Blue Toad Murder Files : Episode 1 & 2 Review (PS3)
A BrutalGamer.com review.
Welcome one and all to Little Riddle. The quaint village at the centre of a whole heap of trouble in Relentless Software’s Blue Toad Murder Files. Epically known as the creators of all things Buzz! Relentless take their party game casual know how and try and apply it to a whole new genre of game. Sitting somewhere between Professor Layton Relentless’ own Buzz! this marks a really joyous event on the PS3 – the Detective-em-up.
You take the role of a detective from the afore mentioned Blue Toad Detective Agency. You arrive in the village under strict instructions to rest and relax by the agency overlord MOTHER. Shortly after arriving though, in truest Miss Marple/Scooby Doo fashion, murder and all manor of foul things start to occur around you.
Blue Toad is primarily a party game, similar in a fashion to things like Cluedo (Clue for out US audience) but having more of an affinity with recent puzzle games like Professor Layton’s Diabolical Box than the original Parker Bros board game. You play the part of one of four detectives and can be joined by up to 3 other players. Each takes it in turn to visit a specific location on the map and question a suspect (or retrieve a clue). Much like navigating the map in Professor Layton you are presented a puzzle with each enquiry. Correctly solving the puzzle allows you to get the relevant information you need to continue your enquiries. By the end of the series of questions (there are 12 in each) you will be presented with the opportunity to select who you think committed the crime under investigation.
Graphically the game looks fantastic for a downloadable title. The unmistakably Relentless art style found in the Buzz! games is here in abundance and as such everything just looks so clean and charmingly quaint. Character and environmental art style is solidly in the vein of games like Tales of Monkey Island and Sam and Max from Telltale but adds a certain “British” quality to it that is hard to truly define in words – just watch the video and you will see what I mean. Animation is top notch and the lip/facial animation meets the high level set by Telltale and in places exceeds it. This game is bright, simple and very pleasing to the eye – exactly what it needs to be to draw in the large age group and audience it is set to appeal to.
The music in the game fits perfectly with the quaint English village setting as well as the grandiose musical interludes that accompany the announcement of each puzzle in a Hitchcock like “dun dun duuuunnnnn” style. It has all been designed exactly as you would want it to be. The voice acting, all the work of one man, Tom Dussek, is absolutely top notch. Once again, and sorry to keep comparing to TellTale, this work is up there with the likes of Monkey Island and Sam & Max for sheer consistent quality. Sure some of the caricatures are sterotypical and a little rough around the edges but somehow that also adds to the charm of the thing. The Narration is a total rip of Tom Baker in Little Britain but suits the whole thing perfectly.
The puzzles are relatively simple especially if you have spent any time with the good Professor of late but offer a reasonable distraction. They take the form of word, logic and maths problems. For example you might have to re-order a hand written note. First you have to work out that it is written backwards then you have to replace the relevant letters to complete the solution. Never fear though as if you, or one of your fellow detectives, gets stuck you can simply pass and the solution is shown to you and the story progresses. This is a master stroke for inclusion and will appeal to the family audience and auntie Flo or whoever is visiting and being roped in to playing. The down side? Well you get scored on each puzzle. You can achieve a Bronze, Silver or Gold rosette dependant on your performance. Complete the task quickly and with no errors then you will get yourself a Gold. Complete it quickly but with more than one try and you will get silver etc. This adds a smidge of replay to the game…. and that my friends leads me to the biggest down side.
Longevity IS a major factor. Once you have played an episode (which should take you 45 – 60 minutes at most) then you are done. There is no reason to play back through that episode unless you want to pick up Gold awards (which unlocks a trophy). The 12 puzzles remain the same as does all the dialogue and the overall murderer/thief. Priced at £6.99 an episode and with siz episodes planned you are looking at £42 for the full set. Sure you will get around 90 puzzles by the end making the whole thing comparable to something like Professor Layton but it still feels expensive. The bonus at the moment is that you get Episode 1 and 2 for the bundle price of £9.99. This feels a better overall deal to be honest as £5 an episode would be an easier pill to swallow. The entire reason for the loss of points in this review is lack of replay and overall cost – the game is great, the sales model is, in my opinion, flawed. There is not really any replay with new friends or family members as you know most, if not all, the answers as well as who did the crime.
Final Thoughts:
Blue Toad is charming, engaging, immediately accessible and dripping in good old British, Ealing Studios quality, humour. When the entire package is complete you will have, if content remains constant, a great package that will rival the handeld sheenanigans of Professor Layton and all the clones that will follow. The lack of any real replay is a real shame but inevitable in a game like this (as it is with Layton, Monkey Island etc – the difference being they are cheaper to reflect this at around £20 – £25 a season) so perhaps the £40 package is reasonable enough for 6 hours gameplay – look at Halo ODST! Both episodes are fantastic fun and well worth taking a look at. Relentless have proven once again that they have a great grasp of family/group gaming and execute it with almost effortless ease. This should be the start of a great IP/series.
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1 Comment
News
04 Mar 2010, 2:17 pm
[...] The issue to “Bang for Buck” has also firmly been addressed both in this game and throughout the series. For anyone who purchased episode one you get this episode completely free. This is a very generous offering on Relentless’s part and goes to prove that they not only listen to the consumers but also care about them too. That quality in a developer should never be overlooked! They have also altered the pricing structure to make the final three episodes come in at a combined price of £10. This is excellent news and addresses the major reason of criticism in our previous review. [...]