With Mario Day is done for another year and now the focus for the rest of the year falls upon Luigi. This means it’s time for another LEGO® Super Mario Luigi’s Mansion Expansion set. Before Christmas, I got the chance to take a look at most of the new LEGO Super Mario expansion sets and characters, which included a couple of the sets inspired by the GameCube classic – Luigi’s Mansion. Unfortunately, that didn’t include the largest of sets – Luigi’s Mansion Haunt-and-seek. This transforms the creepy interior of the mysterious mansion into another unique set, which can be used to expand your brick-built adventures across the Mushroom Kingdom. So here’s a closer look at the set.
Product Details
Create a gem-hunting, ghost-battling LEGO® Super Mario™ level with Luigi’s Mansion™ Haunt-and-Seek Expansion Set (71401) for ages 8 and up. It features a new-for-January 2022 start plate and a rotating hallway to access each room. There are lots of fun challenges for LEGO® Luigi™ or LEGO® Mario™ (figures are not included): rescue Toad from a painting, uncover hidden gems, battle a haunted pool table, defeat a Garbage Can Ghost and a Grabbing Ghost, and topple King Boo from the tower. (Note: The 71387 or 71360 Starter Course is required for interactive play.)
- Set Name: Luigi’s Mansion Haunt-and-Seek Expansion Set
- Set Number: 71401
- Pieces: 877
- Action Bricks: 11
- RRP: £69.99/$79.99/79.99€
- Number of Bags: Bags x 8
- Instructions: LEGO Super Mario App
- Availability: LEGO Stores, LEGO Online & General Retail
The LEGO Super Mario sets are a little different to other sets. Although they feature a number of numbered bags, in this case, 8 of them, the actual build experience is rather different as you will need to use the LEGO Super Mario app and its digital instructions, to construct the set. If possible, I recommend using a tablet or iPad as it seems to offer a much better experience, not to mention a screen size on par with paper instructions. As you build each of the sections, you’ll be asked to scan them using the Luigi or Mario interactive figures. This not only keeps track of the build but also highlights how they work.
Being able to see how each of the sections you build work is quite useful. Most are fairly obvious as you build but others are less so. This particular set has quite a few interactive play elements, many of which only appear in this set. Other LEGO Mario sets often rift on similar ideas but Luigi’s Mansion has some new ones. All of the various sections are connected to a central island. This features a rather small room area, which is mounted on a turntable plate. Inside the room is an Action Brick, placing either LEGO Mario or Luigi in the room and turning it, causing an extremely satisfying cranking sound to play. This perfectly matches the motion of the room. One issue with this section is it doesn’t accommodate LEGO Luigi if he’s wearing the Poltergust 3000. It’s an extremely tight squeeze.
The other large section found in the expansion set is King Boo’s castle. This stone-like structure has a mounted platform arm in it. On one end is an Action Brick plate and the other has a brick-built version is King Boo. The more the arm is wiggled, King Boo should be toppled. He’s joined by a pair of ghostly pals, styled after the many different ghosts found throughout the mansion. All three ghosts have Action Bricks.
One unique feature of the Luigi’s Mansion games is the ability to find goodies hidden within the scenery. This has been nicely integrated into interactive play features in the set. There’s a bed, a toilet and a dinner table. Each hides a jewel, represented by an Action Brick. Hitting each of these minibuilds, reveals the jewels in different ways such as flushing the toilet or jumping on the bed.
The final play feature is a very small snooker table. This features three Red Coin Action Bricks, hitting the lever it’s connected to, causing the table to twist about. Gauging this just right will reveal all three Action Bricks. Hitting all three in the time limit will get you a coin bonus.
As all the LEGO Super Mario sets are designed to be connected to other sets and create large level-like courses, this set also includes various other plates and connector islands, which bring all the elements above together. Unsurprisingly, this set pairs perfectly with Luigi’s Mansion Entryway set. The open nature of the LEGO Mario sets does mean the Luigi’s Mansion sets lose the enclosed feeling offered by the game. However, it does manage to recreate some of the features fans of the game will be familiar with.
Review Round-up
As with many of the Mario sets, there are some fun play features, some of which nicely capture their in-game equivalents. The set does a decent job of capturing the feel of the game it’s inspired by, although the open nature of the expansion sets does make it lose some of the spookiness which comes with the enclosed levels of a mansion.
For
+ Plenty of fun play features
+ Great use of the interactive elements
+ Interesting takes on in-game play features
Against
– Open nature of the set distracts a little from the feel of the game
– No ‘end’ Action Brick, a trait of many of the larger expansion sets
Shop Now: UKIrelandUSCanadaGermanyDenmarkAustraliaNew Zealand
This set was requested and provided to BricksFanz by the LEGO Group for purposes of review. The thoughts within this review are that of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
