Mouse: PI for Hire Might Fill the Animated Void Cuphead Left Behind

Cuphead did thing successful 2017 that we'd arguably ne'er seen earlier successful a video game, oregon astatine slightest obscurity adjacent the grade Cuphead went to: it built an full crippled astir wholly hand-drawn creation and animation a la a 1930's cartoon. We haven't seen it since astir apt since doing each of that painstaking ocular enactment by manus is incredibly difficult, time-intensive, and laborious. But now, a caller hand-drawn and hand-animated task is getting acceptable to grace our PCs and consoles. It's called Mouse: P.I. for Hire, and afloat handcrafted creation is astir the lone happening it's got successful communal with Cuphead. Mouse is its own, arsenic gorgeous game, and aft getting a look astatine a hands-off demo, I'm conscionable arsenic funny successful it arsenic I was erstwhile I archetypal saw Cuphead. Which is to say, I’m precise interested.

As you tin evidently see, Mouse is successful achromatic and white. It's reminiscent of the Steamboat Willy epoch of aboriginal animation, implicit with guns that are ever wobbling adjacent erstwhile they aren't successful use, arsenic if they're made of rubber. (More connected the guns successful a bit.) As you tin besides plainly see, Mouse is simply a first-person shooter. In it, you play arsenic Jack Pepper, who in-demand video crippled dependable histrion Troy Baker plays with a stereotypical-on-purpose New York accent. He's an early-20th-century gumshoe, aft all, see? He's got to dependable similar one.

What I truly liked astir the demo I saw of Mouse was that it wasn't conscionable a mindless run-and-gun first-person shooter (not that there's thing incorrect with that). Instead, the ngo I saw portion of was acceptable astatine an opera house, wherever Pepper had to find and question the signifier designer. We started astatine the backmost door, wherever we spoke to a waiter and asked astir Roland, the aforementioned signifier designer. He hasn’t seen him, truthful successful we spell to analyse for ourselves.

Inside, the room gives you a amended look astatine the ocular aesthetic astatine play here. Notice however the characters are 2D wrong the 3D space, not dissimilar the monsters successful the archetypal Doom. A peek done the porthole model of the room doorway shows disconnected 1 of Mouse’s detective-y features: reconnaissance, arsenic Jack takes a photograph and sees immoderate members of the Big Mouse Party – aka not guys we privation thing to bash with.

Moving to the backmost of the kitchen, we conscionable up with a slick waiter who’s blessed to assistance sneak america upstairs to wherever we request to spell softly – for $30. We diminution the bribe and alternatively find a vent we tin sneak through. A bonus stash of currency hiding successful the vent is appreciated, but the bottommost falling retired of the vent, crash-landing america backmost extracurricular wherever we started, is precise overmuch not appreciated.

Attempt fig 2 takes america backmost done the room and into the aforesaid vent, cautiously crawling astir the recently made spread successful the level and taking america to the dressing room, wherever a Thompson instrumentality weapon and immoderate ammo await. You’re not expected to beryllium successful here, of course, and the Big Mouse Party members don’t instrumentality kindly to your presence. It’s present that we get our archetypal look astatine the first-person shooter combat, including 1 of the gorgeous reload animations.

We perceive a muffled dependable that mightiness beryllium Roland, but archetypal a harmless gives america a accidental to spot the lockpicking minigame successful action, on with what the harmless was hiding: a cupful of coffee? Then things get truly loud, arsenic the partition successful beforehand of america blows up and we person to snuff retired the atrocious feline that emerges from the fume earlier utilizing TNT ourselves to marque a spread successful the level truthful we tin marque our mode down into the bowels of the opera house.

Finally, we’ve recovered Roland. He’s been beaten up by the extras, who Jack deduces aren’t extras astatine all, and learns the Big Mouse Party’s existent plan: to assassinate mayoral campaigner Stilton, who’s sitting successful the balcony for that evening’s show, during intermission, utilizing the cannon connected signifier that is some afloat of unrecorded ammo and pointed straight astatine him.

Fast-forward to much combat, including the shotgun, which looks similar it packs a bully wallop – and besides has a beauteous awesome reload animation of its own. Plus a look astatine explosive barrels that permission the atrocious guys burning successful the astir cartoonish mode possible. There’s adjacent an crystal tube – liquid nitrogen, perhaps? – that freezes adjacent foes erstwhile detonated, allowing you to footwear them truthful they shatter into a 1000 pieces, Terminator 2-style. Moments aboriginal we besides got a look astatine the 3rd limb featured successful the demo: the turpentine gun, which melts these cartoon characters who are virtually made of paint, not dissimilar the Dip from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

After a spot of platforming and warring a caller helicopter-tailed force type, we recovered our mode backmost upstairs…only to person a trap doorway beneath our feet unfastened up, dumping america backmost into the basement. It’s present we conscionable the Old Rat Stuntman, who teaches Jack the double-jump maneuver. After investigating it retired and discovering a concealed – a shot trading paper of “Brie” Ruth (get it, due to the fact that they’re mice and emotion cheese?) – we find our mode backmost connected signifier to sabotage the cannon and prevention Stilton, which triggers a brag conflict with a raging opera performer. The turpentine weapon finishes him off, and we get a look astatine its reload animation, which if you inquire maine is adjacent cooler than the others we’ve already seen.

The occurrence from the signifier has dispersed to the remainder of the opera house, and we’ve gotta get retired of here. But we’re going to person to sprout our mode retired utilizing each limb astatine our disposal. No occupation for Jack Pepper. Let’s ticker immoderate combat now, uninterrupted.

Finally escaping the building, we conscionable up with the signifier designer, who coughs up what helium knows astir the performer who’s vanished. Something astir a concealed laboratory underneath his mansion? No, that doesn’t dependable suspicious astatine all… And with that, we exit the level and the demo ends.

And so, though I haven’t yet played it myself, from what I’ve seen of Mouse – and you conscionable saw astir of what I saw – I’m truly anxious to springiness it a try. It seems similar it’s got the close lighthearted, somewhat comedic code portion besides being self-aware but offering a coagulated first-person shooter astatine the halfway of it. After all, arsenic gorgeous and admirable arsenic its hand-drawn creation and animation are, if the gameplay can’t backmost it up and besides support my involvement successful it implicit the people of its campaign, past it won’t truly substance however beauteous it is. But astatine this point, I’m highly optimistic.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's enforcement exertion of previews and big of some IGN's play Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, arsenic good arsenic our monthly(-ish) interrogation show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, truthful it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him connected Twitter astatine @DMC_Ryan.