Brutal Gamer

Blue Toad Murder Files : Episode 3 (PS3) Review

By Zeth - March 4, 2010 - 14:16 UTC

A BrutalGamer.com review.  And YES there is no score for this game…

Welcome friends, welcome one and all.  We find ourselves back in the languid luxury or middle-England.  Betwixt babbling brooks and rolling hills of purest green we find the quintessential town of Little Riddle.  After the trials and  tribulations of the first two episodes you find yourself with one unsolved murder and a missing statue.  This will never do for a member of the Blue Toad Detective Agency.

Taking up literally after the second episode you are once again set the task of resolving the puzzles around the village whilst solving the current crime.  This time out someone has been “Arson” about with matches and tried to burn the Town Hall to the ground.  “Hot” on the trail of the culprit you must investigate the four main suspects whilst also trying to track down the missing statue from the end of the last episode.

Welcome the new character of The Librarian

This time out Relentless seem to have listened to the small amounts of criticism that were levelled at the first episodes – that being it was pretty simple and the bang for buck ration was terrible.  The game is now much harder than it was previously, with the majority of puzzles being very high in the logic/mental arithmetic stakes.   What this does mean is that the structure of the puzzles are all very similar in this outing.  There are numerous puzzles that require you to place an object (Person/Duck/Stained Glass etc) in certain configurations in a grid based structure. These are functionally fine but did elicit a groan when yet another one cropped up.

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.

Once again the graphics and voice work are a notch above anything you would usually be purchasing via the PSN store.  The characters and environments are incredibly bright and colourful and retain the same graphical feel of previous Relentless stable mate Buzz!.  The voice over work in particular sets the whole thing off and without the tireless characterisations from Tom Dussek the game would be a much poorer experience.

Once again the whole things will last you roughly 40 – 60 minutes depending on your ability to resolve the brainteasers.  Just keep in mind that once complete, there is little more to do with the title except go back and obtain the Gold Medal for each puzzle and collect the relinquished trophies.

Final Thoughts:

As you can see this is not a full review.  Many sites will not review a “free” game and to many intents and purposes this is a free title.   As such I feel it unfair to level a score at it.  What I will say is that Relentless continue to impress and produce consistently good family orientated titles.  The fact they amended their business model to address the issues of the previous releases should be applauded and we look forward to the final three episodes hitting over the next month.  If you were tempted with Blue Toad Murder Files before but were hesitant due to costs I would heartily recommend dropping the £10 for the first two episodes and then grabbing this title for free.  £10 for 3 hours of great quality detective-em-up should not be ignored.

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