Luigi's Mansion [Player's Choice]

When Luigi's Mansion was announced, many thought it would follow in the footsteps of the legendary Super Mario World and Super Mario 64.

The game does not reach the epic scale of those two titles, but once you get used to its smaller scope, its many strengths become evident.

In this game, you play as Luigi, Mario's brother, and must exorcise the ghosts of a haunted mansion by sucking them up with a vacuum cleaner. This seems simpler than the previous attempts by the Ghostbusters and the Catholic Church, but don't be fooled.

The complexity and ingenuity of the game lie in the use of light and shadows. Many ghosts remain invisible until their shadows are revealed or the objects in the room are manipulated to make them appear.

These original puzzles, never frustrating, enrich the otherwise quite simple process of capturing the smaller ghosts by freezing them with a beam of light and sucking them up with your Hoover backpack.

It's just a small classic, but Luigi's Mansion showcases the graphical effects of the GameCube and offers a game that the whole family can enjoy. It's a shame it's so short. --David Jenkins