I wonder if Duckburg is the next town over
I am a huge noir fan, so much so that I have been working on a novel off and on for the past 15 years that is set in the genre. So, when I first caught a glimpse of Mouse: P.I. For Hire I was beyond excited by its artistic direction. Set in the black and white city of Mouseburg, the world of Mouse P.I For Hire comes alive with a rubberhose animation style that brings to mind the cartoon shorts of the early 1930’s. With a bumping soundtrack and a hardboiled detective named Jack Pepper, developer Fumi Games makes the game feel like a playable “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” in the best possible way.
Things aren’t going great in Mouseburg, gangsters walking around pretending to be the law, xenophobic sentiment about shrews are up, and throw in some political tensions and you have yourself one volatile mix that is one spark away from exploding. Enter Jack Pepper, a hardboiled detective and veteran of the war who now has to work to get to the bottom of this infection in his city. In fact, one of the biggest surprises for me was just how much story was here in Mouse P.I., this isn’t something you normally see in boomer shooters. There are even lots of side-missions that offer some of the funniest voice lines in the game.
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: PC (reviewed), Xbox, PlayStation, Switch
Price I’d Pay: $29.99
Throughout the adventure players will meet a host of characters, all of which were entertaining in their own way. If you are a fan of the podcast, then you know I am not a big Troy Baker fan, but he does a great job here as Jack Pepper. In fact, the vocal talent here all shines, not all the dialog is the greatest but, in my opinion, there is more ‘hits’ than ‘misses’. I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the big band, jazzy type soundtrack that Mouse uses. As a huge jazz fan, I found myself bopping my head along to the beat as I took out gangsters in a movie studio.
There is quite a lot of level variety as well in addition to the movie studio players will fight on a steamboat (wonder where they got that idea from, haha), laboratories and more. For those that like to explore their video game levels for every nook and cranny please note that Mouse will lock you out of areas. So, before you progress you should ensure that you have done everything you need to. Levels are littered with health items, armor and more. In fact, there is so much useful gear that at times it takes from the overall challenge of the game.
Players will be armed with various types of guns, and they can pull out their fists if desperate enough. But once players find the gun they love, there is no real reason to use anything else. Mouse’s combat plays out like a boomer shooter, in those games it’s common to run out of ammo and have to switch weapons. That’s not a real fear here, players will usually always find the ammo they need for the weapons they want to use, which kind of kills some the experimental fun of using different guns with different enemies in these games.
Despite that though the combat remains entertaining, there are even boss fights that help break up the monotony of usual combat. In fact, the only real issue I have is with the enemies, as they only come in two varieties. Either players will fight a melee mouse who will rush them and try to beat the living tar out of them or gun-toting mice who stand still and pepper you with bullets. What isn’t limited though is the many death animations that the mice have. Shoot them, burn them, blow them up each of the animations always made me chuckle as someone who loves cartoons.
Mouse P.I. For Hire is one enjoyable and visually stunning video game. While it stumbles like a drunk on Tuesday night when it comes to enemy variety; it more than makes up for it with a stellar voice cast, some fun combat and genuinely laugh-out-loud side quest missions. The game may be on the easy side but don’t let that dissuade you, this is one case worth taking on gumshoe.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
