With the explosion of digital only releases finally making its way from traditional PC’s and onto PSN and Xbox Live we are finally seeing some developers move solely to this digital distribution methods. The benefit of delivering novel, entertaining games to a non-core audience directly has allowed developers to market games which they wouldn’t normally entertain, whilst consumers benefit from the wealth of independent talent now available.

Relentless Software (probably best known for their Buzz Series) are one of those companies embracing digital delivery and in Blue Toad Murder Files (BTMF) have also set about delivering a full game via bite-sized episodic chunks (tasty!) BTMF is made up, in its entirety, of 6 equally sized episodes with each one following the same general principles. Listen, solve puzzles and eventually have your shot at Super Sleuth Stardom by pointing your Poirot-alike point the finger at one of 4 suspects based on your findings.

The game starts by selecting a Blue Toad Agency Detective and the number of players taking part in this episode followed by an introduction to the main setting for all 6 episodes; Little Riddle. Little Riddle is a quaint, rural English Village and the first murder is delightfully described by Tom Dussack. I think a well deserved round of applause is in order for Tom due to to his sterling work providing the entire voice track for the game and all of the villages inhabitants. After the brief introductions, the premise of each episode is established and the possible culprits identified. At this point the game sets your chosen detective on the investigative trail, leading you from location to location within the Little Riddle to question or help various individuals for either story progression or clues to the final Whodunnit !!

Each Puzzle in BTMF is introduced with its own screen card and a brief explanation on the mechanics of the puzzle. Puzzles are based around a mixture of Logic, Math & common sense with a few others based around deducing answers through listening to the ramblings of the people you are visiting in the village. Answers are selected where approriate with the X button and then submitted via the Triangle Button. The Ducks make an appearance here as they fly across the screen to reveal whether you are correct or not. A correct answer rewards the player with a medal based on time taken to complete the puzzle and the number of incorrect answers in getting there. An incorrect answer gives you the opportunity to try again with your number of attempts increasing and your starting time where it left of after the last guess. Either way expect a suitably witty and hilarious comment from the narrator !

Each episode is made up of around 12 puzzles and several recap sections. The recap comes in the form of several quick multiple choice questions based on events over the last 10 minutes or so. Overall an episode takes around 40-60 minutes to complete depending on your proficiency in answering the questions and all but the final episode leave the story at a cliffhanger ready for the next episode to start.

Presentation of the game is excellent, with Little Riddles various locations along with their inhabitants and each puzzle clearly displayed through the high resolution capability of the PS3. I found it hard throughout to locate any jaggies at all as I undertook the 6 episodes. Sounds are crystal clear and presented in Dolby which the atmospherics in the town take full advantage of. Speech is clear although outside of the UK it remains to be seen whether people will take to the colloquial dialect that many of the inhabitants of Little Riddle have, whilst on the other hand subtitles are available for those unable to make out certain words or dialects

The game is brightly coloured and its appearance is somewhat cartoony in animation style, although it is more akin to Wallace & Gromit than say, Looney Tunes in its approach and suits the content well. Despite feeling from a distance as though it would attract younger gamers, many would struggle to understand firstly the language used by the Narrator (There are some big words used) and secondly some of the puzzles presented are too difficult for younger gamers. This may in fact be why the game features such a simplistic approach to progression; meaning that no matter how smart (or not) the player is, they will inevitably succeed through trial and error.

With great presentation and an interesting premise coupled with short, punchy episodes that can be taken on for a quick hour with a cup of tea I’m sure readers will be screaming out to know what the problems with this game are. Firstly, although each episode is meant to be played in sequence (1-6) you can tackle them in any order you like. Not too much of a problem, until the introduction kindly refreshes your memory on whats already happened kind of spoiling the last episodes Whodunnit.

The second, bigger problem is that even if you fail to complete a puzzle entirely, you can still progress simply by selecting ‘Give Up’ which is rather an anticlimax for any player and causes two specific issues. One is that the game then tells you the answer, killing off replayability as none of the puzzles are dynamic and dont change between playthroughs, including the Whodunnits. The second issue with this mechanic is that players are not penalised in any way and still receive the same clues and story revelations. It would have been nice to be rewarded with either extra or different clues depending on your ability to decipher answers to each puzzle.

Trophies are rewarded for similar tasks during each episode with expected Gold, Silver and Bronze allocations for getting the fastest answer or answering the most difficult Math or Logic problem first time per episode as well as correctly deducing each Whodunit.

Pros
Looks Good
Great Voice Talent
Great Use of Episodic Content

Cons
No Replayability
Linear Design

Final Verdict
Overall Blue Toad Murder Files is an enjoyable puzzle game that is ultimately let down by its linear design, causing an unfortunate deterent to either a single player replay or a multiplayer jaunt without feeling like you are cheating your friends. It’s a shame really as the presentation and voice acting are both top notch and the world of Little Riddle is extremely pleasent. Hopefully any follow-up will see a more dynamic structure eclipsing the problems of the first series. The price tag is about correct for the content although the lack of replayability may leave you feeling a little cheated when paying around £10 for recent PSN games centred around long term achievment and progression. As a casual game BTMF shines but compared with the likes of DS Hit Professor Layton it starts to falter.

7/10

Alex