MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is a great game that just needs a few tweaks to be an incredible shooter.
The first thing that strikes you is obviously the aesthetics of the game. A "Boomer Shooter" set in a 1930s noir detective thriller is already pretty unique, but then its also clearly inspired by the classic black and white cartoon mouse that shall not be named. Would the game be as interesting without this? Probably not, but its still really great. Its not just the idea that's clever either, its actually implemented with a fantastic level of polish and detail. The animations, while appropriately simply, are clean and satisfying. The music is brilliant too, with lots of appropriately moody jazz, but also some really catchy remixes for the action sequences, and even some clever uses of what must be public domain classics now. This game is worth it for the aesthetics alone.
However, the genre we now lovingly call "Boomer Shooters" is built on one thing: action. This game's action is surprisingly good. I had thought it might be neglected in favour of the look and feel of the game, but its not, its a very solid a satisfying shooter. You have lots of abilities and an arsenal of fun weapons that are introduced gradually throughout the game, with some that you would expect, and some wacky ones too. It reminds me very much of DOOM (2016), in the action but also the way you explore levels and upgrade your weapons. If you're looking for a fun shooter most of all, you'll definitely be satisfied.
The area where this game loses me a little though, is the dialogue. Not the quality of the writing, or the voice acting, no that's fantastic. Its dripping with noir tropes and cliches in the best possible way, and the mouse-themed flavour is really fun. Troy Baker et al do a great job with some cheesy (heh) acting too. The problem is that there's too much of it. At times you'll be having conversations with characters the feel more at home in a Bethesda RPG than a shooter. At first I really enjoyed it, but eventually it started to get a bit much. I think its just too jarring to be running and gunning one moment and then going through pages and pages of dialogue the next. Having built up all this adrenaline during the combat, I just found myself with no patience to go through all that talking after. I definitely skipped plenty towards the end, which isn't usual for me. I don't dislike the dialogue, I just think the game probably only needed about a quarter of what it actually has.
All that said, this is still an excellent game that any fan of this kind of shooter should play. At its core its a classic shooter, but with a really fun twist.
