Cuphead did one thing in 2017 that we might arguably by no means seen earlier than in a online game, or at the very least nowhere close to the diploma Cuphead went to: it constructed a whole sport round fully hand-drawn artwork and animation a la a 1930’s cartoon. We have not seen it since most likely since doing all of that painstaking visible work by hand is extremely troublesome, time-intensive, and laborious. However now, a brand new hand-drawn and hand-animated undertaking is on the point of grace our PCs and consoles. It is referred to as Mouse: P.I. for Hire, and absolutely handcrafted artwork is about the solely factor it is received in frequent with Cuphead. Mouse is its personal, equally beautiful sport, and after getting a have a look at a hands-off demo, I am simply as occupied with it as I used to be once I first noticed Cuphead. Which is to say, I’m very .
As you may clearly see, Mouse is in black and white. It is harking back to the Steamboat Willy period of early animation, full with weapons which can be all the time wobbling even after they aren’t in use, as in the event that they’re product of rubber. (Extra on the weapons in a bit.) As you may also plainly see, Mouse is a first-person shooter. In it, you play as Jack Pepper, who in-demand online game voice actor Troy Baker performs with a stereotypical-on-purpose New York accent. He is an early-Twentieth-century gumshoe, in spite of everything, see? He is received to sound like one.
What I actually favored about the demo I noticed of Mouse was that it wasn’t only a senseless run-and-gun first-person shooter (not that there is something flawed with that). As an alternative, the mission I noticed a part of was set at an opera home, the place Pepper needed to discover and query the stage designer. We began at the again door, the place we spoke to a waiter and requested about Roland, the aforementioned stage designer. He hasn’t seen him, so in we go to analyze for ourselves.
Inside, the kitchen offers you a greater have a look at the visible aesthetic at play right here. Discover how the characters are 2D inside the 3D house, not not like the monsters in the unique Doom. A peek by way of the porthole window of the kitchen door exhibits off one among Mouse’s detective-y options: reconnaissance, as Jack takes a photograph and sees some members of the Huge Mouse Social gathering – aka not guys we wish something to do with.
Transferring to the again of the kitchen, we meet up with a slick waiter who’s pleased to assist sneak us upstairs to the place we have to go quietly – for $30. We decline the bribe and as a substitute discover a vent we will sneak by way of. A bonus stash of money hiding in the vent is appreciated, however the backside falling out of the vent, crash-landing us again outdoors the place we began, could be very a lot not appreciated.
Try quantity two takes us again by way of the kitchen and into the identical vent, fastidiously crawling round the newly made gap in the ground and taking us to the dressing room, the place a Thompson machine gun and a few ammo await. You’re not speculated to be in right here, after all, and the Huge Mouse Social gathering members don’t take kindly to your presence. It’s right here that we get our first have a look at the first-person shooter fight, together with one among the beautiful reload animations.
We hear a muffled voice that could be Roland, however first a protected offers us an opportunity to see the lockpicking minigame in motion, together with what the protected was hiding: a cup of espresso? Then issues get actually loud, as the wall in entrance of us blows up and we’ve got to snuff out the dangerous man that emerges from the smoke earlier than utilizing TNT ourselves to make a gap in the ground so we will make our method down into the bowels of the opera home.
Lastly, we’ve discovered Roland. He’s been crushed up by the extras, who Jack deduces aren’t extras in any respect, and learns the Huge Mouse Social gathering’s actual plan: to assassinate mayoral candidate Stilton, who’s sitting in the balcony for that night’s present, throughout intermission, utilizing the cannon on stage that’s each filled with reside ammo and pointed instantly at him.
Quick-forward to extra fight, together with the shotgun, which seems to be prefer it packs a pleasant wallop – and likewise has a reasonably superior reload animation of its personal. Plus a have a look at explosive barrels that depart the dangerous guys burning in the most cartoonish method potential. There’s even an ice barrel – liquid nitrogen, maybe? – that freezes close by foes when detonated, permitting you to kick them so that they shatter right into a thousand items, Terminator 2-style. Moments later we additionally received a have a look at the third weapon featured in the demo: the turpentine gun, which melts these cartoon characters who’re actually product of paint, not not like the Dip from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
After a little bit of platforming and preventing a brand new helicopter-tailed enemy kind, we discovered our method again upstairs…solely to have a entice door under our ft open up, dumping us again into the basement. It’s right here we meet the Outdated Rat Stuntman, who teaches Jack the double-jump maneuver. After testing it out and discovering a secret – a baseball buying and selling card of “Brie” Ruth (get it, as a result of they’re mice and love cheese?) – we discover our method again on stage to sabotage the cannon and save Stilton, which triggers a boss battle with a raging opera performer. The turpentine gun finishes him off, and we get a have a look at its reload animation, which should you ask me is even cooler than the others we’ve already seen.
The hearth from the stage has unfold to the remainder of the opera home, and we’ve gotta get out of right here. However we’re going to should shoot our method out utilizing each weapon at our disposal. No drawback for Jack Pepper. Let’s watch some fight now, uninterrupted.
Lastly escaping the constructing, we meet up with the stage designer, who coughs up what he is aware of about the performer who’s vanished. One thing a couple of secret lab beneath his mansion? No, that doesn’t sound suspicious in any respect… And with that, we exit the degree and the demo ends.
And so, although I haven’t but performed it myself, from what I’ve seen of Mouse – and also you simply noticed most of what I noticed – I’m actually keen to present it a strive. It looks like it’s received the proper lighthearted, considerably comedic tone whereas additionally being self-aware however providing a strong first-person shooter at the core of it. In spite of everything, as beautiful and admirable as its hand-drawn artwork and animation are, if the gameplay can’t again it up and likewise keep my curiosity in it over the course of its marketing campaign, then it received’t actually matter how fairly it’s. However at this level, I’m extraordinarily optimistic.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s government editor of previews and host of each IGN’s weekly Xbox present, Podcast Unlocked, in addition to our month-to-month(-ish) interview present, IGN Unfiltered. He is a North Jersey man, so it is “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.