7/10
Mouse: P.I. For Hire (PC)
Mouse: P.I. For Hire ended up being a much better surprise than I expected. I originally started it as a quick little game to finish before jumping into Mass Effect 3, but it turned into way more than just a “filler” game. The black and white visual style immediately pulled me in, and the whole noir cartoon atmosphere works surprisingly well. Hearing Troy Baker as the main character was also a fun surprise! From the prologue alone, I could tell the game had a sense of humor I’d enjoy. It never tries too hard, but even simple things like introducing a double jump mechanic are handled with enough personality to make you smile.
The strongest part of the game for me was definitely the story. For a detective game, the most important thing is making the player curious, and Mouse: P.I. For Hire does that really well. There are multiple mysteries happening at once, and even if it gets a little messy sometimes, slowly watching everything connect kept me hooked the whole way through. Running around the small but charming map, solving cases, doing side missions, and uncovering secrets was genuinely fun. The gameplay itself feels more arcade like than I expected, almost like a Mickey Mouse flavored Doom. There are light puzzle sections, small platforming moments, boss fights, and enough new mechanics being introduced to keep things fresh for most of the game.
Its biggest weakness is definitely the combat variety. Most enemies are basically the same people in different outfits; cops, mafia members, cultists... and after a while that repetition starts to show. Weapon variety is decent, but once you upgrade one gun enough, there’s not much reason to use the others. I finished the game in around 12 hours, and I’ll admit the last couple of hours dragged a little. The gameplay loop starts showing its limits by then, and I think the game would’ve been slightly stronger if it wrapped things up a bit earlier. Still, even with that, I had a really good time. The atmosphere, humor, and mystery were strong enough to carry the weaker parts. In the end, I basically played a Mickey Mouse themed Doom, and honestly, that’s exactly what I wanted: a stylish, fun little shooter that kept me entertained from start to finish.
"7.5/10"