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BLUE TOAD MURDER FILES Posted by Joe Anderson on Dec 19, 2009 08:55 (91 days ago) |
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If there is one company that know how to make multiplayer games for the Playstation Brand then it’s got to be Relentless Software, all you need to do is look at the titles they have created and helped out on, which includes games such as Buzz and the Singstar series. So when this company decided to move into the Mystery/Puzzle genre with Blue Toad Murder Files everyone who owns a PS3 was bound to take notice.
Blue Toad Murder Files takes place in the quiet village of Little Riddle, your arrival here is actually meant to be part of a nice relaxing holiday after solving yet another case with the Blue Toad detective agency, however it isn’t long before things start to turn mysterious and all of a sudden you have a murder to solve.
 The game really is unlike any before it, most of the gameplay is assigned to solving puzzles and answering question while in between the narrator will describe how you are feeling about the case so far and also tell you who you should be questioning next. Once you decide on the suspects and key witnesses you then wander the village visiting places like the Pub, Doctors Surgery and the Village Pond.
Once you have arrived at your destination you will have to solve a puzzle before being able to question the witness/suspect, these puzzles range in difficulty and also offer a wide range of challenges. For example one puzzle in episode one will have you trying to join pipes (ala Bioshock), whereas another will have you filling in letters to complete a mysterious note. Episode two steps up the difficulty further, having you moving sacks to uncover a picture which you have found and also having you trying to complete a maze in order to move on.
All of the puzzles in Blue Toad are timed, therefore if you manage to complete the puzzle before the recommended time without making any errors you will earn yourself a gold medal, whereas silver is awarded for going over the time without errors. Since you are able to go over the time you can take as many attempts as you wish, however doing so and being successful will only result in a bronze medal. If you just can’t figure out the puzzle at all, you are able to quit at which point you will be given the answer and will move on with the rest of the game.
When you finally manage to solve the puzzles you will get to talk to the person you have visited, here you will find out key information so it is very important that you listen to everything that they have got to say to you. The game does provide the occasional test to make sure you have been listening, so make sure you do.
Once you have progressed through the game you will eventually get the chance to decide who you think the criminal is. The line up will consist of the suspects and the narrator gives you a run down of why they are there, then it is simply a case of you choosing who did it. Once you have made your choice you will find out if you are right.
As I mentioned before Blue Toad is a multiplayer game, however playing with more than one player is practically identical to playing with up to three others, the only difference really is that you all choose a different character from the agency and take turns to solve one of the puzzles and at the end you all get to choose who you think the murderer is. It is obviously great fun playing in this way since it adds a bit of competition to proceedings by choosing a winner at the end.
As you can see from reading the above the game really is great fun, however there is one problem and it is a rather big one. The issue is that once you have played through any of the episodes once, then that’s it really, you can play through again however you will be met with the same story, suspects and puzzles and since you know the answers you will fly through without really having much fun. To be honest I was expecting the developer to mix things up a bit like they do with the questions in Buzz, so I was disappointed to find that this wasn’t the case.
 Obviously with this being a multiplayer game there is replay value, however those who have played through it before will already know all the answers so this is a big letdown. One of the saving graces is that the game does come with six episodes, however it just depends if you are willing to fork out the cash for a game there is little point in playing through again.
Graphically the game has all the shine of Relentless Studios other games, the characters all look wonderful as do the interactive cutscenes in between the main action. The voice acting is also of a top standard, making this one of the most well presented games on PSN yet.
Blue Toad Murder Files is a excellent game, it is challenging, looks and sounds fantastic and is also quite unique in what it does. If it wasn’t for the fact that the game is so short lived then we would be handing out top marks for this title, but as it is we cannot justify doing so for a game which doesn’t really offer much replay value.
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Dec 30, 2009 17:59:05 (80 days ago)
