Can you solve the Blue Toad Murder Files?

There has been a mysterious murder in the village of Little Riddle - time to put your powers of deduction to the test.

Murder is in the air in the quirky English village of Little Riddle. Thankfully, the famous Blue Toad detectives are on hand to solve the case and save the day. Or at least they can if your keen sense of problem solving is up to scratch.

Taking the role as one of the four Blue Toad sleuths, you and up to three players are thrown into a world of puzzles as you aim to solve various crime related mysteries in six distinct episodes, each one downloadable from PlayStation Network.

While each episode dovetails into the next with a handy cliffhanger to spur you on to the next, you can still play each one individually should you prefer your doses of comedic murder a little more bite-sized. It's like interacting with a TV series murder mystery with you in total control over how much you take part in - and you're the star detective of it all.

It's criminal

Developer Relentless Software is no stranger to brainteasers, given its pedigree of creating the popular quiz series, Buzz! on various PlayStation formats - although Blue Toad Murder Files offers to take you down a different, shadow filled alley, full of tricky puzzles that will test your grey matter in a variety of ways.

Rather than throw you straight into a hodunit scenario, you meet and greet a number of Little Riddle's brilliantly caricatured folk who offer gossip, clues and background information to help you build the scene, before you're given a puzzle to solve, to aid your progress.

These mind-benders include solving anagrams, piecing together a jigsaw style puzzle, slotting an identikit photo together based on a character you were talking to earlier and choosing a correct item or path of a suspect based on the verbal recount of a witness. There are many more puzzle types to keep you on your toes, as well as a medal system that rewards you for getting answers right on your first attempt while keeping under a certain time.

The case is in your hands

It's not just a matter of blundering your way through the investigation, however, because at various points during the case you'll be quizzed about key plot points to see if you've been paying attention to all that's been happening around you. Your time to shine comes at the end of each chapter, as you wrap up all your clues and interrogations to take a guess at who committed the foul deed.

With four players, an extra element of excitement is added to proceedings - whether it's helping each other out or trying to see who's the best at small town law enforcement. Each of you gets a puzzle to complete, while at the end of each chapter you all take a guess at the murderer, with everything revealed shortly after - to cheers or jeers.

Well presented and fun, Blue Toad Murder Files lets you become a budding super sleuth without ever needing to leave your sofa.