Part wildly chaotic retro shooter, part polished cartoon noir, Mouse P.I. for Hire goes beyond its striking visuals to deliver a thrilling, imaginative hard-boiled romp.
Sometimes, it’s the smallest touches that end up meaning the most, and Mouse: P.I. for Hire is packed with these kinds of details. You can hear, for example, how our lead, Jack Pepper, starts humming the theme song during the game’s opening screens before the main menu even arrives—then the action follows with a lively jazz performance. Each fight begins with a boxing gong and wraps up with three bells once everyone is finished throwing punches. And instead of simply teleporting between assignments, players drive their compact vehicle across a beautifully rendered isometric city map. Mouse P.I. is full of clever flourishes like these, and you can feel the care behind them.
I’m guessing you already know Mouse P.I.’s premise, but just in case: it’s classic Hollywood detective noir reimagined in the “rubber hose” look that echoes the ’30s black-and-white animated shorts—part Fleischer Studios, part early Mickey Mouse. Jack Pepper (voiced brilliantly by Troy Baker) stars as our battle-worn, streetwise investigator, moving through a grimy landscape of rain-soaked roads, smoky jazz clubs, tempting femme fatales, sharp-tongued reporters, corrupt politicians, gangsters, and secretive cults. The story kicks off like a Saturday matinee: the tutorial turns into an exhilarating chase aboard an airborne blimp, and then the game rewinds to the moment a strange matter involving a missing stage magician lands on Jack’s desk. As the clues pile up, it becomes clear that something’s off in Mouseburg—and it’s more than just a bad case of cheese fondue.
So yes, Mouse P.I. is, above all else, a pure noir tribute. Its writing doesn’t always land cleanly—there are times when abrupt tonal shifts pop up as it gestures at real-world tragedies it can’t properly tackle—but most of the time it offers a warm, sharp, and engaging experience, building a mystery that’s genuinely interesting. Of course, it’s also delivered with impressive flair. Even with Mouse P.I.’s hefty 15-hour runtime, it rarely lets you look away from developer Fumi Games’ standout artistry and painstaking attention to detail—from expressive animation and carefully crafted backgrounds to the lively jazz soundtrack and an excellent voice cast—leaving an impression throughout. And the game that all of that supports doesn’t fall short either, even if its foundation may not be what you’d expect.
Mouse P.I. is built like an investigation, pushing you around Mouseberg as you move from opera house to police station to a questionable circus, then on to an elegant steamboat or an unsettling bayou to chase down answers. Still, despite its detective trappings, including the crimeboard where you’ll pin clues between missions back at HQ, Mouse P.I. essentially boils down to a ’90s-style boomer shooter. Considering the huge promise of its animated world, it’s a little surprising that you mostly find yourself sticking to familiar territory—crafting its gunplay around pistols, shotguns, and tommy guns. Each weapon fires with satisfying, clearly distinct sound effects.
That said, Fumi does occasionally lean into stranger tools—such as a turpentine gun that can turn enemies into scorched remains, even if there are sadly no portable holes or retractable boxing gloves. Where Mouse P.I. really pops is in its fast, no-holds-barred slapstick combat energy. Most encounters happen in arena-style locations, with enemies arriving in waves whenever the bell rings. Still, don’t expect deep tactical pushback; most foes—ranging from bat-wielding thugs and gun-toting cult members to airborne rodents, tiny alligators, and tank-like brutes—are, with just a few exceptions, mindless cannon fodder. They charge directly at you, often in swarms and at a fairly brisk pace.
As a result, fights quickly turn into a test of quick dodging and managing crowds, and Jack handles it well. He can throw kicks into enemies’ faces to grab a short breather (and he can also hurl barrels of toxic goo at incoming groups). His dash in multiple directions and his springy double-jump are just as handy when you need space. Later on, you’ll unlock even more movement options, like Jack’s slow propeller glide and grappling hook, and the whole kit becomes especially strong—letting you shoot, dodge, and leap across each arena while still picking up ammo and health items without losing your momentum. That naturally creates some thrilling skirmishes, but the chaos doesn’t leave much room for meaningful planning, which can make the combat feel a bit basic.
Even so, it’s still a pleasant time. Fumi keeps battles moving briskly in Mouse P.I., so you’re almost always running on adrenaline and ready to press onward. There are also efforts to keep things varied. For instance, there’s a stretch on a railway bridge where subway trains slice through the battlefield while you fight, and later you get a literal take on “the floor is lava,” complete with circus trampolines and flaming hoops. You’ll battle mobsters on the opera house stage, working around the shifting set as scenery slides in and out. The boss fights, in particular, stick with you, thanks to inventive spins on the core combat formula. One features a graveyard scuffle with a ghost, plenty of skeletons, and your flashlight; another throws you into a chaotic swamp situation involving a furious airboat and precarious platforms.
What ultimately brings everything together is Fumi’s excellent sense of pacing. Mouse P.I.’s level design stays consistently impressive—big, looping, richly detailed spaces that juggle the mayhem of sudden combat with calmer stretches for light exploration, simple platforming, small quests, and an easy-to-follow feeling of progression that makes every mission feel like a mini adventure. Early on, for example, your hunt for the missing magician takes you from theater dressing rooms through rain-soaked streets and into a busy subway, where you dart across crowded platforms and head into areas
There are outdoor trips through shadowy shafts and rain-slick wetlands; shadowed villages and even more unsettling estates, along with plenty beyond that.
Although the quests are largely on rails—so much so that you might not be able to backtrack to track down collectibles you missed—Fumi hides just enough surprises in carefully chosen locations to keep your progress from feeling overly restrictive. On top of that, some other parts of the game also play with structure in smart ways. When you return to Jack’s area between missions, you get a breather: you can upgrade your gear, talk with Mouse P.I.’s lovable crew of misfits at the cheese bar, and even go head-to-head for prizes in a lighthearted baseball card mini-game. You’ll still have errands to wrap up, and whenever fresh leads come in, you’ll often be offered different places to head next—helping sell the sense that you’re conducting an investigation on your own terms.
That said, I’ll be honest: there are a few things I don’t enjoy as much. For a title built around detective work, Mouse P.I. doesn’t seem especially committed to letting you reason things out on your own. The huge objective marker on-screen—clearly directing you where to go next and what to inspect—stands out immediately, and you can’t turn it off. This heavy-handed choice can come off as a bit patronizing, narrowing the space for genuine exploration. It’s also odd, considering the game includes two quieter guidance tools: a fingerprint brush you can deploy and a quest compass that stays visible at all times. I also don’t love how often the fourth wall gets shattered with pop-culture nods. Fumi’s approach to world-building—a current-day story about the march of fascism and the people who push back—is genuinely captivating, full of texture and creative narrative potential. Still, the sudden name-drops of Twin Peaks, Mario, Fallout, Tomb Raider, plus a weapon called the James Gun, undercut some of that polish. It makes it feel as though the team was worried this distinctive world and its charming cast might not fully land.
Of course, these drawbacks are really fairly minor. If we focus only on its delivery, Mouse: P.I. for Hire is a strikingly crafted experience—an actual noir cartoon packed with real intrigue and surprising warmth—so it’s hard not to notice what it does right, even when it slips in a few areas under the surface. But it doesn’t fall apart that way. Fumi rises to the occasion, building a clever, unexpected, and wonderfully atmospheric adventure that feels far bigger than the delightfully chaotic brawling at its center. Cheers to the small touches that end up meaning a lot, and to the fact that you can drop an anvil—or even a piano—on someone’s head.
A copy of Mouse P.I. for Hire was provided for this review by PlaySide.