Mouse: P.I. For Hire Review: A Competent Shooter Oozing With Cartoon Charm - CNET

Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget. Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. The black-and-white Mickey-Mouse-with-a-gun game backs up its signature art style with a surprisingly mature detective yarn. Like any foolishly hopeful gamer, I sat in the darkness of my home, booting up a game I prayed would shine bright enough to live up to its promise. A black-and-white shooter set in a city full of mice? A classic cartoon animation style? A gumshoe noir plot? The idiosyncrasies stacked like Jenga blocks, and one faulty element could send the whole tower tumbling. But isn’t that always the way in Gamer Town, where promising pitches are a dime a dozen, and few successfully pull off their daring dreams. Mouse: P.I. For Hire, the long-awaited indie first-person shooter spawned from a post on X, is finally coming out on Thursday after years of trailers and teasers, and at a modest $30 price to boot. Though its creators from Polish studio Fumi Games insist that the game’s look is mo