After being Mario's sidekick for more then a decade, Luigi has finally had the chance to be the star in his own video game. Here is what some of you people out there have been waiting for.

The story in Luigi's Mansion is adequate enough, but there are few if any twists or turns. After receiving a strange letter from his brother Mario, Luigi heads out to meet him thinking he's won a mansion in a contest he doesn't remember entering. Upon reaching the mansion, Luigi is greeted by a short, bald scientist named Professor E. Gadd, who explains that the mansion only appeared a few days earlier and is overrun with ghosts. Professor Gadd goes on to explain that he met a fellow with a red cap shortly after the mansion appeared and hasn't seen him since. Luigi, realizing the fellow in the red hat is Mario, sets off for the mansion after Gadd equips him with a flashlight and the Poltergust 3000, a modified vacuum cleaner that can be used to trap and exterminate the ghouls.

There are a few problems with the graphics that should be mentioned. The GameCube has been heralded for its texturing abilities, but most of the textures in Luigi's Mansion are low resolution and look muddy and pixelated when viewed up close. This is understandable considering the impressive variety of textures in each room, but it can be distracting nevertheless. In true Nintendo form, the graphical emphasis is placed on the lead character. Luigi is made of plenty of polygons and is expertly animated right down to his vacuum hose, but it doesn't leave many stray polygons for other things. The result is cramped environments filled with angular objects. When the game engine does happen to draw a lot of polygons, the textures have a tendency to shimmer. Other slight issues include an occasional flickering shadow and glitchy reflections when entering rooms. These graphical issues wouldn't be nearly as noticeable if the rest of the game didn't look so consistently good, and the last thing those who play Luigi's Mansion will complain about is its visual prowess.

Luigi's first solo excursion has flashes of brilliance and is fun while it lasts, but the short amount of time it takes to complete it makes it a hard recommendation. There is some incentive to play through the game a second time, but even that can be done within an average rental period. If you're a serious video game collector or just want a game that will adequately show off your new console, Luigi's Mansion is worth picking up. But for everyone else, a trip to the local rental shop should suffice.