Bluey: The Videogame

Bluey: The Videogame may look the part but, with shonky controls and barely two hours of gameplay, everywhere else it’s a dog’s breakfast.

A family-friendly adventure that captures the essence of the show, despite rough edges and a steep price.

Bluey: The Videogame successfully emulates the look and feel of the iconic TV show, but unfortunately it fails to recapture the same family magic. The gameplay is incredibly repetitive across the one-to-two-hour experience, relying on locating items dotted around the five core environments. Minigames break up the monotony somewhat, but even these fail to maintain attention for too long. That said, young children are going to get a kick out of simply existing within this world and playing as their favourite Bluey characters. If that's all you're looking to get out of this game, this does a decent job. But when you compare it to the all-ages magic of the show itself, and other family-focused games on Switch, this falls well short of the source material.

As cute and fun as this game may be, it should not be recommended to anyone above the age of 10 or more serious players who have a lot of gaming experience.

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. 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.

It looks like Bluey and sounds like Bluey, but Bluey: The Videogame falls short in capturing the magic that makes the show so endearing.

Her first appearance in a “proper” videogame may not have lived up to its full potential, but loyal fans, especially the kids, will appreciate what this game has to offer, and this is only the beginning.

Whether you're bouncing on the trampoline in the backyard of Bluey’s house or looking for stickers at the playground, Bluey The Videogame is an assuredly fun time. It gives players a chance to create their own Heeler-style family game night memories, all the while teaching new gaming skills.

It does a good enough job of capturing the look and feel of the animated series, and even after completing the four episodes, my kids keep going back to mess around in the world. There's a framework here that could make for some electric little kid gaming experiences and I hope to see the world of Bluey in video game form expand beyond this opening salvo. Bluey the Videogame is the kind of game Bandit would roll his eyes about but begrudgingly play with Bluey and Bingo anyway, and that's okay, because Bandit's the kind of dad that recognizes not everything is meant for him.

Bluey: The Videogame is a promising thesis of a game, but all the easter eggs in the world can't make a rushed product complete.