MОUSE

MOUSE: P.I. For Hire was everything I wanted it to be. Excellent music. Masterful art style. Gripping noir story. Secrets, action, plot, and side quests. The ending felt complete. It didn't lack in any particular area. Do I have complaints? Sure. I always do. But this was the first game in ages that I had high hopes for, enjoyed throughout, and didn't finish with some last minute disappointment. Here are my complaints: [list] [*] The baseball minigame should get much harder the more wins you make (cuz its fun) [*] Several weapons feel unnecessary or weaker than the rest [*] Two typos (in a 20 hour, caption-heavy game) [*] Fairly easy, at least on Normal [/list] If you are okay with plot, cheese jokes, secret hunting, detective tropes, and shootouts within a Disney-esque mouse world, you're going to have a blast. All the fun and quality of a AAA game but for half the cost. Tips for fellow completionists: [list] [*] Always explore the paths opposite from where the objective-path indicator goes [*] You can replay levels for side objectives, Achievements, and collectibles [*] Don't be afraid to buy newspapers and playing cards you may have missed in levels [*] The 10 hidden figurines don't unlock anything, but are cool and display in your office [*] Keep a lookout for in-level paper with numbers or letters on them, as secrets abound [*] There's at least 10 more blueprints than you'll need to max out all weapons, so don't fear missing one [*] The baseball card game is fairly easy, once you get some decent cards [*] You can reload a save to re-attempt cracking a safe, or alternatively replay the level [*] Sometimes secrets are shown early but accessed later [*] Delight in the whimsy [/list]

[i]This game was proven to be cheesier than the dialogue of a AAA game coated in Mozarella...and i was right in it...[/i] The second i saw the first trailer for this game years ago i knew i will have a good time. A Boomer shooter with a 1930s Cartoon and Film Noire aesthetic, completely in black and white and it just rolls with it for the whole thing? It's exactly the type of game that is right up my alley needless to say. And i am pretty glad i got exactly what i wanted and then some. First of: the artstyle is simply gorgeous. While some animations of characters can feel a bit repetitive, during combat it's such a blast to look at. Simply reloading guns, killing enemies or the many explosions are always a joy too look at. You also after some time notice so many cute little details, like the ammo icons laughing when you kill enemies. Great stuff! Jack immediatly is just a really cool protagonist. Troy Baker is a fairly common name these days in games for a voice actor but i am still happy he is here. He delivers these ridiculous one liners with such a straight face, it's incredibly charming. The rest of the cast does a splendid performance too. In general the entire vibe is pretty hammy and it dials it up to eleven for the whole experience. Nonstop cheese puns, one liners, plenty of tropes, cartoon world logic all around, a private detective killing armies of people without any issues - it's all played so straight faced it's great. Even the dialogue is pretty cheesy - literally and figuratevly. Theres hardly a second where they do not talk about Cheese in some context. The devs knew what they had here and instead of toning it down they went further and beyond at times, which is such a delightful way to go with this premise of a game. The Hamminess does not take away from the overall story however. The three main cases are all interesting to follow and you meet many diverse characters along the way. Appreciated that at times the game can take itself serious when it needs to, despite it's general silly nature. At parts, due to it's tropes it can feel rather predictable, but usually with the level design they manage to throw in a curveball. The ways the player and Pepper get to these conclusions is the real fun here. Like a cheesepull, it can stretch itself a little long near the end, but the variety of locals makes it more than tolerable. The music is top notch. These Jazz and Big Band songs are all fitting the vibe and during fights the music really ramps up. Dangerously catchy main theme song too! My main complaints do however come down to some of the gunplay and bugs. Guns in this game for the most part feel good. There is plenty of combat in this game, so you have many instances of combat. The issues really just boil down to some weapons being very much outshined by the rest of the arsenal and enemies often not being diverse and strong enough to justify this arsenal. Even on the highest difficulty, Supersleuth, the game just isn't difficult enough to provide you with Health Packs at pretty much every corner. I like the way health is handled in this game - by all means give me little tonics and useable Cheese items in the heat of battle, but just do not strew them everywhere. As mentioned, the guns can feel a bit weird. With Schematics you can upgrade their firepower, rate, ammo and even add an alt fire. It straight up felt weird how i mostly stuck with the pistol and the machine gun on both of my playthroughs. Weapons like the shotguns are way too unsatisfying to use, the cannon is too strong but severly lacks ammo. The late game weapons like the brainjar one i would flatout call useless und underpowered. Shame too, because they all sound and look fantastic. Oh and of course the Devarnisher. If there ever was an instant win button in a game, it's this weapon. Besides bosses that thing shreds everything and you do not even need to do anything besides hit the enemy once. I loved using this weapon because it looks sick, it sounds sick and you get it very early in the game. But even then i couldn't help but feel this thing is simply too good. Still if they ever make a sequel - exclude this thing or nerf it. To vent a bit more, the aiming rectangles for the weapons are far too wide and weapon spread is a bit ridiculous. The combat really requires you to get up and personal with enemies to kill them - it's very reminicent of Doom Eternal (one of the guns is even a reference to that game). And while that works, it would have been nice to snipe enemies from afar too. Especially the sniper enemies are often fairly dangerous because they zip across the arena and the only real method of taking them down IS the Devarnisher. Enemy variety also is a good majority of them coming at you, less so shooting you from afar. These are all things that can be improved on in a potential sequel mind you. The combat is still pretty fast paced and never feels dull by any means. Just needs a bit more polished to stand on par with an inspiration like DOOM Eternal. Minor nitpick that is void by now: at launch the game was rather buggy - and it still is. Especially with audio the game sometimes just loops them for no reason. Found myself stuck in 2 places too and had to reload due to the level geometry. At launch you could also not revisit levels. That made missing collectibles feel all the more sour. Achievements too were also bugged. These issues since then have been adressed and fixed and even a level replay was added. The devs clearly love this game and appreciating the feedback. The update did improve my experience too. [i]Now..to wrap up this review like some cheese slices in plastic...[/i] For 2026, this may be a strong contender for one of my highlights for gaming. Such a unique experience and even on my second playthrough (to get the achievements i missed before the patch) a fantastic time with so many little details i missed my first time around.