Mouse: P.I. For Hire – Review

There are some games that will immediately capture your attention, be it a cool concept, striking visuals, or maybe even a nod to a long-gone era of gaming. Any one of these would be enough to make a title stand out, and Mouse: P.I. For Hire, the debut title from indie Polish developer Fumi Games, has all three, but is there any substance lying under all that style?

One look at Mouse: P.I. For Hire, and it’s easy to understand why the game is sometimes referred to as the “Mickey Mouse shooter”. Taking obvious inspirations from early cartoons of Disney’s beloved mascot from the early 1930s, the game features a distinct black-and-white aesthetic and a rubberhose animation style (an early hand-drawn animation style where a character’s limbs or objects move in a curving motion without articulation), all wrapped up in a nostalgic “Boomer Shooter” gameplay package.

The concept is intriguing and certainly something rarely seen in the gaming space, and while it absolutely nails the look and feel of an old-timey noir cartoon in shooter form, beneath its flashy exterior lies a serviceable but ultimately unremarkable shooter that falls short of brie-lliance.

Every crime drama needs its gruff hero, and here, it’s former war hero turned private investigator Jack Pepper. Called to investigate an initially simple missing persons case concerning his old war buddy, the famous Magician Steve Bandel, Jack’s investigation quickly spirals into a complex web of intrigue involving murder, racial discrimination between big mice and smaller shrews, and dangerous cult activity, drawing him into a larger conspiracy that plagues the entirety of Mouseburg city.

As one might expect, having a bunch of interconnected narrative threads does mean that Mouse: P.I. For Hire’s story can get messy at times. Bits of lore, like the city’s violent past, are often referenced without much exposition, resulting in a story that can get pretty hard to follow, especially when separate cases start to meld together. Still, it’s nice to see an emphasis being put on storytelling, especially when most games of the genre tend to gloss over it in favour of gameplay.

And then there’s the game’s writing, which can be summed up with one thematically apt word – cheesy. Yes, much like the anthropomorphic rodents that roam Mouseburg’s streets, Mouse: P.I. For Hire loves its cheese puns, and puns in general, with every other line including one cheese-related reference, dry humour, or witty wordplay. Granted, this won’t be for everyone, but even if it’s nacho thing, the game’s dialogue is sure to elicit a chuckle or two from even the most casual pun enjoyers.

Perhaps the game’s strongest narrative-related aspect, however, lies in its stellar voice acting. Virtually every line of dialogue is fully voiced, already an incredible feat for an indie title, but one made more impressive by the calibre on offer. Every character, from the inquisitive reporter to the stuttering Mayor, sounds like they would fit perfectly into a noir crime drama of the time, with accents that are impactful without being too forced. Special props must also be given to voice acting legend Troy Baker (The Last of Us, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle), who plays Jack, for his stellar depiction of the stereotypically gruff and perpetually-tired hero embarking on “just another case” gone wrong.

At its core, Mouse: P.I. For Hire follows the “Boomer Shooter” concept seen in titles like Duke Nukem 3D, Warhammer 40K Boltgun, or even the modern Doom reboots, meaning combat encounters are fast-paced, weapon swapping is encouraged over picking a favourite, and battle arenas are usually quite large with more space to manoeuvre than traditional shooters.

To deliver swift justice to those on the other side of the law, Jack is equipped with an arsenal of weapons, spanning classic gun archetypes like a pistol, a shotgun and or an old-school Tommy Gun (humorously named the James Gun for a double dose of wordplay) to more quirky types of weaponry, like the Devarnisher, that shoots blobs of turpentine-based ammunition that literally melts enemies – everything in the game is made out of ink, after all. Each gun also has an alternate fire mode that can be unlocked, offering various special abilities like a burst-fire mode for the pistol or a charged shotgun blast.

While missions are largely linear, players will still be able to do some light exploration, with tons of secret areas strewn across the map for extra opportunities to secure more ammo or in-game currency. In between missions, players will also return to a hub area, Jack’s P.I. office and the surrounding street, where he can not only upgrade his equipment, but also pick up side objectives from allies, and pin clues collected within levels on his evidence board to further the main story.

In theory, these sound like an interesting combination of gameplay ideas, but in practice, Mouse: P.I. For Hire unfortunately loses its novelty pretty quickly. While the variety of weapons Jack acquires all look interesting, they don’t feel or sound as impactful as they should be. This might be a stylistic choice, as everything in the world is meant to be made up of ink, but the lack of impact when firing a shot, especially from the shotgun, for example, means combat never quite clicks, even when swarmed with groups of enemies.

Adding to this issue is the game’s uneven progression. While Jack will eventually gain access to multiple different guns, these are mostly doled out near the start and end of his journey, meaning players will spend a large portion of their time in between with mostly the same weapons. The game does feature a gun upgrading system where Jack can exchange schematics for up to three upgrades per weapon, but depending on how players spend their points, this can make the game quite unbalanced. 

Fully maxing out the James Gun early, for example, can cause it to become pretty overpowered, and since ammo is often not an issue with so much scattered around, changing weapons then becomes unnecessary, as why bother to swap your loadout when the James Gun can literally wipe out entire groups of foes with little effort?

This imbalance is present even in the later hours of Mouse: P.I. For Hire, too, as while “Boomer Shooters”, or shooters in general, usually save the best guns for last, this isn’t quite the case here. Without spoiling too much, the last couple of guns players will acquire look unique for sure, but their effectiveness in combat still pales in comparison to a maxed-out James Gun, something that’s acquired in the game’s opening hours. It would’ve helped if the game featured a more expensive progression tree for each weapon rather than just three levels, as this would mean that players would have to spend their limited schematics more tactically, and over a longer period of time.

Finally, there are the remaining aspects of the game, such as exploration and story progression, which are unfortunately much more shallow than they initially appear to be. Yes, levels are filled with secrets to uncover, but this usually boils down to either finding newspaper articles that help to expand its backstory, sections of unlockable comics, cards for use in a baseball-themed minigame, or cash, with the latter being the most underutilised. 

While the aforementioned upgrade schematics provide actual gameplay benefits, cash is only used for either buying ammo, which you won’t need since levels are flush with ammo drops, or more of the same types of collectibles mentioned above. Partaking in the card game is interesting at first, but this gradually grows stale, especially since players will need to win at the mini-game 20 times before they can then unlock a single item, and again, without spoiling anything, the reward simply isn’t worth it. This means that unless you are a collectible hunter or planning to 100 per cent the game, hunting down all of each level’s secrets becomes quite unrewarding since most of the time it’s just more cash you don’t need.

The game’s evidence board system also suffers from a similar issue, as while it initially seems like a complex system, the likes of Alan Wake 2’s case board, here it’s just a glorified objective system with extra steps. All players need to do here is place all collected clues on the board, which the game arranges automatically, occasionally pressing a key to unlock their next objective. While the intention to make the game’s narrative progression more interactive is sound, its implementation leaves much to be desired.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire is clearly built from the ground up with aesthetics in mind, as what’s on offer here is nothing but stellar. Its rubberhose animation style is a standout here, with not just character limbs, but even parts of Jack’s guns like their barrels flopping around with every slight movement. What makes this even more impressive is that its visuals are drawn and each frame rendered entirely by hand, which is painstaking work to say the least, leading to a presentation style unlike any other.

Levels are also rendered with a mix of 3D sprites and 2D cutouts, with the latter being used for enemies as well as some environmental details like fauna and flora, resulting in a unique blend of visual concepts that remain charming over the game’s roughly 10-hour runtime. Its striking black-and-white look also adds to the old-school feel, but a slight downside arises as levels start to look the same after a while, although Mouse: P.I. For Hire does try to make up for this by sending Jack to multiple varied locations, from your standard shooter affair like the familiar sewer level, to more interesting ones like a film studio filled with uniquely themed sets.

In a neat touch, the game also offers some options to increase the game’s old-school factor even further, such as five different audio modes to make effects sound like they are being played from vinyl or cellulose discs. Players can also choose to distort their overall visuals or add film grain effects to make their game look like it’s being played straight off a film reel.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire has a singular focus – to make the most striking and visually unique title of the modern gaming era, and in this regard, Fumi Games has crushed it, which is an even more impressive feat considering this is the first title from the indie studio. Underneath all the fluff, however, lies a core shooter loop that’s decent, but not much else. For some, just being able to play a game that looks as distinctive as this might already be enough, but those expecting a little more depth beyond the flair might be a little disappointed.

Kevin Low

Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.