Our Verdict
Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery bundles all three of the amphibian's adventures together in one neat package, offering humor, intrigue, and a fun story. It might just be the best $20 you spend this year.
Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery is an entirely delightful game, where you become the frog himself, embody the amphibian, as you and your trusty magnifying glass work through each mystery. Frog Detective consists of three separate cases – that you can play in any order – passed to you by your supervisor. I do recommend playing them in order, though, so you don’t mess up any frog-based lore.
Each case begins in the same way – you receive a call, grab your magnifying glass (a very important piece of kit), and head out on your mission in place of Lobster Cop – the number one detective – as he’s busy somewhere else. He may be the top cop on the block, but you’re more than capable of taking things into your own webbed hands.
The first case takes you to a mysterious island, where ghosts torment the resident sloth. So much so that there are even ghost scientists on the island trying to find out what the cause of the spectral wailing is. All it takes is you, detective, to sift through clues and unveil the truth.
Your second case whisks you off to Warlock Woods, the scene of a major crime – pre-parade decorations end up destroyed thanks to some heinous individual. Once again it is up to you to croak the case, foil the assailant, and bring justice for the mess.
Thirdly, and certainly not lastly, is the epic Corruption at Cowboy County case. This town, it seems, is big enough for the two of you, as the famous Lobster Cop himself makes an appearance in this dustbowl mystery.
Okay, so you’re a detective, that’s great – but what about this game sets it apart from your Poirots and Sherlocks? It’s delightfully silly, that’s what. Badly-drawn-on-purpose characters wait for you to engage with them in genuinely funny and strange conversations, like speaking to a koala floating in the sea to avoid ghosts on the island.
A
Becoming the Frog Detective isn’t hard. You wander around and drop into the aforementioned conversations while investigating your surroundings, using that magnifying glass of yours to find clues. You even get a notebook – that you can decorate with stickers! – to keep track of your work. All of this is easily executed via a simple point-and-click style gameplay.
Oh, and let’s not forget the scooter you get in the Cowboy County episode. While I’m not quite sure how it works on the sandy terrain, you can pop some sick jumps as you go around detecting things.
Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery takes around four hours of your time (or more if you get distracted doing wheelies in the sand), and is a fantastic few hours at that. It’s been a long time since I genuinely laughed while playing a game, and Frog Detective’s silly encounters made me wheeze more than once. I have absolutely no constructive criticism or issues with this game, other than I hope for a fourth case in the future.
Perhaps this game inspires you to try some other detective games or hidden object games – we’ve got recommendations for you if it does!