Review: BLUEY: THE VIDEOGAME is getting made properly

Just two months ago, Outright Games announced the hit Australian animated series Bluy I was getting a video game! Developed by Artax Games, Bluey: The video game allows up to 4 players to take on the roles of various members of the Heeler family as you play through an original story and four minigames. The game is available to play on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4/5 and Xbox consoles (affiliate link). The team at Outright Games was kind enough to send me a copy of the game on Xbox, but all thoughts below are my own. You can purchase a copy of the game from your favorite stores, including GameStop (affiliate link).

Immerse yourself in Bluey’s world in this interactive sandbox adventure as players explore faithfully recreated iconic locations, including Bluey’s home, fully explorable for the first time. Engage in story-driven episodic gameplay with activities inspired by fan-favorite moments from the show, as well as an all-new four-part storyline created in collaboration with Artax Games, BBC Studios and the show’s producers at Ludo Studio.

Before we go any further, I feel the need to set some expectations. My score at the bottom of the page isn’t inherently about how good I think a game is Bluy AND. The score will do its best to watch it Bluy in the context of what it’s trying to do: be a fun game for kids and hopefully parents too. With that said, let’s take a look.

I want to start with the negatives. Despite being a game designed for children and families, the controls can be not very intuitive. On Xbox, you interact with objects by pressing X. Unfortunately, it looks like you have to double-tap I was also annoyed that there’s no real way to understand what you’re trying to interact with. There have been a couple of times where I went to get one thing but ended up getting something else nearby. It’s definitely not a good feeling. My wife also noticed that there were a couple of times when my daughter went to jump on the stairs at the Heeler house and ended up jumping through the stairs. Oops.

From a more technical point of view, I was a little disappointed by the graphics. The characters look nice and sharp, but many backgrounds and objects were very blurry. I understand that this game wasn’t going to win best game, but it’s a shame that the characters stand out because they’re the only assets in focus. Additionally, the audio balance seemed to vary from scene to scene, which was distracting to me. If that wasn’t enough, the game has some bugs. There have been a few times when I or a family member have apparently gotten stuck in one spot and only freed ourselves after much difficulty. However, my wife and daughter were recently playing an episode and my daughter got stuck behind a slide and she couldn’t move or escape no matter what they tried. Even after leaving the episode, my daughter couldn’t do anything. Only after exiting the main menu and returning to the game was she able to participate.

Now let’s talk about aspects about which I feel rather neutral. The story is short. I didn’t have the timing, but it probably took me and my family less than an hour to complete the story. Based on video playback times, it seems like most people take 45-60 minutes. This makes sense to me as an episode of Bluy it only lasts about 5-7 minutes instead of the more standard 20-25 minutes. Having a short story is kind of a brand characteristic. The story itself is fine. It doesn’t seem like anything special to me, but it’s not bad. One strange thing in my opinion is that at least in the final part of the story there are several very quick mini-cutscenes one after the other which breaks the flow a bit, but also helps to ensure that all players are together via checkpoints.

Now let’s talk about the positives. Even though the story isn’t my favorite, it’s still nice to hear the same voices from the show. I also like the fact that it’s a couch co-op game that works with up to four players and each player can choose the character they want. No one is tied to a particular character. Perhaps the best feature of Bluy it’s the fact that as you progress through the story, it’s not necessary for every character to reach the checkpoint. As soon as a player reaches a checkpoint, all players are moved there. If you’ve played with younger children, you know how difficult it can be sometimes.

It’s also a lot of fun to explore various locations around the world Bluy. Honestly, the layout of the Heeler house doesn’t make much sense to me. Apparently the kitchen is upstairs near the bedrooms instead of downstairs near the living area like I thought. We can also explore the park and beach which is fun.

It’s time to talk about minigames. They are fine. Keepy Uppy is literally where players try to keep the ball from touching the ground. Magic Xylophone has one player running around with a xylophone that freezes other players, but other players can run around and unfreeze each other. Chattermax Chase has players trying to hold onto Chattermax until time runs out, but if it is stolen, anyone nearby is frozen in place to give the thief some space. Finally, Ground is Lava sees players jumping across platforms trying to collect three different stars. They are all very simple and your mileage will vary. An interesting aspect is that you can walk around and spontaneously decide to play a minigame and it will simply start wherever you are (with a few exceptions).

At the end of the day, the idea for Bluy it’s good. The minigames are fun for a while if you’re an adult and the kids seem to love them. My daughter said the other day that the game would get a 10/10 from her. There’s something to be said about that. Unfortunately, I found the game’s execution to be a little lackluster and a little extra polish would have gone a long way. On the bright side, these are all things that could be fixed via an update. After all, if your family loves the show BluyThen Bluey: The video game it will be a great success. Especially with the younger players.