The plot of the game centers around our main Character Jack Pepper, a former police officer who also partook in a war and received the title of a Hero. Instead of setteling down, Jack spent most of his money on gambling which he became addicted to it. As a result, he decids to make a living by
taking differentsmall cases and see them through as a P.I AKA a dedective. Jack usually gets his leads by Wanda Fuller, a journalist who usually gives Jack her information in exchange of the information jack will gather. The story takes place in Mouseburg, a fictional city filled with a lot of
corruption.
From the prologue, we learn that this was how Jack was making a living after the warand after he left the police. Today(the day the game begins) was meant to be a normal day, however when Wanda called, she asked Jack to rush to her as she had a case. A gut instict of jack was telling him to pass the opportunity but
he needed the money to afford his cheese and thus he meets with Wanda. Wanda wanted Jack to check on a case where a Magician dissappeared during his performance. The wizard was called Steve Bandel, an old friend of Jacks with whom they fought together in the war. However, Jack busted him in some illegal bussiness which
caused their friendship and more(no spoilers).
Whilst on the case he saves Cornelius, a mouse running for president. As a token of appreciation, Cornelius gives Jack further information which can help him solve the case. Further more Cornelius has his own request which ties to the dissappearing of Shrews. Shrews consist of the minority of Mouseburg, mice without
much power, money and influence. Working on the case, Jack bear witness to the true corruption of Mouseburg. If two cases werent enough, a new mouse makes her appearance, Vivian, who was a friend of Bettys. Betty was the right hand of Steve and she was found dead, which might tie to Steves dissappearance. Jack
began to put the clues together and found the big mouse party might have to do something with all of this. Pretty much another political party which wish to run Mouseburg.
Will Jack successfully solve the cases?
What mysteries and corruption lie in Mouseburg?
What does the future hold for Jack?
The story of the game is interesting and well presented. Dont get the wrong idea, this is not a dedective game, Jack's actions are predetermined however its up to the player to gather the clues which will trigger further explanations, backgrounds and connections. The characters are not only well designed but also have a good
personality. Even though Jack looks and acts cold, throughout the missions we see him how he reacts and acts for various characters. For example, when John Brown(a hard working Shrew who owns the bar/restaurant) asked him to fetch him something
to try for a new recipe, Jack does it but he humorously complains about how much that ingredient stinked. Or when Millie Curd asked for a balloon, Jack went out of his way to collect it. Aside from character personalities, the game does a good job keeping the
mysteries within the missions and also slowly revealling the bigger picture to the player.
Gameplay wise, Mouse P.I. for hire i a fast pace first person Boomer shooter, similar to games like Doom. The player controls Jack Pepper, a former war hero capapble of handling different types of weapons. The game blends
3D environments with multiple 2D hand drawn characters interacting with it. By default, the player can walk, dash, kick down obstacles and jump. The more the player proceeds, the more abilities and weapons Jack gets to unlocked. For example,
Jack gets to learn how to double jump and also to temporarily walk on certain type of walls. His tail can also be used to increase his mobility. One way he does so, is by using his tail on hooks in order to swing around. This helps him reach
higher or further areas. The other way jack uses his tail is by swinging it fast as a helicopter. This allows the player to hover and glide to long distances. He can even combine his tail swing with fans to make him gain height.
The core of the game though and its main selling point is the shooting. At first Jack begins with a small pistol and his fists. The more the player proceeds he gets to hold twi different Shotguns, TNTs bombs, a bazooka, machine gun and others.
It also has some original weapon ideas such as a gun whose rays can make heads explode and others like the Devarnisher, thats shoots liquid like bullets that re capable of melting the enemy. All the weapons have their own unique ammunition which can be
found scattered around the level. The player can use Schematics in order to upgrade the weapons. Each gun can be upgraded up to three times. Each upgrade increasses the "mags" size, the weapons damage, its stability, adds an effect like burn in certain weapons
and also grants an alternative fire.
Uppon entering the game, the player can move around the level in order to reach the objective. Throughout the levels multiple NPCs will try to stop Jack on his tracks. If the players lose their way and do not know where to proceed thet can tap a button which will summon a
fingerprint brush. The brush will start moving around leaving footsteps on the ground. Following the footsteps will lead you to the main objective. When you find your self in a room with two doors, summoning the brush will show you the correct door meanning that the
other door is most likely hiding a collectable. Sometimes when walking in an area, the path might be locked as alot of enemies will appear. The player will have to kill all the enemies in order for the doors to unlocked allowing Jack to proceed through the level.
The levels are filled with interactable things such as barrels. These barrels depict an image of a skull, fire or ice. Shooting the barrel will cause it to explode killing nearby enemies. Uppon exploding the barrel, an after effect will stay in the area affecting the enemies.
For example, the fire barrel will make its nearby area be surrounded in flame causing damage to who ever steps on it. In a typical cartoon fashion, some pianos and anvils are hovering above, shooting the rope or the balloons will cause the item to drop on the enemies squashing them.
Additionally, the player can pick up temporary power ups. One of them is the ghost pepper, uppon consuming one, every shot that Jack lands will cause a burning effect on the enemy. The Spinach will pumb Jacks Muscles allowinng him to KO the enemy. Last but not least a
cup of tea allows Jack to use a finger gun. Aside for ammo, barrels and stuff to use offensively, the player can find items to restore Jack's life. Health restorarion can be found in the form of alchohol. Some potions are lying on the floor whilst others are in first aid kits. An additional layer of protection comes in the form of shield.
The player can touch a helmet or a vest which will grant shields. Last but not least the player can find a Locked Chest. Jack can use his tail in order to unlock the locker. To solve it the player needs to go through some items whilst avoiding the spikes. Some chests have timer whilst others have
a limit to the movement. Inside the chests are usually weapon blueprints or money.
Another part of the game is returning back to the "main area" where Jacks office is located. The Mouse Pi area is where Jack can interact with other NPCs and pick up some Side quest. Moreover this is the area where the players can upgrade their weapons. In his office, Jack can place all
of the collected clues on the board to help him get closer to solving the case. Inside the bar, theres an NPC who likes a baseball card minigame(more on Post content). To leave the area, simply interact with Jacks car which will take you to the map. You can drive your car to the objective which is
usually inticated by a pointing hand. There are some highlighted buildings that offer everything found within the house area with the exception of Jacks building, Meanning you can find the baseball minigame, a way to upgrade the weapon and the store.
Honestly i really enjoyed Mouse Pi. I found the gameplay fun and well thought. It is literally a black and white cartoonish Doom clone with alot of Personality and alot of Cheese. If you played any Doom game, you should know what to expect. A minor argument of mine was at certain missions things were to chaotic and i couldnt see where the healing potion was cause of the monochromy, me trying to dodge the enemies and me trying to shoot them back. It doesnt happen alot of times but there were some cases where it did. Another minor critisism is the fact that some weapons are way too weak making their usage less of a must. For example, i spent most of my game using the James gun as it shoots faster than a shotgun and has more ammo capacity. In fact i found my self barely using both the Boomstick and Kiss kiss(the 2 shotguns)as they were less effective in my eyes. Aside from that i enjoyed the parkour and the smaller details like the animations and the world environment.
During your time with the game, you can do a certain ammount of things.As of the writing of this, theres is no Chapter Select. This means you should do everything before concluding the game. Whilst out solving cases, the player
can pick up multipleside jobs. These jobs will require you visiting either the area you re meant to(main story maps) or maps you ve already been to. Some will require taking pictures whilst others will ask to collect something from a location.
Doing side jobs give dedective Peppers extra money. Collecting items is another main part of Peppers job. Whilst on a mission or from the store, the player can collect Comic books, newspapers, Funko POPs, Schematics, baseball cards and clues.
The newspapers and comics reveal alot of details for the story and the world. The Schematics can be used in order to upgrade the game's weapon. Clues on the other hand are information that can lead the player to solve the cases.
The baseball cards can be placed and form a deck for the player to partake in a card game. For this minigame the player bets a finite ammount of money. The players then play as the Batter or the Pitcher. Each card has a value displayed indicating their power.
The player can then set the card and the highest number wins. In case of a draw, a coin wil flip with each role on its sides and whoever the coins land will win the round. Up to one Support card can be equiped within each round boosting an ability. As the batter, the card will increase
either the players bat strength or the speed with which he can run around. As a pitcher once again you can increase the throw power or freeze the runners on the spot preventing them from advancing.
On the visual department, Fumi games cooked something very original by combining the 3D environments with hand drawn animations found in the rubber hose animations found in classic cartoons of 1930. It also has a nice noir asthetic. Every drawing has so much detail on their walk cycles, their expressions and
their actions. Even their death animations are so well done that you dont consider how "gory" they re due to how cartoonish they re. For example, popping heads off, freezing them and smashing them to pieces or even melting them leaving their skeleton standing before collapsing. Even NPCs around the world like the
spiders, frogs, flowers and others are well done that re fully reminising of that era. The weapon themselves are very cartoony and have some well done reloading animations. Last but not least in terms of animations, we have to mention the bullet and health expression during gameplay. The more Jack gets damaged, the heart
gets more beat up where as the healthier Jack is the smiley that heart is. Also when the player has shields on, the heart it self wears armor. There is an area where the game drops most of its Noir looks and let me say that Oh my God its amazing. Visual references can also be found to earlier cartoons and shows.
Audio wise the game does a good job on capturing the feeling/essence of the noir asthetic. From start to finish the game has a nice Jazz beat that carries on. Moreover, there are areas where you can clear some iconic Copyright free songs that if you grew with certain media you will 100% identify. In terms of voice acting,
the main character jack is Voiced by Troy Baker a veteran in the voice acting scenes with iconic roles like Joel from Last of Us, Pain from Naruto, Joker in Dc and others. His portayal was done very well. The rest of cast also consist of Voice actors from the gaming and anime industry. Special sould effects also
add to the games charms. For example, the reloading animations, the spring effect each time Jack double jumps or the helicopter effect each time the tail swings. The game loves making alot of cheesy jokes and references which imnot gonna lie, i quite enjoyed.
Som audio glitches can be found here and there but they barely occur. For example, i had the chainsaw weapon equiped when entering a cutscene and its sound effects remained in the cutscene even though my character had his bare hands out.
Overall, Mouse Pi for hire is a fun and entertainning game. The player gets control of Jack, a former war hero now a P.I, who solves cases for money. Jack find himself busy solving cases however his latest mission proved to be way bigger that what he hoped for. The story takes place in the fictional city of Mouseburg. Gameplay wise, the
game is a crossover of the early 1930s cartoon with Doom. Its a first person boomer shooter where the player can use an arsenal of weapons to get through his mission. Jack is very mobile and can use his mobility to geth through all obstacles and missions. Visually the game looks amazing. It blends 3D graphics with hand drawn 2D animations with a
noir asthetic ontop. On the audio department the game doesnt dissapoint as theres a Jazz mood from start to finish with good voice actors carrying the magic of the universe. The post game content is techincally not existant cause as of now theres no chapter select however theres alot of things to do during the walkthrough such as picking side jobs,
collecting figurines and cards which can be used to create a deck to play a baseball game.
For a first attempt in the video game Industry, Fumi games did a fascinating job and made something very memorable and easily recognizable. The story is alright, a typical detective like story and the gameplay is fun, good and responsive. Its visuals are easily recognizable and shows how much effort gone into building the world and the characters. There
are some minors areas where the game can improve but that does not stop it for being a must play and an easy recomendation to FPS lovers. For example as mentioned, there some audio glitches that happen here and there, NOT often and not game breaking but they occur. The weapons despite being well animated different from the others are not well balanced
making some be barely usefull or only usefull when the others run out of ammo. The fact that all the POP figures are the exact same one. In Doom for example you get different ones for the slayer and also you get the demons ones. Again i need to express the fact that these are minor critisisms and that Fumi should be proud of their games. After all me and plenty of others online love the game.
This is a video of me playing the game. Near the end, we kept dying cause we wanted to see if we could save the kid.