Is it fair for me, a man in his mid 20's, to be judging Bluey: The Videogame, a game made for three year olds?

Is it fair for me to point out how annoying the controls are, how buggy the game is, and how much of a cash grab it feels like when the target audience of three year olds probably won't even care?

Is it fair for me to say that the game is just bad even though I'm not a three year old?

I don't know.

But what I can say with a decent level of confidence is that if I was a three year old, I'd absolutely hate this game, particularly because of how poorly conveyed everything is. There were multiple times I had to look up a guide to even figure out what to freaking do in this game for three year olds!

Please, do not bother with this game.
Not as a meme.
Not as a Bluey fan.
Not even as a parent.

Play any other game for kids, you'll have a way better time in every single way. This game is only good for a few laughs at its expense and nothing else. After that, you become the joke.

Para crianças esse jogo deve ser perfeito, mas pra mim o jogo parecia estar meio incompleto, ao menos na versão do app do XBOX (joguei pelo GamePass) havia varios problemas de mixagem como por exemplo audios mais altos que outros, as vezes abafados e as vezes eram simplesmente cortados, não tem o mesmo nivel de qualidade que um episodio da serie tem, varios momentos o jogo reutilza o mesmo audio o que acaba ficando enjoativo, a trilha sonora é boazinha e a arte está bem semelhante ao do desenho, porem as texturas parecem meio borradas/pixelizadas o que não é muito agradavel, no final é um jogo interessante, mas pelo preço dele deveria ser bem melhor (e maior).

Little brother got this for me for Christmas as a gag.

I’m one of those weirdos who loves this cartoon made for toddlers a lot, I think it’s very well written and does some really ambitious and innovative things in its little seven minute stories. I also have a weird fascination with cheapo licensed games, so this was def one I was interested in checking out from pure curiosity.

It’s okay, the graphics are pretty cute and I like that it tries to capture the feeling of the show rather than just slapping a bluey skin on some generic platformer or whatever, but this is a pretty egregiously empty game for 40 bucks lmfao. You can breeze through it in an hour and there’s not a whole lot you can do after the fact. I’m also not a five year old tho so what can I say abt that lmfao

"You got a sticker sport. That's awesome!" -Chili Heeler, 2023

I knew this wasn't going to be great, but I decided to check it out anyway because I love the show. (I borrowed it from a library, though - I thankfully didn't pay $40 for it.)

The first half of the game tells a story, and it's like a very long episode of Bluey. However, it lacks the charm, humor, and intelligence of the show. The dialogue is stiff and awkwardly timed, and characters' mouths are a lower resolution than the rest of their bodies. The line delivery is also pretty bad. It's like everything was a first take. It seems like some lines are even ripped from the show and stitched together to make new sentences, like a YouTube Poop.

The gameplay in this first half is very easy and never lets go of the player's hand. The characters will tell you something like "maybe if we move this box, we can get up there and get that thing". Then, there will be an arrow showing you exactly where to move the box. Yes, I know this is for kids, but kids aren't stupid. When I was in Bluey's target demographic, I was playing Crash Bandicoot and Legend of Zelda.

The story also has some holes and nonsensical things in it (why does Chattermax want to eat real food?), and Bluey's dad flat-out explains the lesson at the end. The show is much more subtle.

After that hour-long iffy story mode, I was ready to give the game a 3 or a 4, but then I decided to play the second half of the game. This part lets you explore familiar locations in the Bluey world and look for collectibles. I enjoyed this part a lot more than I expected to. It gives you freedom to move around instead of shuffling you along to the next cutscene.

And the best part? Nobody is talking. (Except for the lines you hear every time you collect something, but if I were thinking, I could have turned off voices in the settings. "Wow, so pretty!" Bluey says as she picks up a newspaper.) It's just you and some lovely background music from the show. I found it very relaxing.

It's very obvious that the developers were rushing to get this game out before a Christmas deadline. I think they do really care about this world, and there are lots of references to the show. They could have made something a lot more polished and robust if they were able to take their time.

I don't like this more than other games. It's so bad with no cooperation and bad designs of 3d objects.

Would not recommend it unless you're a baby


1/10

I am absolutely a huge fan of the show, and while I wasn't exactly expecting gold, I was really hoping all the reviews of this game exaggerated the bargain bin qualities of the game. They were not. It absolutely feels like one of those walmart games you'd pull from a bin for like five dollars, like it was made solely because some money man somewhere figured a Bluey game would sell well. It was absolutely handed off to a development company that was not provided the time or resources to do anything worthwhile. Literally the only positive I have to say about the game is that it is able to somewhat emulate the look of the characters, albeit a soulless and empty feel about them. The environments are also faithfully recreated in a 3D style and it does seem as though there was a bit of passion behind it, but I suppose I can't know if that's the truth or not.