Self-containing Luigi's Mansion

For further reading elsewhere: taking a turn from the usual top-X lists, Simon Parkin has put up the first of his 'best games writing' lists for 2008 which does contain some excellent picks, from Tom Armitage's previously mentioned If Gamers Ran the World lecture to the pseudonymous Matthew Wasteland's art of systems discussion.

But I particularly liked the mention of Edge magazine's recent Time Extend looking back at GameCube launch title Luigi's Mansion for highlighting that it's a game predicated on creating one definable place and making it cohesive and rich with detail, as opposed to the typical tack of sending the player off to more diverse but sparsely realized worlds. That idea alone has made me want to revisit the game for the first time in what must be six or seven years:

It’s the setting that all this invention is squeezed into which is perhaps the most astonishing element. Rather than the traditional handful of elaborately different worlds, Luigi’s Mansion is focused on depicting a single coherent place. And even though its rooms allow for at least one ice level, they remain consistent with one another despite the variety. Even the observatory that takes Luigi into space begins as a recognisable wood-panelled study, and elsewhere the wallpaper, fittings, doors, and mouldings all help to reinforce just one, very specific, location.

The Best Games Writing of 2008: Part 1 [chewing pixels]