Review: MOUSE: P.I. For Hire (Xbox)

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a hardboiled detective flick got drunk on cheddar fumes and woke up as a boomer shooter, MOUSE: P.I. For Hire has your answer. You play as Jack Pepper, a trench‑coat‑wearing, wisecracking mouse detective who solves crimes the old‑fashioned way: with grit, intuition, and a frankly irresponsible amount of gunfire.

From the moment the game opens with a frantic chase through Mouseburg’s rain‑slick alleys, it’s clear this isn’t your granddad’s noir. It’s noir that’s been left out in the sun too long, warped, rubber‑hosed, and ready to bite. The city is a gorgeous, grimy playground of flickering neon, smoky jazz, and suspicious rodents who all seem to have something to hide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiLeIzdt-5g

The 1930s cartoon aesthetic is the star of the show. Everything bounces, stretches, and squashes like it’s auditioning for a Fleischer short. Guns recoil like they’re made of rubber bands. Enemies explode into inky puffs. Even Jack’s silhouette looks like it was inked by a jittery animator on their lunch break.

Mouseburg itself feels alive and every alley, office, and underground den oozes atmosphere, from the smoky jazz bars to the industrial zones where trouble brews like bad fondue.

Combat is fast, frantic, and surprisingly varied. Early encounters lull you in with club‑swinging goons, but soon you’re juggling ranged attackers, bomb‑throwers, stun‑happy thugs, and mechanical nightmares that look like rejected cartoon mascots. The game drip‑feeds new enemy types and weapons at a steady pace, keeping firefights fresh and forcing you to improvise like a mouse who’s misplaced his last trap.

There’s a clear DOOM influence in the rhythm with its constant movement, constant aggression, constant “oh no, that thing has a rocket launcher now.”

The game is a run‑and‑gun FPS where staying still is basically an invitation to get flattened by a falling piano. Combat is built around speed, dodging, and creative weapon use, with arenas that constantly push you to keep moving.

Enemies come in swarms including gangsters, cops, cultists, mechanical oddities and each encounter feels like a tiny cartoon brawl where everything is trying to kill you in the most slapstick way possible.

Movement is a huge part of the rhythm. As you progress, you unlock abilities like double jump, wall‑running, tail‑coptering, tail‑hooking, and even warp‑pipe traversal, all of which open up new ways to dodge, flank, and style on enemies.

Jack Pepper begins with what looks like a routine job, the kind of “cheap case” he takes because his gambling debts are breeding faster than the city’s shrew population. Mouseburg is already a mess: crime everywhere, cheeselegging rings, shrew discrimination, and a police force that’s about as trustworthy as a three‑day‑old fondue.

But the moment Jack starts poking around, the city pokes back.... hard. What starts as a missing magician and a few suspicious incidents quickly reveals itself as something far bigger, nastier, and more organised than any single case should be.

The setting is 1934 Mouseburg, it's a black‑and‑white metropolis inspired by 1930s New York, complete with jazz bars, film studios, corrupt officials, and a thriving underworld. Shrews, once residents of their own town Shrewthicket, are now treated as second‑class citizens after their home was destroyed. That tension simmers beneath everything Jack investigates.

The narrative leans into classic noir tropes of distrust, corruption, smoky rooms, double‑crosses, but twists them with cartoon absurdity. Cheese is treated like alcohol or drugs; powdered blue cheese is basically contraband. Crime lords run cheeselegging operations. Everyone has an angle. Everyone has a secret. And Jack? He’s the only mouse stubborn enough to keep digging even when the city tries to bury him.

The humour is relentless: cheese puns, genre jokes, fourth‑wall nudges, and Jack’s own sardonic commentary. It’s silly, but knowingly silly, the game wants you to groan, and it earns every groan with charm.

The Xbox version runs smoothly, keeping the action snappy and the animation crisp. The rubber‑hose aesthetic shines in 4K, and the framerate holds steady even when the screen fills with more ink and bullets than a cartoonist’s nightmare.

Pros

• Hilarious noir‑meets‑cartoon tone

• Gorgeous 1930s rubber‑hose art style

• Fast, varied, satisfying combat

• A city full of personality and atmosphere

• Jack Pepper’s constant quips land more often than they miss

Cons

• Humour may be too constant for some

• Story occasionally veers from noir into full‑on absurdity

• Early combat encounters feel simple before the game opens up

MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is a stylish, chaotic, and knowingly ridiculous noir shooter that embraces its cartoon roots with both tiny paws. It’s funny, fast, and full of personality, it's a game that squeaks loudly and proudly. If you’re in the mood for a boomer shooter with charm, cheese, and a detective who never met a pun he didn’t like, this one’s worth hiring.

XPN Rating: 4 out of 5 (GOLD)

MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is available now!