At the surface level, the game is a nostalgic tribute to vintage cartoons. But beneath the quirky aesthetics, it turns out to be quite an engaging detective thriller.
Welcome to Mouseburg
In MOUSE, you play as Jack Pepper, a seasoned P.I., retired war hero, and ex-cop. Voiced flawlessly by the always-present Troy Baker, Jack investigates various mysteries within the anthropomorphic metropolis of Mouseburg in 1934. The titular town is recovering from a global catastrophe known as "The Quite Big Affair." The world building itself is simply outstanding. Not only does it present quite an adult plot about socio-economic discrimination between various rodent species, such as mice, rats, and persecuted shrews, it also involves gangsterism and smuggling of illegal cheese products.
The story starts rather straightforwardly, as your client hires you to investigate the mystery surrounding his stage magician. I won't reveal all the twists of this detective thriller. Suffice it to say that in no time, your humble inquiry turns into a much larger scale case involving dead performers and kidnapping of actresses. With its brilliant combination of hilarious gags ("Totally Normal Wall") and hard-boiled detectives tropes, the plot is absolutely top-notch.
Symphony of Rubber Hose Destruction
But there is much more to this game than just a detective narrative. This is an intense action shooter that demands you move constantly and with lightning speed in order to survive. In fact, the game gives you all the tools you need. The controls allow you to slide, dash, perform a double jump, and spin around with a tail.
With such a great movement system, it is easy to master all the vertical levels the game throws at you. Speaking of which, the combat loop of MOUSE is just as amazing as the movement. You have 12 different weapons at your disposal, each of them boasting its unique alternate fire. And while most of the guns are rather conventional for such a game, some of them will leave you awestruck. I mean, who else has a gun that sprays turpentine onto your enemies melting all their ink away?
Of course, you need to remember about the cartoon-like physics of enemy creatures. Their heads explode like balloons, bodies stretch in a very unusual fashion, and they are crushed by falling objects. So prepare to unleash chaos upon these poor bastards. The best part is that all these insane guns require constant reloading with their limited ammo capacity. And since everything happens so quickly, you'll have to constantly switch between weapons.
The Detective Elements
But that's not all. What really raises the MOUSE experience is how much of an immersive-sim it actually is. After a hectic shootout, you will inevitably return to the hub area around Jack's office building. The game features many interactive locations where you can either talk with townspeople at the "Little & Big" bar, discuss your next lead with the journalist Wanda or spend some money on weapon upgrades in Tammy's mechanical shop.
Speaking of which, your investigation consists of 20+ huge and extremely detailed locations with loads of secret places, safes, and Metroidvania-style passages that reward you with new abilities and power-ups. But the game gives you much more than this. The investigation board is your guide through all this madness and it allows you to collect clues in order to complete your assignment.
But the cherry on top of all the delicious cake that is MOUSE is its numerous mini-games scattered throughout the plot. In order to unlock certain safes, you will need to do some classic lockpicking using Jack's tail in what feels exactly like the good old Snake game. There is also a full-blown baseball minigame and many other funny side activities that allow you to take a short breather from shooting rodents.
The Buggy Experience
Despite being absolutely awesome, MOUSE: P.I. For Hire still has several minor issues worth mentioning:
- FPS Drops in Big Battles: Even though the game runs at blazing speeds and never gets laggy on my machine, there are some moments of low FPS during epic gunfights in the later parts of the game.
- Too Many Side Activities: If you are a completionist looking to get every collectible in the game, get ready for hours upon hours of fun. But if you are looking to simply go through the plot, there is way too much stuff to collect.
- Softlocks in Side Quests: The developers failed to prevent several rare cases of game freeze during certain missions.
Conclusion
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire offers an absolutely fresh breath of air to the action shooter genre. The bold and risky idea of merging a cartoonish animation style with the fast-paced action was brilliantly executed thanks to an incredible cast of actors and an outstanding soundtrack. Some performance and gameplay-related flaws don't take away a damn thing from the game's main charm.