Mum! Dad! Bingo! Bluey the Videogame review!

G’day everyone and welcome to this rippa of a review. Today we’ll be reviewing the most wholesome and beloved thing to come out of Australia since Steve Irwin. So read on and enjoy our review of Bluey: The Videogame.

Bluey The Videogame Review – Origins

Bluey is a series that needs little introduction. The Australian-made TV show follows the adventures of a young blue heeler pup named, what else? Bluey. Along with her younger sister Bingo, mum Chilli and dad Bandit. Since its creation in 2018, the show hasn’t just become beloved by Australians, but also the world.

Uncle Rad brings the most annoying toy possible to spite his brother.

From the show, to books, to toys and now an upcoming theme park! There’s no surprise that a game has been added to the list. Developed by Artax Games and published by Outright Games the game consists of 5 sandbox levels and follows a unique storyline of Bluey and Bingo trying to put together a treasure map made by her dad and uncles when they were pups.

Bluey The Videogame Review – Gameplay

The game is a short but fun trek through some notable locations from the show. The story finds Bluey and Bingo in the middle of their summer holidays planning to go to the beach. But after a game of Keepy Uppy uncovers a torn piece of a treasure map, plans quickly change.

There are 5 levels to the game. The first 4 feature a story section where we’re introduced to another member of the family while introducing a minigame. After the story section is finished you’re then free to replay and explore the level to pick up collectibles and play minigames till your heart’s content (or you get the achievement). The 5th and final level sees the family finally make it to the beach but this is just a sandbox level.

Every great anime deserves a beach episode.

The locations for the minigames are the Heeler House with Keepy Uppy, the Park with The Ground is Lava, the Heeler House with a focus on the backyard with (shudder) Chattermax Chase and finally the river with Magic Xylophone. Once you finish the story section of the level you unlock the minigame associated with it and can play it when you replay the levels.

Who says adults can’t use the playground?

As you explore the sandbox levels you can find a multitude of different collectibles. You can find stickers of different toys, water and grow plants and find collectibles. These collectibles are a newspaper, Chilli’s hockey stick, pavlova and a leaf bug. Once you collect three sets of these collectibles in that level you unlock a part of a picture.

As you collect stickers, collectibles and play minigames you will gain experience. No there are no levels to gain like in an RPG but instead, as you gain experience you will unlock outfits for the family to wear. If you’re a busy adult with many adult things to do, it should take you a couple of hours to finish the story and achieve 100%. But if you are getting this for a young kid, it will take longer.

The last bit of gameplay I want to talk about is probably the most fun and that’s its couch co-op. You can have up to 4 players in co-op and each person can be a different member of the Heeler family and you can change who you are on the fly. It also has a rubber band feature so that if someone is off-screen for too long it’ll bring them back to the others.

It’s fun for the whole family especially if you have kids to play with or you’re two grown adults making silly commentary as you play the game for a review. Just be sure to find someone with some minor platforming ability or you may be stuck for a little bit in some sections.

Bluey The Videogame Review – Dropping The Balloon

As with all games, especially those aimed at young kids, there’s going to be some shortcomings. You can’t expect there to be the same amount of spit and polish as a AAA game. That being said, Bluey: The Videogame really isn’t all that bad. The biggest complaints I have are all visual in nature.

During the cutscenes, especially in the earlier part of the game, you’ll notice that when the characters are holding something in their hand, they’re not actually holding it, instead the item is on a layer on top of the hand and will awkwardly move with it slightly out of time. Also, for some reason, each closeup of Bandit’s face in particular has his muzzle in a really low quality.

When you push or pull an item in game it looks more like you’re trying to move the item with your mind rather than actually grabbing it. Also, the aforementioned rubber band mechanic can’t seem to make up its mind. There were multiple times when I would be on screen but it would rubberband me back to my partner who was off screen.

And I guess, the biggest problem is it’s really short, like too short. After paying $60AUD for the game, it was over in a couple of hours. But really, these aren’t problems for the intended audience.

Kids, especially young kids, won’t care that Bandit’s muzzle looks weird, or you’re not grabbing a chair to move it or even the fact it’s really short. Kids will just be having fun playing as their favourite Aussie dog, especially if their parents are playing with them. And they’ll probably want to play it again and again. So at least they’ll get plenty of enjoyment out of it.

It’s not an incredible game, but younger Bluey fans will love it.

But I swear, if I have to hear Chilli say “Wow! You got a sticker sport! That’s awesome!” one more time, I’m going to %#*$ing lose it. Also, and this is a very specific gripe, the layout of the Heeler House is all wrong. I know they had to work it into a 2.5D space, but they mixed it around and put the kitchen upstairs…

So, why is this a Wackadoo game?

• Plenty of fun for the kids
• Replayability
• Fantastic Aussie creation

 But why might it make you say “Biscuits”?

• Really short
• Repetitive audio
• Not worth the money for a couple of adults wanting to check it out

Want to chat with the Qualbert team about all things Bluey? Then join us over on the Qualbert Discord! If you enjoyed our Bluey the Videogame review and are up for another great family-friendly game, go have a look at our Warioware Move-It! review.