Both as one of the most important and valued children’s animated show franchises in recent years, having captured the hearts of children and adults alike through clever and consistently strong writing, along with being a delightful representation of my home state and its capitol city – the expectations and standards would be set much higher when it comes to any video game release. After all, regardless of whether this is true or not, children’s animation to video game adaptations have that perception of being rushed out the door… after all, it is for a demographic that just wants to be able to control their favourite characters… right? The first development team and publisher out of the gate to tackle Bluey, in the aptly named Bluey: The Videogame was Artax Games alongside publisher Outright Games. The end product…. eeehhhhhhhh.
To the development team’s credit, even if they were not able to do a perfect 1:1 recreation of the world lovingly crafted by Ludo Studio, it was a charming and aesthetically pleasing world that balanced the design elements with the need to have an open area to explore and contain potentially two young kids, for example, exploring the Heeler house. Recreating the style and feel of the TV show’s animation was also complemented by them bringing in the show’s iconic voice cast – most notably Australian icons David McCormack as Bandit / Dad and Melanie Zanetti as Chilli / Mum, as well as the child voice talent for Bluey and Bingo. While it did feel at times they were a tad too stingy with providing voice lines, the passion is clearly there, and it makes me glad that unlike other similar video game adaptations, they didn’t go with an international alternate cast which I envision would have been starkly evident and jarring.
So when it comes to influences set by the television show, the game does things pretty well. Unfortunately, this is where my praises stop. While first impressions around Bluey: The Videogame may be high, it quickly becomes less a love letter to or the perfect tie-in game to the beloved children’s television show, and instead just a forgettable and underwhelming experience that, even 5-year-old me – one that hadn’t been raised with an iPad in their hands at the age of 6 months old, would have quickly lost interest in. The game is split up into four mini-episodes that come in at 10ish minutes apiece, each more or less aligning with one of the game’s four maps in an otherwise small spattering of areas from the show – the Heller House, the Playground, the Creek at the Beach. The overarching story, involving a childhood treasure map of Bandit’s, would have made a cute episode in the show. In game form however, while still sweet, still felt needlessly padded out despite its short length by random activities and other bits of fluff that didn’t contribute to the experience and weren’t as refined as one might have hoped.
Through completing the main episodes, players will gain access to four games. These consist of Keepy Uppy (Keep a balloon off the ground), Ground is Lava (Platforming without touching the ground), Chattermax Chase (A game of chasey with a robot) and Magic Xylophone (A homage to S01E01 but is effectively freeze tag). These could be some decently fun games for younger gamers, but are far too simple and also have arbitrary time limits on them. We are with a generation of toddlers who may have more gaming experience than some of us would have had by the time we were 10, so limiting a game of keepy-uppy, for example, with practically non-existent AI players, some random but irksome bugs, and a two-minute cap (and even playing with others wouldn’t have been a significant improvement to the challenge) was underwhelming.
Outside all this, the main activities come down to exploring the different areas and finding collectables, in turn earning Bluey and her family stickers that can be used to unlock different hats for each character to wear. For the world size, there is not too much here, but there is surprisingly a large number of costumes and collectables to find, which may ultimately double or triple the length of the game’s runtime. Plus, I think this is a good channel for introducing basic ‘platformer’ video game mechanics, with the collectables making full use of the genre and not leaving every collectible just out in the open.
Ultimately, the caveat of me reviewing this game is that I don’t have children of my own, so try as I might, I cannot accurately emulate the joy a young child or toddler would have playing Bluey: The Videogame, and perhaps given the set up of the game, it is best explored by families with young families together – using it as a family bonding activity to explore a new Bluey story, and learn some life lessons, all with some of the charm that has made Bluey so beloved. But at the same time, I would argue this could also be done with the TV series itself. Furthermore, there are children’s television shows that do lend themselves to having extra adventures in the setting of a video game. However, with Bluey being based on the colorful lives of the Heeler Family and their community, I’d other that other formats, such as stage shows, exhibitions (both of which are incoming to Brisbane soon) and the range of other activities and activations being introduced around the world, are mediums much better suited to explore Bluey off the TV.
Also, if you are after ways to replicate some of the fun games from the show in real life, with your family, the official Bluey website has a fun ‘Play’ section with some really fun looking games – from those introduced in the show to Australian classics
Bluey: The Videogame is now available on the Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
A review code was provided by Australian distributor Five Star Games for the purpose of this review.
