrets, a suction cup that can latch onto physical objects, and a Luigi clone made of green goo (controlled by either you or, in cooperative play, a friend) who can do anything Luigi can do -- to examine every nook and cranny of the hotel to ferret out secrets and discover collectibles. Once in a while, Luigi's searching will reveal one or more ghosts, which is when combat starts. Players need to figure out how to stun the ghosts -- typically by using a flash of Luigi's Strobulb -- before activating the vacuum's suction function to grab onto and tug the ghosts, pulling them around the environment and whacking them on things to weaken them. Outside the story mode, cooperative and competitive multiplayer games allow groups of up to eight players locally or online to work together to solve puzzles and face off in mini-games that challenge teams to hunt ghosts and collect coins.
Luigi may never be as popular as his spotlight-hogging brother, but this distinctive ghost adventure is just as innovative and entertaining as anything Mario has been up to on Switch. The first thing many players will notice about Luigi's Mansion 3 is its beautifully drawn world rich with details. Each room is loaded with stuff to investigate and appreciate, from realistically flowing curtains and bedsheets to suspicious paintings and crevices. The dynamic lighting effects are particularly impressive, augmenting the spooky mood while also being ingeniously used as a game mechanic to reveal secrets and stun ghosts. And the whole game is absolutely brimming with personality, from themed rooms -- including a movie set, a restaurant, and luxury suites -- to memorable temperamental ghost bosses who become irate in funny and delightful ways when Luigi disturbs them.
These environments and characters have been cleverly built around the game's exploration, puzzle, and combat systems. Players must constantly think about Luigi's range of abilities and how they can be used in order to find secrets and overcome obstacles. If Luigi isn't strong enough to tug something on his own, have Gooigi join him to see if the pair can do it together. If a painting looks dodgy, blast it with dark light to see if you can reveal something new. If your vacuum cleaner's sucking function isn't doing the trick, try reversing the flow and blasting air to push objects around instead. It's all about curiosity and experimentation -- and the delight you feel when you discover something new. Luigi's Mansion 3 is creative game design at its best, and will be most rewarding to players who enjoy taking the time to investigate everything that the game will let them do.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in media. Is the impact of the violence in Luigi's Mansion 3 affected by the cartoonish visuals of the game? What's the difference between scariness and violence? Are they sometimes the same thing?
You can't be brave if you're not scared, so can you think of any times when you worked up the courage to face your fears? How did you feel afterward?
ESRB rating:
E for Comic Mischief, Mild Cartoon Violence
Last updated:
October 28, 2019
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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
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