What I Liked:

• Great Voice Acting, and wonderful stylized graphics

• Puzzles are a mix of easy maths questions, and suitably tough logic puzzles
• Story takes many twists and turns, and keeps you guessing until the end

What I Disliked:

• Unskippable cut-scenes

• Bought individually, the episodes are not great value, but as a whole, they shape up far better. Not much replay value either.
• Humor may not appeal to everybody.

Whilst Playing Blue Toad Murder Files, I was hit with the realization that I certainly wasn’t the target audience for the game. In fact, I was decidedly above the target age range for what is certainly a charming little puzzle game, with mind teasing puzzles combined with a great sense of humor that is decidedly British in execution.

Blue Toad Murder Files is a great collection of puzzles, wrapped in the veneer of an adventure game. You take on the role of one of the key members of the Blue Toad agency, and are dispatched to the village of Little Riddle for some much needed R&R, but of course it would be a rather boring adventure game if all the puzzles involved walking around museums, and getting drinks of tea from the hotel lounge. As is seemingly par for the course, your visit to the town is interrupted by a sudden murder, and of course it is up to you to solve this crime, as only the Blue Toad agency knows how. By solving various puzzles involving such wide varieties of events as mourners at funerals, and organizing books!

The puzzles in Blue Toad Murder Files are a real mix of various maths, logic and shape puzzles, with some words puzzles thrown in for good measure. The puzzles really run the gamut of difficulty, with some of them being extremely simple, but others had me stumped for quite some time. The game does offer the option to give up once you get a puzzle wrong but I never used it, preferring instead to keep trying until I eventually solved them. Once particular puzzle had me utterly stumped for over 10 minutes, and the feeling of euphoria I experienced after having finally solved it was outstanding.

The story of Blue Toad Murder Files takes place over the course of all 6 episodes, with each episode ending on a cliff hangar adding much more impetuous to carry on playing. With each episode clocking in at between 45 minutes to 1 hour, I found that playing the game in batches of 2 episodes way by far the best way to play it.

Blue Toad does have some faults though, with cut-scenes in between puzzles being unskippable. This isn’t such a problem if you’re seeing the cinematic for the first time, but on additional playthroughs in order to achieve trophies you may have missed out on the first time round, I can see this becoming an annoyance.

This brings me to my main problem with Blue Toad and unfortunately it’s a problem inherent to the genre as a whole; that being that the game lacks replay value. For the price being asked for this series of episodic adventure games, the lack of replay value is something of a detriment. Finally, if you are one of the few people having been unfortunately been blessed without a sense of humor, then the game’s witty banter and quirky jokes will likely be deemed ridiculous.

If you enjoy British humor, and love puzzles, then it’s more than likely that you’ll enjoy Blue Toad Murder Files. The games’ quirky nature, combined with the overall pace of the game as a whole make it an easily recommendable purchase. Just don’t expect to return for a second visit once you’ve finished all 6 episodes.

Availability:
Price: $7.49 | £6.29 | €7.99 | HK$ 78.00
Release Date: February 25th, 2010

What it adds:

• 6 more trophies to earn.
• 12 new puzzles.
• The next chapter in the murder mystery.

In a town that is so quaint, there sure do seem to be a lot of people getting murdered here. Episode 3 picks up where we last left off, and starts off with a bang… well a flame. The Town Hall is ablaze, and in this episode we must find out whodunnit.

This episode introduces a new member from the Blue Toad’s ranks, Watson the dog. He has a nose for crime and eventually help you solve the case. The voice work is excellent as usual. I just love how each character has there own identity. My favorite, the Hotel Manager, makes an appearance As you can guess from previous episode the length of our adventure is about an hour or two. I have actually come around on the idea of the length. It is just long enough to keep my interest for each of the mini stories. As long as the puzzles stay fresh I have no problem with the length of the episodes.

Speaking of puzzles, this episode has probably some of the most challenging to date. There are some great visual puzzles, like putting a broke pane of stained glass back together, but there are also some classic brain teasers. One of my all time favorites from computer science, the N Queens problem, makes an appearance. I remembered the algorithm for this, so it made me feel like I actually learned something in college.

This was by far the best episode yet and I am really looking forward to see how the story turns out. If you have enjoyed the first two episodes, there is no reason to pass up on the third.

This add-on was downloaded for free from the European PSN store during a promotion

Availability:
Price: $7.49 | £6.29 | €7.99 | HK$ 78.00
Release Date: December 17th, 2009

What it adds:

• 6 more trophies to earn.
• 12 new puzzles.
• The next chapter in the murder mystery.

Check out the game in action with our Little Look.

If you enjoyed the first episode, you will enjoy this one. More of the same quirky humor and excellent story telling. The puzzles this go around were a little harder, which I actually liked. But even with those harder puzzles, the time you will be playing is roughly the same was last time. So if you blew through it in around an hour or so, it will probably be just about as long. And of course, this episode also ends in the cliffhanger whetting your appetite for the next release. I don’t see anything wrong with dropping some cash on the second episode. Especially if you are down to try out some brain teasers. Check this out sharpish!

Price: $4.99
Release Date: November 19, 2009

What it adds:

• 3 trophies
• 1 new Peggle master
• 60 dreamscape levels
• 60 challenge levels

This is a no-brainer if you are a fan of Peggle. I actually had more fun playing these levels than I did the original Peggle’s. The new Peggle Master’s ability is also my new go to choice for multiplayer or quickplay. Marina has an electric shock that jolts across the screen hit the pegs in a line of sight fashion. The price seems about right for the content that you are getting. So no reason to pass this up, especially of you are a Peggle master. I still had challenge levels from the original, and more levels is never a bad thing.

Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 12, 2009

What it adds:

• The Pain table
• 47 in-game trophies to earn

This is one of the more traditional tables released. There are no crazy gimmicks for this table, just lots and lots of ramps. There is a “Sweet Holez Donutz” lock which gives you a random bonus when you get your pinball in it. There are also some interesting trophies to get, like getting 100k and 50k without tilting. This was my least favorite table that was released at launch, but if you like a more traditional pinball game grab it.

This game was purchased for review purposes.

Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 12, 2009

What it adds:

• The Hot Shots Golf table
• 50 in-game trophies to earn

It is Hot Shots, so as you can expect you will be playing a round of golf in this table. Each hole has a certain yardage you must obtain before you can go to the putting green. You gain strokes for going into the bunkers or hitting a yardage targets. Once you get the yardage, a tunnel appears and if you get your ball in it you are ready to go on the green. Sink your putt and you are off to the next hole. What is unique about is table is the “wind”. See those arrows on the table, those effect the speed and the direction of your pinball. With all of the stuff this tables throws at you, I would definitely pick this one up.

This game was purchased for review purposes.

Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 12, 2009

What it adds:

• The High Velocity Bowling table
• 49 in-game trophies to earn

The meta game in this table is really fun. You have to hit the pin sweeper three times to start the round of bowling. Once you have done that you aim your shots so that the pinball strikes the head pin. If you can do that you get a strike. The table can make this easier for you if you unlock the “Hook” bumper, but you can also get a strike by tilting the table at the right time. This was by far my favorite of the tables released. It really shows that this isn’t your normal pinball game.

This game was purchased for review purposes.

Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 12, 2009

What it adds:

• The Uncharted table
• 27 in-game trophies to earn

It is Uncharted, in pinball form. If you haven’t played the original Uncharted though, beware there are spoilers. I found it really amusing that when you lose your ball it plays the death sound from Uncharted. Little things like that make the Pinball Heroes series something special. For the gameplay, it is traditional. No crazy bowling games or “wind” effects. You are just on a mission to find El Dorado. I recommend playing this table in Tall Mode because if you get a multi-ball it is much easier to see what is going on. I wish they had some voice samples from the game to go with all the other Uncharted sound effects. But even without that, it is still a solid pinball experience.

This game was purchased for review purposes.

Price: $2.49
Release Date: August 19, 2009

What it adds:

• A New Table
• New Trophies (4 of them)

If you own ZEN Pinball there is no reason to pass this up. Another table to play and more trophies, for $2.49 you can’t go wrong with this.

Click Here to purchase ZEN Pinball: Street Fighter II Tribute Table from Amazon.com