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PlayStation 3, Reviews

Blue Toad Murder Files [PlayStation 3] – Review

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The four detectives players get to play as.

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!

PlayStation 3, PlayStation Network, Reviews

Blue Toad Murder Files: Little Riddle’s Deadly Dilemma – Review

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The four detectives players get to play as.

Blue Toad Murder Files in its entirety consists of six episodic downloads wherein one to four players assumes the role of a detective and solves crimes. The first episode, Little Riddle’s Deadly Dilemma is available for free on the PlayStation Network and my friend and I recently played through it.

Developed and published by UK based Relentless Software, Blue Toad Murder Files is a departure from what they’re known for: the Buzz! series. At the same time, they’ve used their experience and crafted a game that is fun with friends, cooperatively or competitively.

Set in a picturesque British village with banal villagers who talk in a nearly foreign tongue, to me (an American) Blue Toad Murder Files seems as British as it gets. But that’s part of the game’s charm. When it comes to detectives, Sherlock Holmes and the work of Agatha Christie are forefront in my mind, never mind that Hercule Poirot is Belgian…

Anyways, my friend and I soon witnessed the mayor of Little Riddle get shot and we began questioning the villagers attempting to find the culprit. Nearly every time we talked with someone they had a puzzle for us. We were supposed to solve these ourselves but we worked cooperatively. The puzzles reminded me of the ones I saw in Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Puzzles didn’t fall into one category and for all twelve of them we were asked to do something different. The difficulty was well paced and we had fun attempting to get the gold medal on each one.

The old lady provides a memorable recurring event.

Blue Toad Murder Files: Little Riddle’s Deadly Dilemma couldn’t be tackled in a free fashion; it was a guided adventure that gave us all the information it had and then tasked us with putting it all together and coming to a conclusion. I loved the setting and the character’s and dug the variety of the puzzles. It took us about an hour to play through and I suspect we might play through the rest. If that’s the case, expect another write-up over the game in full.

4/5