In tribute to the efforts of Andy Murray in the Australian Open, I thought I’d take a look back through some of my favourite tennis games. Quite worryingly this list spans some 26 years but begins with a classic.

Tennis (NES)

Although simplistic, allowing only a simple stroke or a lob, I garnered many pleasing hours from this blocky classic as it was how you used these basic controls that mattered. Timing proved crucial; hit the forehand early and your shot would pull left, leave it a little longer and you’d push it wide to the right, allowing for a lot of variation. This was quite a revelation to my young self and the experience was only bettered by a portly plumber sitting in the umpire’s chair.

Mario Tennis (N64)

Another Nintendo entry onto my list but it sits here not just on my behest but also thanks to the three other people I used to live with at Uni. Along with Pro Evo and F-Zero X, this four-player beauty sucked up many an afternoon that should have probably been spent revising or writing up coursework. An array of characters, power-ups, silly sound effects, it had everything to keep us hooked and shouting at the telly. My only complaint was that the colourful court coverings often meant that the ball could be lost from view, like dropping a pound coin on the carpet of a pub last decorated in the Seventies.

Top Spin (Xbox)

Looking back, I have very mixed feeling about this game. Even though I used to play it obsessively I seem to remember hating it by the end of my time with it, the problem being that I became too good. As conceited as that sounds, my doubles partner and I edged up to being ranked 8th in the world, an achievement wrought from sheer effort and teamwork. Sadly in our closing weeks we encountered far too many glitchers and standbyers for the fun to continue and my last loving memory of it is swearing loudly down the headset and shutting off the Xbox in a huff as we were cheated for the final time.

Wii Sports (Wii)

Returning back to the Nintendo platform and we find possibly my favourite tennis game on any platform. If anything, this portion of Wii Sports must have shifted millions of consoles on its own for it exhibits just the same properties that Tennis did back in the early Eighties. For those that wanted to do no more than take part they could swing the racket and see their on-screen Mii mimic their actions and thwack the ball back gracefully across the net. Those who probed deeper discovered with a twist of their wrist or a flick of their hand that they could pull off slices, top-spin, lobs and a great deal more that turned a seeming tech demo into something wondrous.

Pong (and all its clones)

Some time ago I may have baulked at putting this on a list of favourite tennis games, calling the decision too clichéd and cheesey. A couple of years ago, however, I went to an exhibition entitled Game On where dozens and dozens of arcade cabinets and old systems were on display and playable. Having played through things I had only ever touched via Mame I became incredibly sentimental and touched by the entire thing; each time I stood at a new cabinet I felt waves of heritage sweep over me. Asteroids and Missile Command were among my favourites but having gotten to grips with a Pong machine I found something delightful about its basic nature as it almost embodied a time where gameplay had to win out over graphics.

Regular readers may have twigged that we here at 7outof10 towers are very partial to a bit of Rock Band. Most of the time I can’t sing its praises high enough; for its colour-coded music brings joy to all, has introduced me to a great range of bands, and has even inspired me to learn the drums proper. Some may argue that the final point is not a good one as a drum kit now takes up a large percentage of my front room, but I think only my wife falls into that camp.

Over the weekend I was introduced to The Beatles edition of Rock Band, and my was it an education. No matter how many Beatles tracks you think you know the game does an excellent job of throwing in tracks from throughout your career that many people will be surprised to see. Either because they did not realise that particular track was one of theirs, or because a song that you have never heard before is suddenly streaming down the noteway towards you and you’ve no idea how it is supposed to sound.

At the end of it I felt I had been on a little musical mystery tour, having had my mind expanded and I wanted to find out more. So off I headed to the Marketplace, hoping to see Hey Jude peering back at me. Sadly it was conspicuous by its absence, but the full albums of Rubber Soul, Sgt Pepper and Abbey Road did all sat proudly upon its shelves. And it got me thinking: I’d be far happier parting with my Microsoft points if I could take my music elsewhere.

I’ve downloaded many songs from Rock Band’s music store and a reasonable number have been played once, maybe twice, and then left to mill around with the rest of the RB tracks that litter my harddrive. Some Foo Fighters, No Doubt and Greenday do get some good play time, but the impulse buys out-number them, and I fear that any Beatles downloads I do make would head in the same direction. Especially as you can (understandably) only play them on the Beatles edition of Rock Band.

Imagine, however, if you got the MP3 version of the track with it. In my mind that would certainly give a new lease of life to the music store and those albums that originally looked at little daunting at almost £15 were suddenly a lot more attractive. I’m not saying it would be easy, or indeed feasible, but what if? What if?

Originally written for www.7outof10.co.uk

Having spent most of their development life producing the quiz game Buzz, you can probably imagine the relief on the production staff’s faces when they were told they were going to create something other than a strong-jawed question master. A situation that should not be underestimated in development terms for, as the old saying goes, a change is as good as a break.

What Relentless Software decided to focus on instead was the quaint village of Little Riddle; an area lost deep in the heart of the English countryside and seemingly dreamt up by a mind that had seen great quantities of both The Railway Children and Midsomer Murders. And, just as in the case of the latter, evil stalks the picturesque lanes for the Mayor has been shot and a killer is on the prowl. The villagers need not fret, however, for you, being a member of the internationally renowned detective agency Blue Toad, just so happen to be holidaying in the village. Unable to keep your professional instincts from interfering with your R&R, you can’t help but stick you nose in and begin investigating this unfortunate case.

What unfolds is a game full of larger than life characters, almost in the same way most Wallace and Gromit episodes are. There’s the snotty doctor, the self-important station master, the American, and several others that all do their best (more impressively still through a single voice actor) to add drama, humour and intrigue to proceedings as you go from location to location within the village questioning all those linked to the crime. The aim appears to be to make Blue Toad as interesting to watch as it is to play.

Once a particular suspect has been interviewed a puzzle is presented to the player. Some vaguely stick with the theme of a murder investigation, helping draw attention to certain aspects of the case, but most are just an excuse to put you in a pub and get you to sort out their mangled pipe work.

The quality of the puzzles does vary but generally improves as your investigation continues. Relentless even include a nice touch in that after every few puzzles/interviews you are given a short quiz to make sure you’ve been paying attention to the facts that you’ve been presented with.

The one negative point I wish to level at Blue Toad is that its puzzles are timed, with medals allocated depending how quickly they are solved. Whilst this may not initially sound problematic you just have to play a couple of their brain teasers to find yourself feeling pressured into making quick decisions. Part of the enjoyment of Professor Layton, to whose audience Blue Toad must be naturally aimed, is that you had the time to mull over the problem at hand and come up with the right answer, unrushed by the man in the tall hat. Here, however, it becomes all to easy to churn through the very meat of the game; taking quick guesses as opposed to considered opinions just to earn a shinier bauble. This may not have been such an issue if, over the course of an hour’s play, I had tackled more than the twelve puzzles that Episode 1 contains.

On the positive side, the game does present you with the option of playing through this who-dunnit with up to four players, passing the pad between puzzles and interviews; but this in itself does not make up for the brevity of the package. It may be episodic but at £6.29 for a single instalment (or £9.99 for two) it doesn’t work out favourably on the pound-per-hour or pound-per-puzzle ratio.

I do believe that price should never be a factor in a review score but value is another matter. Look at what either of Professor Layton’s puzzle-laden adventures offer in comparison and you’ll find greater breadth and depth, so Blue Toad can only be recommended to those who have completed both The Curious Village and Pandorra’s Box and crave yet more mental stimulation.

5/10

Edit: please note that only hours after this was posted we received word that Episode 3 of Blue Toad Murder Files would be offered up for free as of 25th February. For more details check out the Blue Toad website.