Playground Series 2: Most Overrated Gamecube Game

At the risk of losing all of my fans, I feel like I must write about this next game. Keep in mind that when ever I review or even have a conversation about a game regarding it's quality, I NEVER take nostalgia into account. Unless a game is made specifically to be nostalgic (Sonic Generations XBOX 360), nostalgia is something that the player creates for the game, not something that the game creates for the player. Game designers create games in order for them to be played immediately. They do not create games in order for people to play them in 15 years and say "wow this is so nostalgic." That being said, I discuss a game that people seem to love for all the wrong reasons:

Luigi's Mansion

Luigi's Mansion was among the first games ever to be released for the Nintendo Gamecube. This "launch title" starred the famed green plumber, Luigi, instead of his infinitely more famous brother Mario. Luigi is given a mansion as the result of winning a contest he never joined. He enters the mansion to learn quickly that it is haunted and meets up with a scientist named Professor E. Gadd who provides him with the latest in ghost-catching technology - a vacuum cleaner. With this new ally and weapon, Luigi must spend his night dispelling each ghost from the house. Eventually, Luigi learns that the ghosts have trapped Mario somewhere in the mansion, and the quest becomes personal.

This game is received well among young adults my age (19), but I suspect that this positive reception is a result of associating the game with fond memories of playing their first video game ever, maybe playing with their older brother or younger sister, or maybe this game simply reminds them of their childhood, and those memories all together result in a warm and fuzzy feeling on the inside. Not that the opinions I consider are limited only to those of my friends, but I was recommended Luigi's Mansion by nearly all of my friends, and honestly, I didn't really enjoy it.

You may absolutely take it upon yourselves to look up the scores this game got. Not impressive.
Why? Because this game is not impressive. I suspect that nostalgia has everything to do with why this game is spoken of so fondly by adults of my age. The following is my general opinion of the game, sparing details largely: Luigi's Mansion is obviously a game meant for younger audiences, and I can respect that. However, if adults are going to have an opinion on this game, then clearly the game is appealing to adults as well, and if that is the case, I will approach this game is if adults play it. Luigi's Mansion is certainly clever and fun near it's beginning, but the game gets really repetitive really quickly. It IS satisfying to suck up each ghost and slowly watch them perish at the hands of your vacuum, but it eventually gets stale and annoying like microwaved pizza. Absolutely everything about this game is repetitive. You stay in the same environment, with the same music, visuals, colors, and gameplay through the game's entirety. The game did have the curtsey to end before I REALLY got bored, but really, I had little to no patience for this game, despite the fact that it was only 6 hours. Because nothing around me ever changed, I never really felt like I was progressing, and was never satisfied as a true gamer.

I realize that at this point, if you haven't played Luigi's Mansion yet, you probably never will and to be honest, if you've never played Luigi's Mansion yet and you're old enough to be reading blogs, then you're too old to enjoy this game. Luigi's Mansion actually has a 30-40 dollar price tag still probably because it is necessary to any classic Gamecube experience, but the post-modernist views that I exhibit will always guide you away from this title. Luigi's Mansion is fun for the first hour, but the last 5 will leave you with a headache, bored, and wondering why you paid so much money for something that you could literally finish in a day. Oh and if you're wondering why I am callous to the nostalgic effects of Luigi's Mansion, it's because I played it when I was 18, not 9.

If you enjoyed this game as a kid, you will enjoy it forever. But if you're 18 and you've never played this game before, don't pressure yourself into it, especially if you're planning on paying money for it. This game is short, boring, and provides a questionable example of the Gamecube's true potential.