Bluey the Videogame Review
Bluey the Videogame is not for older complaining gamers… it is for younger gamers who are fans of the global phenomena Bluey! Yes, it is for younger gamers and my 6-year old twins simply adored this game. More importantly, it successfully mirrors the animation style of the TV series and it even includes the real voice actors to create a fun and interactive Bluey experience that can be played with up to 4-players, each taking on one of the different family members.
For the uninitiated, Bluey revolves around a family of Heeler dogs in Queensland Australia that includes Bluey, her sister Bingo, dad Bandit (David McCormack) and mum Chilli (Melanie Zanetti). It is basically an animated version of the modern Australian family that has multi-generational levels of humour cleverly entwined in the story. In other words, it’s funny for everyone. In relation to the voices of Bluey and Bingo (fun fact)… their identity is kept private as they are the actual children of the production crew.
Apart from the main Heeler family, there are also plenty of supporting characters that are included in this video game rendition of the TV series that makes the title even more compelling to the player. There are also cutscenes to help progress the game – including the great Bluey intro scene from the TV show.
Bluey the Videogame is developed by Artax Games and published by Outright Games and while the gaming mechanics are quite simplistic (at times frustrating), it does creates that Bluey experience and makes it feel like you are part of an actual episod, including a wealth of Easter Eggs thrown into the mix that will keep younger fans super happy with the content.
The game is also sorted into episodes, including a variety of mini-games thrown into the mix that again are taken directly from the TV series. For example Keepy Uppy and the Ground is Lava! Needless to say, my daughters were in hysterics playing this game, including some heated moments as well. Further, there are almost an endless list of collectibles to find in the game from stickers to toys that will give players a sense of accomplishment and the urge to find them all. Apart from the collectibles, there are also clothing and accessories to wear for your characters such as “granny” hats or butterfly wings that adds to the overall gameplay of Bluey the Video Game.
Controls are quite simplistic and the game does a good job at displaying what needs to be done such as pushing X and then pulling down on the joystick to move an object. However this can cause some frustrations at the same time because the at times, clunky controls. Another issue is that when you are playing with another person, depending on what you are trying to achieve in the game, they can get stuck or if someone walks into another room, only the main player can be seen.
Again annoying but not a deal breaker and once you are aware of it, you can bypass these issues and the target audience kept on playing and did call for their gamer dad at times. Nonetheless, it feels like a Bluey episode, especially with the areas that you explore, including interactivity with certain objects. In terms of completion, my girls finished the game in around 3 hours and once completed, they did start again, although one daughter is more gamer than the other.
Graphically, Bluey the Videogame looks and feels like Bluey the TV series. The voice acting is perfect and some of the dialogue had us all in stitches. Further, the music is spot on and when all the audio is matched with the music, it creates this great interactive Bluey experience from start to finish. Graphics and audio can’t be faulted.
Final Thoughts?
Bluey the Videogame is definitely aimed at the younger gamer and with Christmas around the corner, it makes for perfect timing. While the control mechanics are a little clunky at times, the graphics and audio almost makes up for this bump but again, our 6-years old had no issues, besides the odd Bluey Fight Club here and there.
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