| Blue Toad Murder Files Episode 1 |
| Written by Michael Manning |
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Relentless Software are a studio deserving of admiration, they are well organised, adult and experienced. Focusing on what they call 'social games', Relentless believes in a 9-5 work schedule which does not allow for last minute crunch periods towards the end of a project. The Brighton based studio seems to work in a methodical way, not taking on too many different projects and being particularly choosy about what projects to pick up. Relentless made their money through the PS2 party games SingStar and Buzz! These games came around just prior to the Wii and Guitar Hero. And in their own way, contributed to the pioneering idea of 'family/casual games' which have grown to much success in recent years. So after many years building the Buzz franchise and mastering their field of Social Games, Relentless launch a new IP exclusive to the Playstation Network. Blue Toad Murder Files are a series of episodic adventure games set in a quaint country village in England. You play as one of four private detectives in the 'Blue Toad' who arrive at the village 'Little Riddle' as a break from all the adventuring which the team are known for. Unfortunately for the Blue Toad team the holiday doesn't last long, within 10 minuets of arriving in the village you are witness to a murder and its up to you (and up to 4 players) to figure out, 'whodunnit'.
 The Professor Layton influence here is in plain sight and unashamedly so, the game follows a similar pattern of talking to suspects/witnesses with each conversation eventually leading you to a puzzle of some sort, each puzzle usually being visual, mathematical or wordplay. The comparisons to Layton stop here however, for Blue Toad presents itself very differently, the look isn't too dissimilar of one of the later Wallace and Gromit films and the characterisations are full of referenced from Sunday evening television of past, for example there's a Hotel manager who is essentially Brazil Faulty. Relentless have been successful in presenting this Last of the Summer Wine/Rosemary and Thyme style of video game, which has to be a first.
Clearly aimed at a family audience the game encourages a pass the controller multilayer option, it works well making it feel more like a board game than a video game. The humor is open for adults and children to like but I'd say the puzzles are a little too hard for the young ones but are well designed so that anyone playing from 13 years plus should be on a relativly even playing field. Just be warned the the game loves to mock the weak.
 If you're looking for a fun way to pass the time during boxing day with your family I would recommend this game, I played it with my girlfriend and we had fun but, at £6.99 per episode for a game barely an hour in length with little replay value I wouldn't recommend it if you've only got enough money for either this or Pixeljunk Shooter.
3/5 - Good
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