It has been proven time and again that presentation can only get you so far in games. There are countless examples of titles that nail the look perfectly, but the rest of the game is so average that some players may consider the whole thing to be below average due to the lofty aspirations of the presentation. Mouse: P.I. For Hire is a game that has been praised for its distinct graphical look, and the rest of the title backs up that positive sentiment in every way.

You play the role of Jack Pepper, a veteran of the first World War and former Mouseburg cop-turned-private detective. If it weren't for his addiction to gambling and resulting debt, Jack could be more discerning about which cases to take. The latest case he takes on has him trying to solve the disappearance of a famous magician, but the more he digs into the case, the more he realizes that three of his cases are not only related but eventually lead to something much, much bigger.

The story is pretty much an homage to old detective films and associated tropes:  a gravelly voiced private investigator who's down on his luck, a group of otherwise normal people with unbelievable connections to help our protagonist, and a mysterious woman waltzing into an office with a mystery that takes many unexpected twists and turns. It's familiar stuff that feels good thanks to the pacing, which never lingers too long, even though you reach locales that don't seem to initially make sense. The heroes and their associates are all likeable in their own way, while all of the antagonists are very punch-able. The only time the story veers off track is during some of the later levels when you're wrapping up the cases as more modern references creep in for a quick reaction from players. One level in particular goes to strange places, but things come together in the final levels.

The graphics are highly impressive for a multitude of reasons. The game uses the fact that Steamboat Willie entered the public domain a few years ago to dictate part of the look of its characters by giving everyone a rounded ear look. This isn't a complete 1:1 look, though. The snouts are more elongated and scrunched up, as if they took more inspiration from Mortimer Mouse before squeezing in the snout to give the characters a distinct but very familiar appearance. It works very well in making the game's characters feel more distinct rather than being quick copies of the original.

One thing that makes the characters stand out has to do with the fact that they're rendered purely in 2D. You can look at anyone at any angle and see them facing you at all times. Look at them directly from above, and they're completely flat on one dimension, but even as corpses they'll rotate in relation to your horizontal perspective. It'll remind you of all of the enemies and items you'd see in the original version of Doom, but now you can see the top portion of the models. This approach works in contrast to the environments, which are fully rendered in 3D, as expected from modern shooters.

The color scheme also solidifies the game's distinct look against its genre contemporaries. The paring back of color goes with a completely black-and-white look, and every shade of gray is also used. The accuracy when trying to emulate the cartoon look of the time period is great, but the authenticity shines when you see that interactive objects are shown with a slightly brighter hue compared to everything else in the environment. Look at any short from beyond the era or any TV cartoon from the 1970s to the 1990s, and this is commonplace.

Speaking of which, the game adopts a "rubber hose" animation style of the 1930s in a way that is reminiscent of Cuphead, minus the use of color. Every animated element is bouncy but has some fluidity. The ammo in the HUD is expressive when shot, the banners wave endlessly, gun barrels flex like wet noodles, and you have visible lines for things like updrafts. The only time the look falters a bit is when you're speaking with a character, and that's because there are moments when you can see abrupt shifts in animation cycles. The look nails the nostalgia of the era, but what's more impressive is the frame rate. Every animated element moves at roughly 24fps, while the rest of the game is more varied depending on your setup and resolution. You get the responsiveness of high frame rates while still keeping a look that doesn't feel too modern. That combination makes the whole graphical package look stunning.

Alongside the graphics, the complete audio package is superb. The voice acting is excellent, with a cast of notable names in the voice acting industry lending their pipes and performances that fit each major and minor character perfectly. They're all helped out by a script that nails the tone of a classic detective movie, and a few bits of humor feel perfectly suited to the tone. The music is a highlight; somber horn music, which is commonly associated with film noir, plays during key moments. You also get loads of big band jazz playing when you're in a gunfight. About the only issue you may notice is that the buzzing sound of flying enemies never goes away, even after they leave the scene. You'll need a full level load to get rid of the sound. It isn't a huge deal, but you will notice if you're listening for it.

Mouse: P.I. for Hire is a first-person shooter that mixes up the boomer shooter style with elements from more modern entries in the genre. Firing from the hip is your only option, since there is no ability to aim down weapon sights, but you have to reload once you empty your clip. You can carry as many weapons as you want, but you can also hit a button to switch between your current weapon and the last one you selected instead of having to depend on the weapon wheel. The weapons range from basics like a pistol to something more fantastic, such as the gun that freezes enemies. While you can melee enemies with a kick, it isn't an all-powerful attack, and you can't do it forever because it's tied to a stamina meter.

There are a few elements to the shooting that make it feel more distinct when compared to the genre contemporaries. The first is the alternate fire option once you level up a gun at least once. Some of the alternate fire options are neat, like having the pistol fire three bullets in rapid succession. Others change your entire strategy for the firearm, such as using the alt fire to lay down a field of poison instead of firing small blobs at enemies. The second element — and perhaps the more impressive one — is the fact that you can carry barrels with you and throw them at enemies. Barrels are plentiful, and while there are standard explosive ones, others can be filled with poison, freeze enemies when the barrels explode, or temporarily set the environment ablaze. You can only carry one barrel at a time, and there is a good chance that it'll explode if you get shot while holding it, but it's great to be able to control where a barrel detonates. Finally, there are areas where you can shoot objects from above and have them fall on enemies, just like the classic cartoons.

Outside of the shooting, Mouse employs some light platforming that starts off as you simply climbing up and down ladders and ducking under low-hanging objects. It doesn't take long before trampolines are thrown in for bigger jumps. The game also employs some tail-related things that hearken back to the game's cartoon influences, such as using your tail like a rotor so you can slowly descend from great heights or use an updraft to lift yourself higher. You'll also use your tail to latch onto hooks and swing across chasms. While all of this jumping can still sound treacherous from a first-person perspective, the game rarely has you jumping over fatal gaps, with the exception of the final level.

The typical level flow alternates often between shooting and platforming; the game follows the classic blueprint of giving you a monster closet before giving you a break to explore and uncover secrets before starting the loop anew. That may seem like a monotonous loop, but the flow between states is smooth, so you may not notice the pattern or get bored by it. The actual shooting feels smooth, and each weapon feels impactful, but the ammo counts and availability of different ammo types per fight encourage you to switch weapons often in the middle of a skirmish. The game also does a good job of keeping you in the fight by giving you a good deal of health and armor in each area, so you shouldn't ever reach a scenario where you're entering a big skirmish while you're on the verge of dying. The abundance of save points also ensures you won't repeat large sections if you die. Combine that with the ability to call on a guide to help you reach each new objective or major point of progression, and you see that the game is doing everything it can to ensure you progress somehow. This is good, since you'll be clocking around 10-12 hours in the campaign from start to finish.

There are a few other things to do in the game, aside from jumping and shooting. You'll often find safes and doors where you can use your tail as a lockpick to open them. The lockpicking process is relatively easy, as you're navigating a maze to hit all of the tumblers and reach the exit without hitting any spikes, and you must do so while either avoiding a time limit or staying within the allotted number of moves. Your prize for successful completion is often cash, but certain safes only give you one chance to lockpick them, and they often hide things like extra blueprints. There are newspapers you can find to give yourself extra lore for the game world and comic book strips that are done so well that it'll make you think that this was a game inspired by an old comic strip character instead of being an original creation. You can also find baseball cards, which are used in a baseball-themed card game that can be played either in the city block near your home office or at various roadhouses scattered around the game world. It is a modified and truncated version of the real game, as you only step up to bat five times and pitch five times before the game is over. The rules are easy to understand, and you'll want to play this often because you get exclusive items and you have nothing else to spend your cash on, since no stores exist.

There are a few nitpicks. The biggest one is that the game features no New Game+, and it doesn't have the ability to revisit levels. If you're trying to hunt down all of the secrets, then you need to do thorough searches of each level the first time out because you won't have a chance to check it out later. If you think you may mess up on lockpicking the special safes, you'll need a bunch of backup saves to ensure you don't miss out on secret loot. Hopefully this is something that can be addressed in a patch. Another issue some players may have is with the grappling hooks, as there are moments when you really need to get high enough before the button prompt registers. It's not a big deal most of the time, but it can be annoying to deal with in the final level. While the game gives you a full-on hub world where you can drive to the next level for a case, there are no secret areas to explore this way, so the mechanic works more as an atmospheric function instead of a gameplay opportunity. The same can be said for clue collecting; it's neat to see you put photos and other pieces of evidence on a board, but you never get to actually string things together, as that's automatically done for you.

Right out of the gate, Mouse works perfectly on Linux PCs with no tweaking needed to make it run. On the Steam Deck, the game also runs pretty flawlessly. The native resolution of 1280x800 is used, and while the presets turn everything down to low, everything looks similar enough to the highest setting that you'll barely notice any differences when going from this system to a more powerful machine. The game runs at 60fps most of the time, with dips only occurring when you have loads of smoke effects on-screen. While there is a frame limiter present in the options, it doesn't seem to work at the moment. Battery life on the LCD version of the Deck is also good, as you can get a little over two hours on a full charge before needing to plug in the device again.

Mouse: P.I. for Hire is absolutely excellent. The presentation is stellar, with graphics that accomplish their goal of creating an interactive version of a 1930s cartoon. The soundtrack is good enough to convert players into fans of big band jazz. The shooting and platforming feel right, while the game clocks in at the right length. For fans of both shooting and action in general, Mouse: P.I. for Hire is a must-have title.

Score: 9.0/10