Saturday, January 3, 2015

"Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon" Playthrough: GLOOMY MANOR A-1

Hi, I'm the Whatsoever Critic. I review just about anything.

Remember my video game review on Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon? Well, I decided to play this game and report my experience to you guys. This will probably be a review/playthrough.

I don't know how everyone else plays this game or what results they got from the game, but I'm just going to show you mine. Just a head's up though, it's been months since I played this game, but I can still manage.
So let's get started!

Intro:

So the game opens with an old professor named E. Gadd...
-Give me a while to make a joke about that...
...He's a paranormal scientist who studies ghosts and the paranormal. In fact, he has an entire workforce of ghosts that he can study on...
-...which is pretty cool, because who doesn't want to hang out with ghosts that can assist you with anything.

Suddenly, a dark figure is flying around outside and uses its shiny crown to zap a dark purple stone (later known as the Dark Moon) into pieces.

-By the way, if you played the original game, or even heard about it, you can definitely tell that this is King Boo doing this evil deed. (spoilers)
After the Dark Moon is destroyed and its pieces scattered to different locations, this causes all the ghosts to go beserk, having Professor E. Gadd...
-... I just found that "egad" is a word, and it's to "express surprise, anger, or affirmation." It's kind of like saying "OMG!"...
...run for his life and take refuge elsewhere.

After the title card...:
We cut to...

the most generic house-in-every-horror-movie house... where we see our game's hero Luigi... who's asleep on a recliner(?)...

-Uh... good start(?)

... as Professor E. Gadd contacts him through video phone and sucks him into a television that sends him to E. Gadd's hideout.

The Bunker:
Once Luigi gets there, Professor E. Gadd is delighted to see him again.
-You know, I would feel lost if I was sucked out of my home to meet a person...
So, E. Gadd fills Luigi in on the situation with the ghosts. It turns out that the Dark Moon is what keeps all the ghosts in Evershade Valley in check. But now that the moon had exploded into pieces and scattered all over the place, all the ghosts are running loose.

So far, they found one piece of the moon, which clears the fog at Gloomy Manor,


which is where the game will officially start supposedly, because the professor tells Luigi that he left the special vacuum invention (Poltergust 5000) from the first game inside the manor's garage.

-How convenient. I was hoping he would give my character the vacuum right then and there.
Instead, E. Gadd gives us...

1. a DS console to communicate in

and to check the map
2. a flashlight
3. some confidence




-It's basically what Alfred Asparagus said to LarryBoy in LarryBoy and the Rumor Weed: "You can do it!" and then seconds later, he mutters "I hope." It's the same thing, except we're not dealing with the Rumor Weed herself.

-By the way, on the top screen, when you see the DS icon on the bottom of the screen,

and E. Gadd's face on the bottom screen, that's when you answer his phone call.
So before Luigi gets going, the professor must have crushed his hopes or something because the next thing he tells him is this:

"I'll zap you to the Gloomy Manor with my new and largely untested Pixelator!"
-(sarcasm) Good job.

Start of Mission:
So after a surprisingly good-visualized shot of the portal of the Pixelator...

-You'll see this before and after every mission.

...Luigi finally makes it to the Gloomy Manor.
So the first thing we need to do is to walk into the manor's yard,

climb the porch and attempt to open the front door.

However, a mouse holds the key with its tail, and it's your job to chase the mouse and get the key. After that brief chase around the yard...
-...which takes a maximum of 10 seconds to do the task.,,
...Luigi can unlock the door to the house.

-By the way, press and hold "B" to run, instead of walk. You'll need to run throughout this entire game if you want to get things done.

-Plus, if you go near things like a vase, a drawer, etc., chances are there are either coins or hearts (increases your life points).

-And if you look into one of the windows of the house, you'll see two ghost take something out of an old truck.
Once you're inside...

-Another note: there's always a cutscene every time Luigi unlocks a door.
Once you're inside, the first thing you need to do is go to the garage.

-I always use the map every time I navigate through this game. It's useful.
Once inside the garage, we go to the truck and open the hood to find the Poltergust 5000.

There, E. Gadd will tell you to test it out in the room.

As you're trying it out, you'll pick up coins and yank on blankets and sheets.

Also, check the drawers and chests; you'll find a key to open up the hallway.
I was doing all of that, and I also looked out the window to see the same two ghosts called Greenies (because of their color?) throwing something back and forth.

-That's the missing light bulb that's supposed to be on the Poltergust 5000.
So, Luigi gets out of the garage and enters a hallway, where the two ghosts enter a foyer,

AND there are four mechanical knights that'll hit him with their axes if he gets too close.

-My suggestion: press and hold "B" when crossing that hall. Those knights can do damage.
You'll need to get to the foyer to catch up with the two ghosts. Just one problem: the doors down the hall have been locked the whole time.

So, you have to go back down the hall and find a key for those doors.
So... where can that darn key be?

Well, let's check that fake-looking door and suck it up with the vacuum.
-No, really! Do that and you'll know!
Afterwards, you go inside that room,

collect coins and dollar bills by vacuuming and looking through things.

-It'll be worth it because you'll eventually come across a golden dog bone.

From what I've experienced when I first played this game is that the bone acts like a green mushroom from the Mario series, which gives you another chance in the game after you die. Here, that's not really explained until you actually die in this game... which is kind of ineffective, because you need to know stuff like that ahead of time, instead of learning about it at the last minute. It's kind of like that phone guy from Five Nights at Freddy's saying to close the doors "only if absolutely necessary. You got to conserve power" when finishing his phone call, and you had the doors closed the whole time.
-Another thing is that if you look out the windows, you see a dog called Polterpup digging up a gemstone.

Note that the gemstones are collectible, just like the coins, money, and keys. However, you may want to revisit the level after you've completed it the first time. Priorities come first.
So where's the key to the Foyer?

-Hint: Look up.

After using the Poltergust 5000 to operate the ceiling fan and retrieve the key, you have to go back to the hall.
After at least 30 seconds of returning to the doors down that creepy hallway and opening the door, you'll find the missing light bulb...

sitting on a chandelier.
-Now, there's a mechanism on the chandelier that starts up and lowers the whole thing down to the first floor, if you blow on it with the vacuum. But there's a catch: you have to be at a certain angle on the staircase to make that work.

Plus, once the chandelier is lowered, you have to speed down the stairs and then press "X" when you're near it. You have to be fast.

Next, Luigi will retrieve the light bulb and place it back onto the Poltergust 5000.
So after a possible innuendo...

...The flashlight part will now be of good use, because you can open doors with green screens,

and you can stun ghosts with it with the bulb, which is called the Strobulb.
Now that we've opened the door with the flashlight, we'll come across a...

...bathroom/closet(?)
-Heck if I know!
-Jackets, anyone? They got money in some of them!
There's an actual bathroom on the other side of the wall. All you have to do is sit on the toilet, and it acts as a revolving door...
-...or in this case, a revolving wall.
You'll soon find a ghost taking a shower...

-Do ghosts really do that?

I thought they were transparent to solid objects.
After pursuing him back into the previous room, you have your first battle situation of the entire game.

-You'll know, because a purple gate will block the door that you came in from. Expect to see that gate at the beginning of each battle situation.
All you have to do in this situation is stun the ghost with your flashlight and suck him up with the Poltergust 5000.
-Here's a trick: if you wait for the gauge to fill up, you can press "A" to speed up the time it takes for you to capture the ghost.
However, just because you're free to leave the room after the fight...

...doesn't mean that there aren't anymore ghosts in the Foyer.

Yeah, this gives you time to practice your attack and capture skills to a bunch of Greenies.
After you capture all the ghosts, E. Gadd will call up and send you back to the Bunker.

Results:

-Now, these aren't perfect results, because this is my first time playing and taking pictures at the same time. Next time should be a little better.

Back at the Bunker:

Here, you can

place ghosts inside a research laboratory;

count up your collected money; and for more talk with E. Gadd.

Main Menu:

Afterwards, you get to go through the main menu, where you can either continue playing, visit E. Gadd's study, or play the multiplayer game.
-Note: The multiplayer mode is locked right now.

I would have to satisfy certain conditions in order to unlock that mode.
For now, let's look at E. Gadd's study.


E. Gadd's Vault:
When you choose E. Gadd's Vault, you'll... fall from a platform first, and then make to the actual room.

-Geez! This old fart just wants to torture Luigi with his inventions.
Okay, in the vault,

you can look at ghosts you captured,


see how much money and unlockables you have and how long until the next upgrade on the Poltergust 5000 and the Strobulb,

and how many Boos you captured.
-Now, for the Boos, you'll need the ultraviolet mechanism for the Poltergust 5000, but that comes later. So again, you'll have to revisit this level.

Well, this level was a breeze. I'll probably revisit this level, because I want to improve my score. I'll do it again as soon as I get the ultraviolet mechanism in a later level, because I want to start finding and collecting the Boos. That'll be for next time.

Whatsoever Critic
Source: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

Courtesy: Nintendo

Friday, January 2, 2015

Where Do You Think "Five Nights at Freddy's" Got Its Inspiration From?





First vine video of 2015!!!



Sources:

Chuck E. Cheese commercial

Five Nights at Freddy's



Courtesy: CEC Entertainment and Scott Cawthon

CHARACTER ANALYSIS #7- Hans from "Penguins of Madagascar" (TV Show)

...

I'm sorry. This character is so annoying and bizarre... AND not Dr. Blowhole. I'm just gonna be brief with this one.
But first...
Hi, I'm the Whatsoever Critic. I review just about anything.
Again, this character is just so bland that... He's just one of Penguins of Madagascar's least-favorite villains. It's Hans the Puffin, you guys.

For those of you who were fortunate enough to pass this villain up (no matter which episode he's in), AND were fortunate enough to disregard him in The Return of the Revenge of Dr. Blowhole, I'll give you the skinny: this villain is said to be one of the idiots that the main character Skipper feuded with because of a certain incident in Denmark.
-Why Denmark? And plus, the entire series doesn't fully explain this backstory...
As a result, throughout the series, Skipper grows to hate Hans.

Hans, in return, tries to get his revenge on Skipper any chance he gets.

Now here are my problems with this guy: Hans is voiced by Dr. Draken (Kim Possible) himself, John DiMaggio, which is kind of odd, because most of our Disney shows are already so odd. 
-Besides, DiMaggio plays other characters on the show, so that would be just as odd. 
Second, this is a villain that can be bad-ass, but constantly act childish to emphasize his being bad.

-Just call him a man-child(?) Or a bird-child, if you will(?)
Third, all he ever did throughout the whole series was try to take over the Penguins' lair and steal a laser gun.

-That's pretty lame... Dr. Blowhole can do better.
Lastly, when he gets caught, Hans gets shipped to Hoboken Zoo (a.k.a. this show's version of Arkham)... only to escape episodes later.

Overall, this was the show's way of phoning in a James Bond style villain for the main character. He doesn't seem to be a legitimate villain, because:

1. He's a man-child, and we all know what happens to man-children... [fill in your own insult here]
2. We never get the whole story of what happened in that Denmark incident with him and Skipper.
3. He's just annoying.
Now, if the Denmark story was presented in an episode, or at least presented in flashbacks, maybe this would've been a stronger villain. Other than that, Hans is bland, unoriginal, and I'm still scratching my head and asking myself why this villain is in that show to begin with.

Whatsoever Critic
Source: Penguins of Madagascar (TV Show)

Courtesy: Nickelodeon/DreamWorks Animation