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The rain beats down heavily on my window. I stare at a blank Google Doc and ponder my next move. Two months ago, Fumi Games released their action-packed first-person shooter Mouse: P.I. For Hire to the world. I had initially intended to play and review this game on release, but for a variety of reasons, I had to put the title off. Seeing the game grow a fanbase of anti-journalist righties just made the bile rise in my throat.
However, I had already made a promise to cover the game. As the days turned to weeks, everyone and their mother had already made up their mind on whether this game was worth their time. So what could I possibly write that would be worth taking their time away from scrolling through social media posts about how every other journalist who has touched the game, and I must be evil in some way?
As I pondered these questions over the sound of raindrops and the typing of my keyboard, my mind slowly faded away. I began to think about the world not from the mind of a critic but the mind of who the game wants me to be: A hardboiled noir detective.
Quick and Painless Shooting
A detective’s work isn’t one for the faint of heart. You might get a few opportunities to relax at your office and talk to a few colorful characters, but most of the time, your job involves driving off to various parts of the city to take down various levels of the big conspiracy.
What does the job entail? A lotta shooting. Every goon on the streets thinks they’re the next kingpin and will do their best to shoot you down. A few shots and you’re down, so you gotta fight back.
When some wannabe mafioso comes running at you, you can defend yourself with a variety of weapons that range from a simple pistol to something outrageous like a ray gun.
A few shots from any gun will take down these thugs, quicker if you fancy yourself a sharpshooter who can go for the head. You’ve seen games like this before; this is a good ol’ fashioned Doom-like with a unique setting.
While it only takes good blows from these mooks’ pellet shooters to take you down, there are plenty of ways to recover your health. Scattered all over every area of the city are health drinks that you can interact with and chug to restore a portion of your health.
Ordinary fights strike a good difficulty balance. You may die every once in a while, but it always feels like it’s because of a mistake you made and not like the goons ambushing you suddenly grew brains.
Me Personally? Whenever a shmuck too big for his britches comes at me, I prefer to run right up to them and use the good ol’ fashioned boomstick to make my problems go away. I may take some damage, but nothing that a good drink can’t make me forget.
Goons aren’t the only people gunning for your head, though; every level of this city has at least one boss with a huge health bar to fight. Of course, just because an enemy is bigger and meaner doesn’t guarantee that it’s smarter. These fights were probably the most mixed part of the game. While the fights against goons almost always struck a good difficulty balance, boss fights tend to bounce between pathetically easy and being trial-and-error death fests.
I was never particularly annoyed whenever the game initiated a boss battle, but they were far from the most enjoyable part of the experience.
Overall, the job of being a detective is a rewarding experience that fans of other games in the Doom-like genre will find themselves right at home in.
Great Yet Repetitive Visuals
Visually, the people of Mouseberg look perfect. The rubberhose art style of the game is one of the biggest selling points to separate it from other games in the genre, so if the game didn’t nail this, it would have been dead in the water.
Every character in the game, whether they be NPC or boss, has a very unique look to them that helps their personality across. This extends to the goons as well, of course. From a single glance, you’ll be able to tell what type of enemy you’re facing and what exactly you’ll need to do to deal with them.
While the black and white visuals of this world might make you believe it’ll be voiceless like an old cartoon, you’d be mistaken. In fact, the first thing you’ll hear upon booting up the game will be the dulcet tones of Troy Baker humming the game’s theme song.
Troy Baker’s career has been far from unlucky, but it sure is unfortunate that the man has played the protagonist of two different first-person shooter games that got co-opted by the worst group of gamers after release.
This isn’t the only good performance you’ll be hearing in the game, either; nearly every actor in this title has brought their A-game. Sure, a lot of the line delivery can be quite cheesy, but this is the type of world and setting where being over-the-top is a much better choice than trying to sound grounded.
Now, the people of this city may look and sound beautiful, but the city itself tends to blend into the background. The monochrome colors of the art style, unfortunately, work against the level design here.
Many buildings ended up looking the same. While the occasional swamp or airship was a breath of fresh air, most of the levels end up blending into each other with little identity of their own.
That isn’t to say I dislike the look of every stage in this game; I actually think that plenty of them look quite nice. I just feel like there is a sense of repetition when I’m jumping across the same wooden platforms to fight the same types of enemies multiple levels in a row.
Closing Thoughts
How long does a detective’s job last? Well, the work is never done, but for this particular job, players who want to step into the shoes of Jack Pepper will get about 10 hours of gameplay, 15 hours if you’re a bleeding heart who often finds themselves completing every side quest that ends up on your doorstep.
I thought that by putting myself into the mind of a true detective while writing this review, I would come away with something interesting and unique to say about the title. Unfortunately, that just ain’t happening. I do not have anything unique to say about Mouse that you haven’t heard before, but that’s partially because Mouse doesn’t do much that you haven’t seen before.
Mouse’s biggest asset is its unique art style, but if you were to take that away, then you would be left with just an average Doom-like game. Now, that isn’t bad by any means, but I wish there were more to make this game truly stand out and let me sink my teeth into.
If you’re a fan of this genre of game or are interested in the art style, then Mouse: P.I. For Hire is a game that will satisfy your needs. If you ain’t though, then it’s a bit harder to recommend this title aside from saying I had an “Okay” time with it.
Mouse: P.I. For Hire
Bottom Line
Mouse: P.I. For Hire is a very beautiful game whose gameplay unfortunately doesn't live up to that visual design. Gamers who are already a fan of this type of game or can overlook the repetition of its level design may enjoy this title, but it offers very little beyond that.
