In Mouse P.I., rubbery guns, a film-noir visual style, and playful one-liners that harken back to the suave-yet-silly tone of 1930's cartoons all come together to scratch an itch that has long been out of reach for me. After a couple of hours of rootin' and tootin' gunplay with a fresh style I've not seen for a while, it seems like my need for a stylish first-person shooter that feels as good as it looks could be fulfilled soon.
Our preview drops us right in the middle of an investigation, which makes sense given our animated hero is the titular P.I. As Detective Jack Pepper, I'm tasked with looking into a secret underground laboratory where a villain named Steve Bandel has created abominations. I move quickly through Bandel's nefarious underground lair, solving simple puzzles, finding secrets, and gathering clues for later use. However, it doesn't take long before I stumble into some trouble.
After getting in a couple of scuffles with some unfriendly mice, it became clear that Mouse P.I.'s movement and combat are intentionally designed to evoke those arcadey vibes and, thus far, it's a great match for the retro animation aesthetic. Movement speed is high, and Detective Pepper's ability to pull off double jumps and quick dashes may not make sense within the context of his occupation, but it definitely lets the player zip across the environment extremely fast while popping enemies. In that way, it feels a lot like 2016's Doom; the violence and gore on display feel like an obvious hallmark of that, but the feeling of momentum and energy may not be as evident until you get your thumbs on the sticks or hands on the… mice...
Similarly, there's a parade of fun effects that respond to all your antics, with enemies melting, burning, and getting blown to pieces, depending on the weapon employed or the environment in which they meet their demise. There's a hilarious Itchy and Scratchy-like vibe to it all, and the game's tone does well to encourage this. In my playtime, I was chucking explosive barrels, throwing haymakers into a mouse's jaw, and disintegrating foes with turpentine. All the while it felt fast, fluid, and, most importantly, slapstick in its execution. This meant that Mouse P.I. was as satisfying to watch as it was to play.
Overall, the gameplay loop of Mouse P.I. features all the familiar beats of a first-person shooter, but its feel is more of a throwback to an era when the genre felt a little more playful and experimental--more specifically, the days of the Xbox 360, where unique hooks and pick-up-and-playability were as important as gun-feel and precise movement.
Even with the encouraging early impressions of the gameplay, the artistic style is undoubtedly the crown jewel of Mouse P.I., and there are numerous little flourishes that enhance the eye-catching art style underpinning the game. Items of importance, for example, are highlighted with a cel-shaded outline and are often bouncing in the 1930s rubber hose style. Mouse P.I. also looks to be doing a good job at making its aesthetic functional, too. Cels of actively moving characters in hand-drawn animation often come with a heavier contrast outline, which means the game's characters, interactable pickups, and other items of importance aren't lost in visual noise. The environments are a softer matte style, so the backgrounds and baked-in sets of the level are easy to distinguish too.
And yet, all of this barely scratches the surface of why just being in the world of Mouse P.I. was such a treat. Seeing the UI bounce and bop in response to my actions, the silly animations that the health bar and ammo icon have, and the mesmerizing gun reloads never got old. Occasionally, I fired off a bullet or two just as an excuse to reload and watch those animations again. My fixation on Mouse P.I.'s animations took over multiple times throughout my playthrough, something that I haven't done with any other games recently. I spent so much time slowing down and just staring at the visual language of the game--whether it was an environment, an animation, a random poster on a wall, or an innocuous object on a desk, there was always something delightful to look at. Despite how simplified the world is, the minute details are captivating.
In fact, it's my complete awe over Mouse P.I.'s stylings that leads to my only gripe with the game so far: its lack of a 24 fps mode. As someone who enjoys shooters that feel good, I understand that the response time would suffer at this setting. However, as an animation nerd, it seems like a very appropriate option to better enjoy the game's visuals.
After a couple of skirmishes, I headed out into the Monopoly-scaled overworld by car, passing by locked areas I wasn't able to visit yet, but it worked as a tease for what the full game holds. Instead, I headed directly to Mouseburg and the Private Investigator's office, which, unsurprisingly, was in a rough part of town. There I found a couple of co-workers and contacts, such as Wanda the journalist and Tammy the gun technician. Mouseburg acts as a central hub, where the player can progress the story, upgrade weapons, and piece together clues about the mystery at hand.
All of the voice cast is great, but most notable is Troy Baker as the stoic but slightly sarcastic Jack Pepper. The writing in general remains light-hearted and witty, and the game relishes in surface-level plays on words, such as the German Mauser called The Micer, and Jack Pepper being a play on Pepperjack Cheese. A poster on the wall initially comes off as an innuendo, only for Tammy to clear up that it was just an ad for her weapons workshop. In short, Mouse P.I. makes the most of its setting and comedic tone by incorporating them into writing and world-building, too.
You can probably count the amount of video games that have used the 1930's cartoon style on a single hand. It's the definition of niche, and that's a major part of what draws me to Mouse P.I. Fortunately, Mouse P.I. is not all style and no substance, and I left my preview utterly charmed by it. Just existing in the world was fascinating, and it made me want to stop to smell the cartoon roses more than any other game I've played recently. Let's hope it all comes together for the final experience when Mouse P.I. releases on April 16.
Source
Our preview drops us right in the middle of an investigation, which makes sense given our animated hero is the titular P.I. As Detective Jack Pepper, I'm tasked with looking into a secret underground laboratory where a villain named Steve Bandel has created abominations. I move quickly through Bandel's nefarious underground lair, solving simple puzzles, finding secrets, and gathering clues for later use. However, it doesn't take long before I stumble into some trouble.
After getting in a couple of scuffles with some unfriendly mice, it became clear that Mouse P.I.'s movement and combat are intentionally designed to evoke those arcadey vibes and, thus far, it's a great match for the retro animation aesthetic. Movement speed is high, and Detective Pepper's ability to pull off double jumps and quick dashes may not make sense within the context of his occupation, but it definitely lets the player zip across the environment extremely fast while popping enemies. In that way, it feels a lot like 2016's Doom; the violence and gore on display feel like an obvious hallmark of that, but the feeling of momentum and energy may not be as evident until you get your thumbs on the sticks or hands on the… mice...
Similarly, there's a parade of fun effects that respond to all your antics, with enemies melting, burning, and getting blown to pieces, depending on the weapon employed or the environment in which they meet their demise. There's a hilarious Itchy and Scratchy-like vibe to it all, and the game's tone does well to encourage this. In my playtime, I was chucking explosive barrels, throwing haymakers into a mouse's jaw, and disintegrating foes with turpentine. All the while it felt fast, fluid, and, most importantly, slapstick in its execution. This meant that Mouse P.I. was as satisfying to watch as it was to play.
Overall, the gameplay loop of Mouse P.I. features all the familiar beats of a first-person shooter, but its feel is more of a throwback to an era when the genre felt a little more playful and experimental--more specifically, the days of the Xbox 360, where unique hooks and pick-up-and-playability were as important as gun-feel and precise movement.
Even with the encouraging early impressions of the gameplay, the artistic style is undoubtedly the crown jewel of Mouse P.I., and there are numerous little flourishes that enhance the eye-catching art style underpinning the game. Items of importance, for example, are highlighted with a cel-shaded outline and are often bouncing in the 1930s rubber hose style. Mouse P.I. also looks to be doing a good job at making its aesthetic functional, too. Cels of actively moving characters in hand-drawn animation often come with a heavier contrast outline, which means the game's characters, interactable pickups, and other items of importance aren't lost in visual noise. The environments are a softer matte style, so the backgrounds and baked-in sets of the level are easy to distinguish too.
And yet, all of this barely scratches the surface of why just being in the world of Mouse P.I. was such a treat. Seeing the UI bounce and bop in response to my actions, the silly animations that the health bar and ammo icon have, and the mesmerizing gun reloads never got old. Occasionally, I fired off a bullet or two just as an excuse to reload and watch those animations again. My fixation on Mouse P.I.'s animations took over multiple times throughout my playthrough, something that I haven't done with any other games recently. I spent so much time slowing down and just staring at the visual language of the game--whether it was an environment, an animation, a random poster on a wall, or an innocuous object on a desk, there was always something delightful to look at. Despite how simplified the world is, the minute details are captivating.
In fact, it's my complete awe over Mouse P.I.'s stylings that leads to my only gripe with the game so far: its lack of a 24 fps mode. As someone who enjoys shooters that feel good, I understand that the response time would suffer at this setting. However, as an animation nerd, it seems like a very appropriate option to better enjoy the game's visuals.
After a couple of skirmishes, I headed out into the Monopoly-scaled overworld by car, passing by locked areas I wasn't able to visit yet, but it worked as a tease for what the full game holds. Instead, I headed directly to Mouseburg and the Private Investigator's office, which, unsurprisingly, was in a rough part of town. There I found a couple of co-workers and contacts, such as Wanda the journalist and Tammy the gun technician. Mouseburg acts as a central hub, where the player can progress the story, upgrade weapons, and piece together clues about the mystery at hand.
All of the voice cast is great, but most notable is Troy Baker as the stoic but slightly sarcastic Jack Pepper. The writing in general remains light-hearted and witty, and the game relishes in surface-level plays on words, such as the German Mauser called The Micer, and Jack Pepper being a play on Pepperjack Cheese. A poster on the wall initially comes off as an innuendo, only for Tammy to clear up that it was just an ad for her weapons workshop. In short, Mouse P.I. makes the most of its setting and comedic tone by incorporating them into writing and world-building, too.
You can probably count the amount of video games that have used the 1930's cartoon style on a single hand. It's the definition of niche, and that's a major part of what draws me to Mouse P.I. Fortunately, Mouse P.I. is not all style and no substance, and I left my preview utterly charmed by it. Just existing in the world was fascinating, and it made me want to stop to smell the cartoon roses more than any other game I've played recently. Let's hope it all comes together for the final experience when Mouse P.I. releases on April 16.
Source