Luigi's Mansion
GameCube £39.99 Nintendo ***
A Nintendo console launch without a Mario game? The portly plumber, a videogame icon long before Lara, is not back until Christmas.
In the meantime, his brother gets his first solo outing in Luigi's Mansion. Anyone expecting the platforms and tricky jumps characterised by the Mario games will be disappointed. But Luigi's offers everything else that Nintendo fans have come to expect: invention, original ity and cute characters. The control is inventive, making full use of both analogue sticks, while the game's main premise - vacuuming up ghosts - is pleasingly different. And the graphics are splendid, particularly the lighting effects.
Perhaps realising that the ghost sucking can get repetitive, Nintendo has added some interesting puzzles. As with most Nintendo-developed games, exploration and experimentation is rewarded by hidden goodies.
Unfortunately, longevity is an issue here. Even casual games players should complete Luigi's within a few hours, although there is some incentive to replay with new elements waiting to be discovered. The short length isn't necessarily a problem - after all the enchanting visuals and simple premise should make this attractive to irregular gamers. But at times, Luigi's feels more like a demo, designed to show off the lighting effects and controller, rather than a full game. Luigi's Mansion is fun and looks gorgeous, but this is one sibling still destined to live in his brother's shadow. (GH)
Pikmin
GameCube £44.99 Nintendo *****
Nintendo is banking on its resident games design genius, Shigeru Miyamoto, to create a steady stream of masterpieces for the GameCube. Pikmin may be the first. It's also Miyamoto's most original concept for years. You play the potato-headed Captain Olimar, whose spaceship has crash-landed on a strange planet. With the help of Pikmin - think of a cross between an ant and a daisy - you must recover the 30 missing parts of Captain Olimar's ship, in less than 30 days.
Sounds weird? It is, in time-honoured Miyamoto fashion. You must use the Pikmin to move and destroy obstacles, gang up on predators, build bridges and solve puzzles that are reminiscent of missions in real-time strategy games.
The game is split into days (at the end of each, the Pikmin must be tucked up in their onion home) and much of the gameplay revolves around growing more Pikmin, which is achieved by picking up energy pellets and taking them back to the onion. Pikmin can also be made to sprout flowers, which powers them up.
Pikmin may sound busy and perhaps a bit manufactured, but somehow, it is intuitive to play, thanks mainly to its control system. It also seems a bit cutesy, but the arrival of freakish predators which munch on Pikmin adds a welcome touch of darkness. Miyamoto has endowed the gameplay with a smooth progression from familiarisation to head-scratching, and all but the most hairy-chested shoot-'em-up fanatics will find themselves utterly hooked, very swiftly. The only quibble is that it's all over too soon. (SB)
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader GameCube £39.99 Factor 5/ Lucasarts ****
Fact: Rogue Leader has the most technically impressive visuals ever seen on any home console. Vistas of starship hulls bristle with turrets and trenches way into the distance; space nebulas furnish a stunning psychedelic backdrop to dogfighting; hot-air balloons hang ghostly in a smoggy sunset. Everything is drenched in real-time lighting and shadows. Add superlative surround-sound effects, with the whine of TIE fighters circling your head and R2D2's cute wibbles behind you, and this space shooter puts you right in the middle of the Star Wars universe.
It plays very much like its predecessor, Rogue Squadron on the N64. Ten core missions range from the Death Star assault (like the original Star Wars coin-op on polygonal steroids) and the snowy Battle of Hoth, to further adventures on Hothlis and Endor. They all throw up compelling combat situations and moments of adrenaline-fuelled awe.
But the game has structural problems. Whereas Rogue Squadron had a smooth learning curve, the difficulty of Rogue Leader hops about randomly from level to level. Mission objec tives sometimes feel obscure, and the lack of mid-mission savepoints can become highly frustrating. All this militates somewhat against the flow of the playing experience.
Add occasional bouts of inexplicable slowdown, and a disappointing rendition of John Williams' superb score, and it becomes clear that Rogue Leader hasn't cohered into the package that its aesthetics promised. Most players will tire before collecting all the medals and unlocking all the bonus missions. For half an hour at a time, though, it still offers an unmatched blaze of retina-entrancing action. (SP)
