Suddenly, a fire has broken out in Little Riddle’s town hall and there’s panic in the streets. Well, at least there should be panic. Apparently the people of Little Riddle have become somewhat numb over the previous days, what with all the murder and burglary perpetrated. As a dedicated member of the Blue Toad Detective Agency you cannot afford to be apathetic. It’s clear that the local Inspector, Bragg, is more concerned over jurisdiction and personal glory than the case at hand. Being the dedicated deductionist you are the fate of Little Riddle rests solely with you, as well as your patience, attention to detail and penchant for British humor.

Dashing to the scene of the fire, it isn’t long before Episode 3’s suspects are revealed. Utilizing the same narrative structure found in the previous episodes, Episode 3 tasks the player(s) with moving through various locations across town, all the while solving puzzles and ‘questioning’ suspects. At any given time as many as four separate locales will be available to be investigated. While the detectives confront the suspects and fellow townsfolk, it’s important to keep an attentive ear to the proceedings as it’s likely you’ll find yourself quizzed on it later.

The various townspeople of Little Riddle are a quaint, if a bit bizarre bunch. Given the British origins of Blue Toad Murder Files some of the comedy found in the dialogue and mannerisms of the characters may be lost on an American audience, but generally speaking a few stand out like the direct but chronically flustered Colonel. Notably all of the characters including the narrator are voiced by a single man. Naturally this creates some funny accents and peculiar sounding women, but it also creates a stale sort of sameness to the entire cast. On the one hand it ensures the entire village is voice acted consistently and sets a certain mood, but it also ends up homogenizing everyone’s personalities.

Mixed in with every conversation is a puzzle, which range from straight up riddles, to logic and math problems. The puzzles found in Episode 3 provide a good variety of brain teasers and share a consistent difficulty level with that of the previous entries. If perchance you do get stumped it’s extremely disappointing that Blue Toad Murder Files doesn’t have some sort of hint system. Sadly if you’re unable to figure one out your only option is to give up, which doesn’t penalize you in any sort of meaningful way and they give you the answer. It’s understandable given the structure of the game that it might not be feasible for a failure to affect the narrative, but yielding the answer leaves no reason to retry the puzzle at a later date.

Being the third episode out of six it’s still unclear what exactly Blue Toad Murder Files is building towards. Of course Episode 3 poses a few question that remain unanswered, but given the types of ‘clues’ the series’ has hinged on so far, most of the whodunit feels shallow and occasionally cheap. It’s obvious there are larger, much sinister story lines to be revealed but it seems unlikely that any audience willing to stick it out will be properly rewarded for their commitment.

The brightest point of the experience is undoubtedly the option to play with up to four players. Having a fellow sleuth or three makes the awkward conversations inherently funnier and even adds a little welcome difficulty, since you’ll likely find yourself conversing with your buddies simultaneously and thus missing important snippets of information. It isn’t all bad though, having the extra pairs of eyes and ears adds some much needed spontaneity and excitement during the dozen puzzles scattered across the episode. Blue Toad definitely shines a bit brighter in this sort of social atmosphere, but it also highlights how poorly paced the game is. For as much time as your group wrestles for the proper answers you’re likely to spend twice – if not more – that watching vaguely amusing exposition.

Assuming you’ve enjoyed the previous two episodes of Blue Toad Murder Files, there really isn’t any reason to pass up on Episode 3; it delivers a remarkably similar and consistent experience. However in this case consistency isn’t exactly a good thing; Episode 3 feels stale, suffers from unfortunate pacing, and appears relatively shallow. If you have some open minded friends – or children – it could be worth a chuckle, but the mysteries of Little Riddle remain ultimately forgettable.