Blue Toad Murder Files
| Blue Toad Murder Files | |
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| Developer(s) | Relentless Software |
| Publisher(s) | Relentless Software |
| Director(s) | David Amor, Andrew Eades (executive directors) |
| Producer(s) | Darren Tuckey (senior producer) |
| Designer(s) | Paul Woodbridge (design director), Ruben Farrus (Designer), Steve Grimley Taylor (Lead Sound Designer), Andy Black (Junior Sound Designer) |
| Writer(s) | Iain Lowson |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 3, Windows, iPhone |
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| Mode(s) | Single player, (offline) Multiplayer, (offline) co-op |
Blue Toad Murder Files (full title, Blue Toad Murder Files: The Mysteries of Little Riddle) is a murder mystery puzzle video game developed and published by the British video game developer Relentless Software. The game is episodic and the first installment was released for the PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Store in December 2009. The entire "season" of the game, Blue Toad Murder Files: The Mysteries of Little Riddle, includes six separate episodes. The Windows version was available to download from online games distribution sites as well as from the official website in November 2010. Support for PlayStation Move was added in December 2010 (update 2.0). An iOS version was released in April 2013.
The game is for one to four players and leans towards TV murder mysteries such as Agatha Christie's Poirot, Midsomer Murders and Jonathan Creek with "witnesses, alibis [and] motives" rather than being a logic puzzle like Cluedo. The game sees the player investigate murders and interrogate residents in the country village of Little Riddle. Aspects of the game have been compared to the Professor Layton series of games, regarding its setting and puzzle solving game mechanic, but it differs from the Layton games in that the puzzles in Blue Toad are more closely linked to the game's storyline. At various points the game questions the player about their investigation and key plot points to check that they were paying attention. Actor Tom Dussek voiced all the 22 characters (+dog) in the game.
At the beginning of the game, the player(s) choose(s) between these four characters (excluding Watson):
The episode begins with the narrator explaining how your player is on vacation. Mother, the head of The Blue Toad Agency, is said to have sent you to Little Riddle, a village described to be quite peaceful and comfortable. When the player arrives at the station via train, he/she sees a member of the station staff (the Station Master) locked in a rather one-sided conversation with an old lady. The Station Master notices your approach and seems to recognize you from the newspaper, as a picture of the Blue Toad Agency members is on the front. The player then has to explain to the Station Master who is who by completing a puzzle. After you are finished, you head off to the town hall, where you meet the Mayor. Halfway through the conversation, the Mayor is shot and his body falls in front of you. You then notice that the Mayor has dropped a diary and pick it up. Soon, a constable arrives at the scene, shocked to hear and see that the Mayor is dead. Your player then deciphers the diary via puzzle and learns that the Mayor had been in heated arguments with four people: The Doctor, The Jeweler, The Miller, and The Station Master. After this, you decide to visit these four suspects (the order of your visit to each person may vary); from the Doctor, you learn that the chemist misread his prescription, which is why the Mayor was given the wrong pills; from the Jeweler, you learn (after calculating how much the Mayor paid) that the Mayor still owed the Jeweler money; from the Miller, you learn that the Mayor had forgotten his appointment with the Miller, in which the Miller had wanted to get his Mill repaired; and finally, from the Station Master, you learn that the Mayor and him had argued about a tea room but the Mayor had promised to look into the matter again. You try to talk to the Town Hall Clerk, but you find Inspector Bragg, an officer who doesn't like you investigating, already questioning her. Tired, you then check into the Little Riddle Hotel (after completing a puzzle) before heading off to the pub. At the pub, you help the bar maid fix the pub's pipe problem, and then chase down a shadowy figure who you know is spying on you. The figure is revealed to be the Constable, sent by Inspector Bragg to keep an eye on you. In the morning, you think that the old lady that you saw at the station might help you know more about the Mayor and learn from the Hotel Manager that her name is Mrs. Gossip. Your visit to Mrs. Gossip's cottage is pointless and is of no help. When you meet the Town Hall Clerk, she tells you about each of the four suspect's conversations with the Mayor and also points out that the Miller had no appointment. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that the Miller was the Mayor's murderer but as your player and Inspector Bragg question him, he too is shot before he can reveal his allies.
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