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Rain splattering through the branches of the trees, a darkened path leading to a clanking gate, a stately house looming out of the storm clouds: any number of survival horror games could choose to start this way, but only one of them would then interrupt the scene with the plinky-plonking ringtone of your modified Nintendo DS communicator going off. Professor E. Gadd's on the line, and that means that the man in green is back on the case. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon preview code has apparated in the office (okay, it actually came by courier) and there are ghosts to be hunted.Not that Luigi's Mansion's much of a survival horror anyway. I don't know why I hadn't realised this before, but the game's a sort of simplified Metroidvania: a muddle of different doors and different locks to work through as you upgrade your kit, gradually spread out across the level and tackle increasingly nasty enemies.
It's a Metroidvania in the way that the map on the bottom screen truly earns its place as you pore over the blueprints, wondering if this room could be accessed from a hidden crawlspace, and in the way that it's perfectly willing to show you things - a buzzing lab, a tinkling player-piano - that you're not yet ready to engage with. Full-on back-tracking's kept to a minimum, perhaps, but the genre DNA is there all the same. It's a lovely thought that this gorgeously crafted confection might introduce a new generation to one of gaming's hardiest design templates.
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