MOUSE: P.I. For Hire Review — A Wildly Different and Seriously Fun FPS

A review copy was provided for the purpose of this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Every once in a while, a game comes along that immediately catches your attention simply because it doesn't look like everything else on the market. MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is absolutely one of those games.

After receiving a review code and spending time with the game, I came away genuinely impressed by how much fun I had. MOUSE is weird, stylish, energetic, and most importantly, it has an identity of its own.

Developed by Fumi Games and published by PlaySide, MOUSE: P.I. For Hire puts you in the shoes of private investigator Jack Pepper and blends an old-school first-person shooter with a noir detective adventure. But the thing you're probably going to notice first is the presentation.

And it's fantastic.

A Cartoon Brought to Life

The black-and-white, hand-drawn presentation is easily one of MOUSE's greatest strengths.

The game takes heavy visual inspiration from the rubber-hose animation of 1930s cartoons, and seeing that aesthetic translated into a first-person action game is something special. Characters, environments, animations, and even the chaos of combat feel like they've escaped from an old cartoon and somehow transformed into a modern FPS.

It's an art direction that could have easily been nothing more than a gimmick.

Instead, it becomes a fundamental part of the game's personality.

There were plenty of moments where I simply appreciated what I was looking at because MOUSE doesn't really resemble many other games I've played recently. In an industry where so many releases can begin to feel visually familiar, having something with this much personality is refreshing.

The jazz-infused soundtrack complements that presentation wonderfully, too. The music, animation, and noir atmosphere all work together to sell the fantasy of exploring this bizarre cartoon world.

Shooting Through Mouseburg

Thankfully, MOUSE isn't a situation where the artwork is doing all the heavy lifting.

It's also just really fun to play.

At its heart, this is a fast-moving first-person shooter, and there's a wonderfully playful quality to the combat. You're moving around environments, blasting enemies with an assortment of weapons and watching the game's cartoon presentation collide with the action happening around you.

The contrast is part of what makes everything work.

You're essentially inhabiting this beautiful vintage cartoon while simultaneously tearing through enemies in an energetic FPS.

As the game opens up, additional movement abilities and traversal mechanics give you more ways to navigate Mouseburg. Wall-running, double-jumping, and grappling help keep exploration and combat moving, and that expanded mobility fits surprisingly naturally alongside the old-school shooter foundation.

The result is a game that can feel nostalgic without feeling trapped in the past.

More Than Its Art Style

That's probably my biggest takeaway from MOUSE: P.I. For Hire.

I initially found the concept fascinating because it looked so different, but after actually playing it, there's considerably more here than the visual hook.

There's a full detective story underneath everything as Jack Pepper becomes wrapped up in a much larger mystery involving crime and corruption throughout Mouseburg. You've also got different environments to explore, cases, collectibles, upgrades, and plenty of opportunities for the game to play around with its cartoon universe.

The noir setting also fits the concept remarkably well.

MOUSE understands exactly what kind of game it wants to be. It isn't embarrassed by how ridiculous its premise can become, but it also doesn't rely entirely on novelty. It commits to the idea.

And that's what I enjoyed so much about it.

Something Different

If I had to describe my experience with MOUSE: P.I. For Hire in one word, it would probably be refreshing.

I've played countless shooters over the years, and it's increasingly difficult for a new one to immediately establish an identity that feels completely its own.

MOUSE did that for me.

It's stylish.

It's strange.

It's charming.

And it's incredibly fun.

Most importantly, I never felt like I was playing something that was simply trying to imitate whatever happens to be popular right now. Fumi Games took inspiration from a completely different era of entertainment and somehow built it into a modern first-person shooter.

That's a creative swing I'm glad they took.

Final Thoughts

MOUSE: P.I. for Hire was a very pleasant surprise.

The gorgeous hand-drawn animation may be what initially gets people through the door, but there's a genuinely entertaining shooter waiting behind it. Its fast-paced combat, exploration, noir atmosphere, jazz soundtrack, and wonderfully bizarre world come together to create something that feels distinctive.

More than anything else, though?

I had fun. A lot of fun.

Sometimes that's exactly what I want from a video game.

MOUSE: P.I. For Hire isn't afraid to be different, and that willingness to embrace its own identity is precisely what made my time with it so enjoyable.

If you've seen footage of this strange black-and-white cartoon shooter and wondered whether there's actually a worthwhile game underneath that beautiful presentation, I can comfortably say that my experience with it was an extremely positive one.

MOUSE caught my attention with its style.

It kept me playing because it was just damn fun.

Review code provided for review purposes. This did not influence the opinions expressed in this review.