Mouse: P.I. For Hire /IMPRESSIONS

Imagine a black and white noir movie… actually, imagine an animated black and white noir movie, set in a world of anthropomorphic mice and rats that look like old Disney characters — and one with a private detective solving various mysteries as its main character. And now imagine how that movie would look like if it were an old school FPS. Done? Great.

And no, you’re not wrong — what you have just imagined looks eerily similar to the new game by the Polish studio Fumi Games.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire not only looks like a 30s cartoon with its black and white presentation and rubber hose animation (with all its squashing and stretching), but also plays like an old school FPS, full of secret areas, explosive barrels and various enemies that you get to exterminate with said barrels, as well as with a sizeable arsenal of weapons.

On top of that, enemies in the game are represented by 2D sprites like in the original Doom and shooters of its ilk and you get to kick them like Duke kicked his foes in Duke Nukem 3D.

But, the game doesn’t just look backwards — there are more modern systems at play here as well. For example, you’ll be able to upgrade your weapons, be it by equipping your submachine gun with a larger magazine, or tuning up your acid spewing gun with a secondary fire mode that will shoot enemies with big acid blobs that will melt them in seconds.

(Incidentally, your submachine gun in the game looks just like a Tommy Gun, but is actually called James Gun, which should let you know what kind of humour is waiting for you here, along with a bunch of cheese — and cheesy — puns.)

The weapons themselves are usually fun to use, not least because of the way they look and feel thanks to the game’s lively animation that breathes life into them (whether you’re standing still and they’re squashing and stretching on the screen, whether you’re for example reloading your shotgun by slamming new shells all willy-nilly into it), just as it breathes life into the interface by representing your health, armour and ammo with icons that look like characters straight out of Cuphead.

On the other hand, it’s maybe a bit too easy to find a favourite weapon or two that will make short work of most enemies — like the already mentioned acid one, which was my go to choice in a lot of cases — in favour of which you might potentially ignore the rest of your arsenal.

What you won’t be ignoring though will be your skills that the game will gradually teach you — like the always welcome double jump, or floating by spinning your tail like a helicopter blade above your head — which will make exploration and hunt for secret areas more engaging than they’d be if you were limited to just running and jumping.

And while all that results in some entertaining missions that will see you fight and explore your way around, its unique visuals and noir vibes — accompanied by a properly jazzy soundtrack and just as properly noirish narration by its protagonist (voiced by none other than Troy Baker) — are what elevates Mouse: P.I. For Hire beyond just a solid FPS, making it a game worthy of your time and attention.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire | developer: Fumi Games | publisher: Playside | platforms: PlayStation 5 (played on PlayStation 5 Pro), Nintendo Switch 2, PC, Xbox Series

(A copy of the game was provided for review by Playside)