A little more than nine years later, I’m finally making good on the parting words from my review of Blue Toad Murder Files’ first episode. That is, a review of the game in full. In actuality, my friend and I did see the game through to the end back then, but I failed to follow up. And I suppose it’s because there really wasn’t much to add. Rereading that review all these years later, I’m surprised above all else that I didn’t cringe. There are some things I would change were I to write it now, but I honestly think it summarized the game pretty succinctly.

To recap, the multiplayer orientated, puzzle solving whodunit was rich with British charm and a variety of brain teasing puzzles. Each episode followed the same formula, and in replaying them all for trophy cleanup last week, the experience wore thin. This is definitely a game best experienced with others, and with a day or week break in between each hour-long episode.

Even now I don’t have much to add to my original thoughts, but one point I didn’t touch on back then, and this is the accountant in me speaking, is how efficient the developers at Relentless Software were. At the time of this game’s release, they were making a go at independence after a number of years developing the Buzz! games for Sony. The concept for this game allowed for a single setting, a small number of environments that didn’t need to be overly detailed, characters that didn’t require much animation (including no visuals below the waist), and relatively simple interaction for the puzzle gameplay. And still, it was an enjoyable experience all the same. Brilliant!