Games / Game Reviews

Review: Blue Toad Murder Files

By Sean Booker
May 10, 2010 - 17:01

Blue Toad Murder Files is a point and click adventure game that focuses more on mind teasing puzzles than it does its own adventure. You choose to play as one to four of the Blue Toad Agency’s top agents as you move around Little Riddle in search for the culprit of a murder you witnessed moments upon arriving. As you meet new people, you will be asked to solve problems for them or run errands that are represented by puzzles and mind teasers – quite similar to the Professor Layton series on the DS.

 

You can choose up to four people to play at once (either with separate controls or in a pass-and-play fashion) as you try and uncover the mysteries of Little Riddle (the town that the game takes place in). Choosing either to play the game in single player or with someone else doesn’t change the gameplay. Instead of just one person playing each of the puzzles, the game splits up the cutscenes and just replaces the on screen character with someone else. For example, if player one’s character had just witnessed a murder and finished the first puzzle, player two’s character will be seen directly after to continue the story. This causes the multiplayer to feel shallow. Since there is no advantage to having any additional players help you, there’s no real purpose to bringing them along. Multiple players or not, everyone can see and help with the on screen puzzles and using just one character makes the game’s story feel more solid.



The sound design is probably this game’s greatest advantage. The voice acting for every character is done by one person. This gives the game a real ‘children’s story book’ feel to the game. And the quick transitions between the narrator’s descriptions and the on screen character’s voices are done quite well and very fluidly.



Another point Blue Toad Murder Files has for it is its graphics and character models. The whole game is done in an extremely cartoony polygonal way and the feel of it fits perfectly with the game’s upbeat theme and colourful humour. Even the choice of having every character in the game never move their arms can seem weird at first, but it adds an almost puppet-like effect to everyone and it feels well placed. One downside however, is that the main character’s all have a series of very well made facial expressions but there are nowhere near enough. The models are done really well and I personally enjoyed many of my detective’s intense eye brow raises but when I began to notice there’s only a set number of them, it got old. There are small number of facial movements for each model and since the game focuses so much on the character’s faces, it was very evident.



Between the character animations and the one-man-voiceovers, the game can get very funny. Having these goofy looking characters parading around with a voice that, for the most part, does not fit the character enough adds a great deal of heart to the game. Along with this, there are enough little extras that really add to the humour. Whether these are catch phrases that several characters use too much, or just the dramatic introduction to every single puzzle, Blue Toad Murder Files has a great, light sense of comedy to it.

One of the biggest issues with this series is that there is no hint system for the puzzles. The majority of the game takes place by you figuring out mind teasers and other puzzles presented by the various towns folk. Though the puzzles are all clever and different from one another, when you find yourself stuck, you’ll be stuck for a while. The issue with these puzzles is there is no system in place to help the player if they are having trouble. Your only choice is to continue to stare at the screen until you can figure it out. It would have been much better if there was some sort of tips or hints you could get or unlock for each one of the puzzles.

The puzzles also bring forth the game’s biggest drawback. Each section in this six part episodic game is priced at around $7.50. The main issue is that there is no replay value to any of these episodes. After learning how to complete each puzzle, there’s nothing new you can get for it. And with the inclusion of a menu option to play the puzzles without the story and cutscenes, there’s no reason to go back to watch the story play out again. This makes the price point a little high since the episode length is only around an hour or two.



The Blue Toad Murder Files are a six part episodic game that tries to implement many great features, but comes up short in so many of them.  The amount of puzzles are great but are extremely hindered by the lack of a hint system. And though the character expressions can get redundant quite quickly, the nice animation style and wonderful voiceovers even it out and keep it fresh. The humour is also well appreciated and continues to be strong throughout the series.

When it comes to my verdict, I just can’t give it an acceptance. As much as I feel that everyone will enjoy their time with each episode, the lack of replay value and the just-to-high price point are what drive it over the edge. However, if you’re a fan of the Professor Layton series, or just adventure games (focused heavily on mind teasers) in general then you might find $7.50 worth of fun out of a single run through of the game.

Verdict: Pass It

Rating: 6 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12