P.I. For Hire review – Doom meets Steamboat Willie

A noir-themed boomer shooter, where you play as a mouse detective who lets his guns do the talking, has some of the best graphics of the year.

Along with roguelike and Soulslike , the term ‘boomer shooter’ has come to define a very specific type of game over the past decade.

It refers to modern shooters with 1990s design principles akin to Doom or Quake, and while you could pin its resurgence on Wolfenstein: The New Order or 2016’s reboot of Doom , the indie space is where it has blossomed into a legitimate – and well served – subgenre.

Turbo Overkill and Dusk are some celebrated examples, but Mouse: P.I.

For Hire might be the most aesthetically distinctive boomer shooter yet.

Like Cuphead , it adopts the rubber hose animation style associated with 1930s cartoons, albeit with a detective noir flavour and a world where anthropomorphic rodents reign supreme.

In the opening hours, Mouse: P.I.

For Hire makes a strong first impression.

You’re thrown into the shoes of Jack Pepper, a hard-boiled private eye who adheres to the classic noir tropes in his smokey one-liners and gruff expository monologues.

He resides in the New York-inspired city of Mouseburg, and after being tipped off about a missing magician, his investigation spirals into a broader web of conspiracy and loose ends encompassing corrupt police and surreal cultists.

While there are points where you can choose which level to tackle first, Mouse: P.I.

For Hire is a largely linear experience where you’re pinging between your apartment headquarters and levels scattered across a top-down city overworld map (complete with an adorable 1930s style car you control).

You gather clues in levels connected to various mysteries, bring them back to your quarters, and stick them on an investigation board which, in turn, opens up more leads and levels to explore.

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You might play as a private investigator, but the game isn’t concerned about tasking you with any actual detective work.

This is predominantly a shooter, with occasional moments where you have to photograph an object of interest, speak with key characters (with only limited dialogue choices), or play a fun lock hacking mini-game.

In many ways, the rhythm and structure of Mouse: P.I.

For Hire resembles Doom Eternal .

Levels are largely a sequence of corridors and arena-style combat encounters, with hidden collectibles, like schematics for weapon upgrades, being concealed behind destructible walls (comically marked ‘totally normal wall’), vents, or other secret passageways tucked just beyond the main path.

The comparison to id Software’s shooter extends to the combat.

There’s an emphasis on verticality, with Jack gradually unlocking abilities like a double jump and a tail grappling hook to hop around the battlefield – with enemies often barrelling towards you haphazardly.

It’s never as challenging as Doom Eternal, and on normal difficulty it’s perhaps too easy, but it taps into a similar flow state when you’re gunning around the larger arenas.

Where Mouse: P.I.

For Hire struggles to compare is in its gunplay.

Crucially, the act of blasting 2D cartoon sprites doesn’t have the gratifying feedback you’d want from a game where shooting is the primary interaction.

The pistol-like Micer and the game’s equivalent of a Tommy Gun both feel like peashooters with little heft, and there’s no rewarding kickback for popping an enemy’s head, for example, outside of a cutesy animation.

The explosive weapons fare better, with an acidic grenade launcher melting enemies to bones, Itchy & Scratchy style, but it still lacks the crunch and weight of the best shooters.

You could argue this is a choice to match the aesthetic, but when gunning down cartoon rodents is all you do, for the roughly 15 hour runtime, the lack of tactility becomes a problem.

In a similar vein, the flat and humourless writing doesn’t live up to the promise of its mousy noir premise.

There are plenty of cheese puns but exchanges with Mouseburg’s locals, and even Jack Pepper’s internal monologues, rarely possess any witty punch or comedic zip.

It plays the narrative seriously but vastly overestimates how engaging the core mystery is – to the point where the noir shtick gets tiresome because it rarely feels like it’s having fun with itself.

By extension, Troy Baker feels miscast in the lead role.

His performance is weirdly understated for a detective mouse armed with a rocket launcher – and while that could have been funny if they played up the juxtaposition, it doesn’t go far enough to seem intentional.

Across all the writing and performances, Mouse P.I.

For Hire would have benefitted from leaning harder on exaggerated parody, over trying to craft a ‘serious’ noir mystery.

The commitment to black and white has unintended side effects too.

There’s plenty of level variety – from opera houses and shabby fishing towns to film studios and robotic laboratories – but the homogenised colour palette reinforces the repetitive elements.

The frequent rollout of new abilities and guns helps stave off déjà vu to an extent, but the lack of clear visual variety does make levels bleed into each other.

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Despite its flaws, there’s a lot to like about Mouse P.I.

For Hire.

When you’re splatting goons with the excellent jazz soundtrack in full swing, it’s hard not to get swept up by its impressively detailed atmosphere – with the city’s cracks littered with tongue-in-cheek posters and sprites of wildlife.

The boss battles also, for the most part, nail the assignment in cranking up the silliness, between alligators armed with gatling guns to a corrupt police chief hiding out in a building you have to casually destroy with rockets, to begin your interrogation.

Mouse: P.I.

For Hire is built around the undeniable charms of its presentation, but there’s too little meat on its impressively animated bones.

This is an adequate shooter wearing a fur coat and smoking the finest cigars, and while it gets by on the novelty for a while, it doesn’t take long to see the hollow truth lurking beneath the bluster.

Mouse: P.I.

For Hire review summary
In Short : A noir boomer shooter rich in style and atmosphere but limited by its unremarkable gunplay and flat writing, which fails to capitalise on its fun premise.

Pros : The rubber hose animation, especially on gun reloads and character designs, is brilliant.

Nails the noir atmosphere, with an addictive jazz soundtrack during battles.

Fun boss fights, with a surprisingly enjoyable baseball-themed card game packed in.

Cons : Gunplay lacks impact and is underwhelming.

Despite the varied locations on paper, the black and white aesthetic makes them feel less distinctive.

The writing is not sharp enough and takes itself too seriously.

Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC Price: £24.99 Publisher: PlaySide Studios Developer: Fumi Games Release Date: 16th April 2026 Age Rating: 16
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