REVIEW: MOUSE: PI For Hire

The south is blowing, it will rain. An awkward silence in the HCL office. On days like this one, insecurities about solving previous cases creep into you. Where did Hollow Knight: Silksong go, were we wrong about Witcher 3? I hear a familiar sound, the sound of an incoming new case via pneumatic mail. I nervously drink my fourth espresso and watch Zoran’s facial expressions. On the wall next to him are Žarko’s cases, all from the 90s… Hrvoje is never gone, he takes a new case before the old one has cooled down. “It’s not a strategy, but you’ll be useful,” he tells me grumpily. What is it about? In addition to the paper with the strange code in the tube, there was a piece of cheese ventilated with numerous holes. Emmentaler? No, it’s too white and soft. I concluded that it was a new shooter.

MOUSE: PI was its name, a detective story full of bad jokes, it sounded strangely familiar… Black and white technology in the style of cartoons from the first half of the last century, it tells me the story of a fellow detective named Jack Pepper, a veteran of the Great War who returned from the Old World to solve his cases in his familiar Mouseburg.

Namely, all the characters are actually mice! Or their close relatives… The commitment to the cartoon-like representation goes to the extent that all the characters are actually 2D cut-outs that you always see from the front. The amount of image blur and various artifacts that appear on the frayed film can be adjusted, for those who want the full feel. Therefore, I saw the first traces of praise in the imagination and loveliness of the world that quickly grows close to the heart.

What does the disappearance of a magician, the murder of a politician, police brutality towards tiny shrews have to do with each other? To be honest, I mostly didn’t know. Jack is a headstrong guy and if you study his case yourself you won’t be able to intervene or suggest anything to him. Crucial evidence in the form of photos and documents was very obvious, and he came to the conclusions himself after sticking them on his board and connecting them with a red ribbon. At least I think it was red…

In the conversation with witnesses and respondents, as well as during the “free” driving of the car around the city, I had to follow Jack’s sequence, i.e. I was only a passenger. I wrote a complaint to myself in my notebook that I expected more participation in unraveling the story.

On the other hand, I was useful in blackening mouse scoundrels. Leg, fist, gun, bazooka… what a real shooter! I had someone to tame because the opponents are numerous, and the fight would often be fun, partly because of the variety of opponents, partly because of the cuteness of their animations. Cops with batons, cultists, crocodiles, little flying mice whose tails double as helicopter propellers, etc. Movement was very fluid: dashing, double jumping, grabbing hooks with your tail, even running on walls like Prince of Persia. The similarity to the old classic cases also lies in health, which is not returned automatically but by consuming food / drink, and the ability to save progress only in special places. I am recording positive evidence regarding cracking and movement.

Explosive barrels are scattered everywhere, as well as ammunition and piles of money. The money was soon over my head because I had nothing to spend it on. Ammunition and new weapons are easily found at hand, and other content such as some kind of newspaper and parts of comics quickly become last year’s cheese. I could earn extra money by playing the baseball card game, but since there was never a shortage of money, it quickly fell into oblivion. The only thing worth it was finding the design blueprints for the weapon improvements. The whole thing seemed light, so for colleagues after me I would suggest a heavier than normal weight. Admittedly, it gets tough with the boss battles, which are also not lacking.

Here I would insert that sound of a gramophone record being scratched and address the readers directly. If you didn’t like my detective fores and fores, I’m afraid you won’t like this game either. He is extremely reliant on that whole flair and really, really likes fore instead of cheese. You know those tricks for short-term blowing your nose, at best. As much as the animations and visual variety of the characters delighted me, I was also disappointed by Jack’s interactions with them. That initial charm quickly disappears, and only the main character manages to maintain it solely because he is voiced by the excellent Troy Baker.

The rest of the audio is commendable, the main melody is catchy and memorable, and the background music is dominated by jazz. Cute details are also present here, as the beginning and end of the fight with enemies is marked by a bell similar to the one used in boxing matches. The technical issues didn’t detract from my gaming experience, and the game is expectedly accessible in terms of launch requirements.

Let me go back to the role of a detective: what have we collected, what does the evidence point to? Any claims that it’s a detective game fall flat, it’s a full-blooded first-person shooter. Dialogues, exclusively linear exploration of a world that seems open, and collection of obvious evidence, which Jack himself connects to the board and draws conclusions, pushes the player firmly into the passenger seat, and ties him up. Fortunately, everything indicates that it is a pretty good shooter, one where the movement, the feeling of shooting and the arsenal of weapons make you a mouse John Wick.

The real mouse trap is the likability of the characters and the setting. At first glance, you are fascinated by the appearance of the truly diverse mouse residents of the appropriately dysfunctional town of Mouseburg. That ancient speech, the dark atmosphere and the mix of various accents raised my expectations, but as soon as I took out the detective’s magnifying glass, I saw that it was all a very beautiful facade. The characters are quickly forgettable, and the bad jokes and constant references to cheese become more and more tiresome. The main character’s voice acting is the only lasting contribution to the atmosphere. The previously mentioned excessive linearity and superficiality of the characters affects the quality of the story, which you can experience for some 11-12 hours.

Anyway, I think this case is refreshing, for a reasonable price it takes your brain to pasture by shooting mice, and during dialogue breaks, pour yourself a whiskey and light a cigar.. or slice some cheese. Cheese! You know – funny!