Despite its issues I have a ton of respect for this game, it attempts to bring the best things from both of the games preceding it while adding some new stuff on top. It’s not perfect but the fact that they actively listened and responded to most feedback kinda feels like a miracle for a Nintendo game.

It brings back the idea of portrait ghosts from the first game and while they aren’t quite the same, they’re really special in their own way and come with a lot of personality. Their fights are also quite fun too with one on each floor. Most of the time they feel more like extended flashy puzzles than fights which is a perfect match to the game’s strengths.

Dark Moon’s additions come in the form of the game’s toolset and variety in settings. This game feels much more cohesive due to the dropped mission structure but sections of the game are still split into separate floors outside of the first handful.

There was clearly a ton of time and love put into this game, there’s so many cool little details and secrets to dig for through levels and it’s by far my favorite part of the game. Every single level no matter how big or small is densely packed with cleverly hidden collectibles and money to find and it’s always fun to find it all. The toolset you’re given let’s the developers hide stuff in a lot of clever ways and it leads to a lot of fun “aha!” moments as you’re exploring.

There’s so many visual gags and awesome details no matter which floor you’re on, just walking through them and taking in the atmosphere of each one is a joy and the way Luigi and other characters animate during gameplay and cutscenes brings it all together so perfectly. It feels like a living breathing world more than either of the games did before it.

For as awesome as the exploration and attention to detail in this game is, the combat feels super underdeveloped in comparison. Before I rip into the combat I should note that it’s deemphasized compared to the first two games, with enemy encounters taking up less time and boss ghosts utilizing puzzle solving skills over what little depth there is to fighting. With that said, there’s only three main enemy types which is bad in and of itself since you’ll be fighting them the entire game but what kills the combat more than anything else is the slam mechanic. The entire system feels like it was reworked from the ground up just to implement this move and while there is some novelty to it at first, you’ll quickly realize it trivializes combat by stunning enemies over and over allowing you to infinitely chain them. No matter what cute little tools the ghosts are given to try and counter your moveset, the slam is too powerful to ever put you in a situation where you could actually come close to dying or even challenge you a bit. It’s honestly bad enough to destroy the appeal of this game’s combat all on its own and it’s a modern Paper Mario tier battle system suicide.

The first two games were far more thought out in this respect. The first game’s intense tug of war chain is always challenging and satisfying to pull off and Dark Moon’s charge mechanic really encourages you to play risky and combo as many ghosts at once with a flashlight stun. They’re both appealing in their own way and reward you for challenging chains, I really hope the developers recognize this flaw and rework the combat into something more enjoyable next time around.

Outside of the combat I’m not a fan of the backtracking and the ending sequence feels rushed (the score ranking based on your money is also way worse than before which is a shame when the exploration is so fun) but those issues feel pretty minor in comparison.

I’ve been hard on the game here but I wanna emphasize that this is a quality game that’s absolutely worth your time if you like digging through every nook and cranny for cool secrets and collectibles or expressively animated games with beautifully stylized visuals. There’s a lot of really cool details I didn’t even get into like how certain themed floors in the game are still incorporated into the hotel setting despite being really crazy ideas, it’s hilarious seeing how they actually made some of these ideas work within the building. Before I spoil too much I’ll just say Next Level Games did a great job here and I think they’re super close to perfecting this formula. Just polish up that combat, cut the filler, fix the scoring system, and you’ve got an incredible game.

Charming but frustrating. The idea of this game is better than its execution. I would love to be a Ghostbusters Luigi, and the co-op is great in theory.

The game design and controls feel like relics of the GameCube era. Discovering how to damage many bosses and mini-bosses is an exercise in patience and experimentation that rarely feels rewarding.

The act of pointing Luigi at a target to shoot/blow/suck/grab is nothing short of torture. I understand the desire to keep the camera perspective as-is to retain that dollhouse graphical vibe, but they need to modernize controls atop that somehow. Maybe you could overlay a reticule on-screen and have Luigi automatically aim at it? I don't know.

The graphics and art direction are great, sound design is fantastic too.

But ultimately the combat is too hit-or-miss, and exploration feels nearly meaningless since the only things you can buy with money are more lives (the game isn't too hard, especially in co-op) or hints for... more meaningless items to gather?

Sometimes cracking the puzzles was fun, but other times you were left wondering why you should both.