MOUSE: P.I. For Hire Reviews
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it perfectly understands its roots and executes its proposal with personality, delivering a memorable, charming, and surprisingly solid adventure from start to finish.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire does well because it knows what it wants to be. It's stylish, sure of itself, and not afraid to take cues from other styles while still making its own mark. Some things about the game are wrong. After a while, combat can get boring, and the rules for investigating don't seem to be working right. Some systems could use more depth.
Mouse P.I. For Hire is a game that managed to charm me because it does something no one else dares to do. The rubberhose style, the jazz, the noir vibe and the fluid combat combine to create a unique experience. But beneath that beautiful façade lies a shooter that sometimes relies too much on style and too little on substance. Still, it remains a ride you won’t soon forget. Mouseburg is a place where I enjoyed spending my time. Mouse P.I. For Hire isn’t perfect, but it is memorable. And sometimes that’s worth more.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Mouse: P.I. For Hire is an awesome first-person shooter that will keep you hooked from beginning to end due to its fun combat, engaging story, and hilarious banter between characters. What Fumi Games crafted here is impressive due to its level design that constantly surprises throughout its 10-hour runtime, bosses that each offer a different type of challenge, and a script that is very well written with a noir tone at its center. This game is a joy to play, and I can’t wait to see what these developers do next.
Although Mouse P.I. For Hire occasionally faces issues such as delayed access to certain abilities and the absence of a mini map, its distinctive 1930s rubber hose animation style, quirky humor, and chaotic gameplay establish it as one of the top indie-developed first-person shooters available today.
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is a visual knockout, pairing a stunning "rubber hose" animation aesthetic with a frantic, Doom-inspired kineticism. While its tonal inconsistencies and repetitive enemy patterns prevent it from being a masterpiece, the stellar jazz score and pulpy atmosphere make this hardboiled rodent noir a thrill worth investigating.
Mouse: P.I. For Hire is a creatively inspired, wildly fun and unique old-school shooter overflowing with character and charm, despite a weaker story.
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire offers 10 hours of fun and intense gameplay, with a well-balanced difficulty level, a great pace, and a visual style that’s hard to forget.
Review in Greek | Read full review
Mouse: PI For Hire is an indie that breaks boundaries in terms of graphics, sound, and even level design. The narration and story feel a bit less looked into as compared to their remaining aspects, but I don’t think it’s bad. In fact, it’s so “cheesy” it’s good! I’d definitely recommend people to ignore everyone (who may or may not rhyme with HighGN) and try this game out (I’d recommend the Digital Deluxe edition for the comic and the soundtracks, but that’s just me).
Mouse: P.I. For Hire melds the cartoon world of a century ago with intense shooter action in a way that is endearing as hell. The gameplay’s combat feels great the entire time, and the cartoon world at play here stands toe-to-toe with classics of the past. It’s a love letter to its inspirations and is an easy recommendation for someone looking for non-stop action and charm. The lack of the ability to return to older missions to get missed side jobs and certain collectibles is highly aggravating, and you never really feel like a detective here, but if what you really enjoy is cartoons and shooter action, that is fully on display here.
As striking as that sight is, it’s not an anomaly here. Mouse’s rubber-house animation ripped straight from the 1920s gives everything in the game — sans the environments — this bouncy style, a unique and playful aesthetic that’s fascinating until the credits roll. But the staggeringly long time it takes for those credits to appear does drastic harm to many of the game’s other components.
Mouse P.I. For Hire has style for days, but crucially, it is not only style. It has a great detective story, an excellent central performance, sharp dialogue, fantastic-feeling controller shooting, and some of the most distinctive animation work I have seen in a modern FPS. More than anything, I just love that this game exists in finished form and turned out this good. It started as one of those “that looks cool” projects you assume might never fully come together. Instead, it absolutely did and it's a blast!
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is a lively and stylish FPS that makes excellent use of its cartoon noir identity. Its shooting is sharper than expected, its world is full of personality, and its best moments are bursting with visual wit. Repetition, missable content, and reference-heavy humour keep it from true greatness, but this is still a caper worth chasing.
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is a fun shooter starring charming, cartoon‑style rodents animated in a classic black‑and‑white look. It’s a shame the detective theme stays just a light motif, and the jokes go stale rather quickly.
Review in Unknown | Read full review
Did the game MOUSE: PI For Hire not disappoint us at all? Actually, no. The game features a unique graphical style that isn't necessarily outstanding due to sharpness or quality, but purely in terms of setting and the lack of color scheme, it really shines. The gameplay feels simply delightful, the mini RPG elements work well, and the various area settings work excellently. Ultimately, the game will start to feel a bit repetitive after about 10 hours, and mowing down opponents is somewhat one-sided, but it never really gets boring either. The game has an incredible amount of content considering the relatively low price; as far as I'm concerned, even a price of 60 Euros would have been very justified. However, this title costs just over half that, making it an unquestionable must-play for every casual shooter enthusiast.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Let me reiterate that, from a presentation standpoint, Mouse: PI For Hire is absolutely fantastic. It’s so good, in fact, that I’d go as far as to say that you should give it a go for its visuals and style alone. As a game itself, it’s also good, don’t get me wrong, but there’s nothing I haven’t seen before in other, more entertaining first-person shooters. It’s competently made, but bog standard, going through the motions with an easygoing but unmemorable gameplay loop.
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is a shooter that stands out for its personality and outstanding artistic execution, backed by top-notch voice acting and a meticulously crafted atmosphere. It doesn’t reinvent the genre—nor does it try to—but its straightforward, fun, and well-balanced approach makes it work exceptionally well throughout the entire adventure. It’s not a game that will go down in history, but it is one that’s a ton of fun to play.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Mouse: P.I. For Hire is a triumphant love letter to classic animation and old–school shooters, and believe me, it’s not only one of the best-looking releases this year but also an absolute blast to play. It commits fully to its unique identity of old-school cartoons and gritty noir detective work, and despite a few repetitive enemies and restrictive level boundaries, it’s an incredibly fun mystery that’s definitely not a case of style over substance.
I’m definitely recommending this game. I love noir, I love the golden age of animation, I love old shooters, and I love games that can surprise me with their depth. This one has all three. A lot of love went into this title, and you should savor every bit of it. You know, like a good cheese.
While the core gunplay could have benefited from a wider variety of enemy archetypes, and the detective mechanics are far too streamlined, the sheer joy of blasting your way through Mouseburg carries the experience easily across the finish line. If you are looking for a shooter bursting with style, soul, and jazz, this is a case worth taking.