For twenty years, I have been on a personal mission to ensure my Facebook feed is ad-free. My militant approach to every advert I see has led me to a ban list of over 10,000 brands, scams and no-good punks. This all changed last year when a black-and-white shooting game cropped up. I hovered over the ban button, but the 1930s-inspired cartoon mice made me hesitate just long enough that I kept watching. Mouse: P.I. for Hire was already infiltrating my life, and like any good detective, I had to pull on the thread to see how far into the mouse hole I could go.
Set in a gritty black-and-white world of Mouseberg, where everyone is a rodent, Mouse: P.I. for Hire tells the story of Jack Pepper, a grizzled investigator looking to solve the murder of a famous magician’s assistant. Pepper, voiced by the equally gruff-sounding Troy Baker, has a personal connection to the disappearance and sets about closing the case. Quickly, our mousey detective is thrown into a seedy underworld full of corrupt politicians, spurned lovers and cult leaders. Using a mix of old-fashioned sleuthing, mixed with First-Person shooting and a smattering of cheese puns for good measure, it’s up to Pepper to work out what is going on and solve the mysterious murder and expose a criminal underbelly.
The storyline is rather compelling, and, through the twists and turns of the plot, which involve themes of classism, racism, and wealth inequality typical of early mobster films, it doesn’t feel forced. Each step in the investigation feels natural and logical, without being too obvious, although by the game’s credits, it did feel ideas were starting to run dry, instead leaning on the gameplay to see me through to the credits. Still, the world is vibrant and full of life, and despite everyone being two-dimensional, the main cast felt really fleshed out. Pepper himself is a sarcastic, wisecracking, “too old for this stuff” character, he felt grounded in the world around him.
The plot isn’t the only thing that makes Mouse P.I. a joy to play. The main draw is the crisp hand-drawn visuals that hark back to early Walt Disney animation. When I first saw the advert on Facebook, it was around the time Steamboat Willie had entered the public domain. Thankfully, I didn’t strike it off as a quick cash-in, as that would have been a huge mistake. Much like Cuphead, Fumi Games pays homage to early 20th-century animation, and the result is gorgeous. From snarling enemies to the smooth reloading animations and even the little heart that monitors your health, every detail has been considered and is a delight to witness in what is one of the best-looking games I’ve played for some time.
Coupled with the visuals comes the smooth jazz soundtrack that contributes to the whole atmosphere, with muted trumpets filling up the downtime before erupting into a full big band during the heaviest scenes. The voice acting again complements the era being portrayed. While there’s an argument to say that Baker, Nolan North and Matt Mercer seem to get all the voiceover work, Baker’s gruff tones and sarcastic delivery really give life to Pepper. The supporting cast all pull in hammy pinstripe gangster performances that simultaneously fit the narrative and time period Mouse P.I. is trying to achieve. Since the auxiliary members of the voice-over team are limited to a handful of lines, no one actor stands out over the others, but the end result is a game that’s not only beautiful to listen to, but a real treat to the ears.
Once the sheen of the visuals and soundtrack wore off, the actual detective work took a backseat to the action. For a game that has Private Investigator in its title, there was very little work to be had. Aside from the obligatory clue board in between missions, where Pepper throws up his findings from the previous level and uses copious amounts of string to tie everything together, there’s not a lot of detective work to be had. Jack simply looks at his board before visiting his contact, Wanda Fuller, a reporter for the Mouseburg Herald, tells him where to go next. Acting less like Dick Tracy and more like The Watchman’s Rorschach, Pepper gleefully jumps into his car and sets off to murder hundreds of nameless goons in a location that is often left either in ruins or on fire.
Early on in the game, I was constantly expecting the DOOM-style gameplay to give way to some real noir-detective work. As the game wore on and the possibility of Jack Pepper doing more than make Swiss cheese out of his attackers grew ever smaller, I realised that perhaps shifting expectations would lead to a better experience. I told myself that Mouse P.I. isn’t a detective noir set in the 1930s wrapped in a first-person shooter; it’s simply a fun run-and-gun disguised as a cartoon from the early 20th century.
Once my perception shifted, I worried less about the detective work and focused on having fun. The controls are tight and snappy, and each weapon became even more satisfying to use than the last. As the game progresses, so does the graphic nature of the weapons, starting with a standard 6-shooter and working up to a gun filled with melting gunk – a staple of any good detective cartoon – I found the array of guns entertaining to use. The aforementioned gunk gave a particularly hilarious animation where the skin fell from an enemy, leaving only a surprised skeleton before it fell to the floor. For all the bells and whistles offered by the later arsenal, I defaulted to the standard shotgun, simply for the fact that it was as fun to use here as it is in a game created by id Software.
That’s not to say Mouse: P.I. for Hire is an all-out shooter. While the main ‘clues’ of a level are highlighted with an oversized magnifying glass that even the three blind mice couldn’t miss, each mission is dripping with secrets to uncover. Newspapers that deepen the plot, comics that explore Pepper’s past and baseball cards are there to be hunted out, the latter of which can be used in a simple but addictive mini-game. The missions cannot be replayed, but if you really want to stick to blasting through enemies, you can always buy missed collectables from the ammo shop between cases. This might seem like a cop out, but the costs for obtaining each missed item really encourage you to engage with your inner detective.
Mouse: P.I. for Hire is a damn good first-person shooter disguised as an investigative noir. The P.I. elements of gritty puzzle solving and clue searching give way to the levels of violence we’d see in a DOOM game, but despite this juxtaposition, it somehow works. It’s vital to set assumptions with how the game plays out, as the two genres don’t gel entirely – those thinking this would be a quaint Dick Tracy-style case with a few gunfights thrown in for good measure will be sorely disappointed. But if you’re in the mood for a stunning run-and-gun game with oodles of big band Jazz music, a sarcastic detective and a competent story, then Fumi Games certainly delivers. The combat controls are tight and intuitive, the violence is comically over-the-top, and the experience is rip-roaringly fun.
Recommendation Score
In the interest of full disclosure, VGamingNews was provided with a copy of the game in order to conduct this review.
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