MOUSE Review: PI For Hire – Slow to Start, Fast to Drive

MOUSE: PI For Hire attracted attention with its cartoon-noir style from the very beginning. The developers promised gamers a boomer shooter where fans of iconic titles in the genre would feel right at home. In this review, we’ll find out how successful the game is and whether its formula works.

• Developer: Fumi Games
• Publisher: PlaySide
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5 , Xbox Series X|S
• Release date: April 16 , 2026

The game takes place in Mouseburg, a city riddled with corruption and crime. Private detective Jack Pepper, voiced by Troy Baker, becomes embroiled in an investigation involving corrupt cops , human traffickers, crooked politicians, and other criminal elements. The plot is simultaneously serious and comical: one moment, the protagonist is trying to figure out who’s behind the shrew trade, while the next, he’s cracking dark jokes, which inevitably feature cheesy puns.

MOUSE: PI For Hire’s plot is hardly gripping, but the campaign structure never feels dull. After each mission, the protagonist returns to a small hub with a bar, gunsmith, and detective’s office , where they can chat with characters, upgrade weapons, play a minigame, and post clues on the investigation board to help them get closer to solving the mystery. As the story progresses, Jack takes on multiple cases simultaneously, and the number of locations available on the map expands: the protagonist will visit a film studio, an abandoned theater, a boathouse, and many other locations.

At the same time, the game doesn’t force the player to independently connect the dots and draw conclusions: all detective cases unfold automatically. The player is required only to find clues (which are impossible to miss) during forays and occasionally converse with NPCs to activate plot triggers. Although MOUSE: PI For Hire tries to appear more than just a story, it’s essentially a boomer shooter with minimal side activities.

However, to fully experience the game, you’ll have to endure several levels where you’ll be armed only with your fists and a pistol. The project takes a long time to get going, and the gameplay only becomes somewhat engaging after acquiring the local “Tommy Gun,” a rapid-fire assault rifle that significantly increases the dynamics of firefights. Additionally, by this point, the detective’s arsenal gains tools like a double jump and a grappling hook , allowing for more active traversal of arenas .

From the mid-campaign onward, MOUSE: PI For Hire feels like a very fast-paced shooter, as you rush around the environment, shooting enemies, throwing dynamite at them, and trapping them in explosive barrels or suspended anvils. Occasionally, the game offers the opportunity to grab a super-upgrade, like a hot pepper, which makes all bullets incendiary, or coffee, which allows you to fire unarmed with your index finger. This comes in handy, considering that enemies are everywhere, and sometimes it can be quite challenging to cope with superior forces.

Boss fights, on the other hand, typically follow a similar pattern: a closed arena where you must defeat a particularly powerful enemy, either by raining fire or exploiting their weaknesses, while also dealing with any minions that get in your way. There are very few truly inventive boss fights in the game.

The shooting here is decent, but not perfect. Some guns seem to lack power—the shotgun, for example, feels more like a toy than a serious weapon. The recipe for success is to upgrade the tommy gun to the maximum level and forget about the existence of other guns. It works, but in the case of a shooter, I’d still like to see more balanced weapon behavior. The enemy AI is worthless: all they can do is run to the protagonist along the shortest path and easily part with their pitiful lives.

But MOUSE: PI For Hire isn’t all about gunplay. The locations are full of secrets, from safes filled with cash that must be opened by completing a short minigame to cleverly hidden newspapers, baseball cards, and comic books . Inquisitive players will surely explore every nook and cranny of the level and be rewarded for their curiosity. Finding blueprints for upgrading guns is especially rewarding. The levels are mostly linear, but exploration is encouraged, and unlockable shortcuts allow you to quickly return to the start of a location after completing a mission.

Returning to the game’s visual style, the black-and-white palette becomes tiresome over time , lacking color. The 1930s cartoon-style aesthetic is very well-crafted, the characters look great and are beautifully animated, but a color mode would have been welcome. But at least the developers were skillful enough to make enemies and interactive objects stand out from the background, so there are no readability issues—which is crucial for such a dynamic shooter.

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MOUSE: PI For Hire is a good shooter, but it’s not without its flaws. The game certainly has style, and its gameplay becomes engaging soon after the adventure begins. However, the story lacks depth, the guns lack balance, the number of lines about cheese is excessive, and the lack of vibrant colors becomes tiresome after a while. While it’s certainly worth playing, be prepared for some aspects of the title to be less than ideal.