Positives:
- Certainly captures the look and feel of the show well.
- Easy to get into for the young audience it's clearly meant for.
- Nice to see it bring along several unique locations from the show.
- Sound aspects like music and voice work are cute and charming.
Negatives:
- There really isn't much to do here.
- The platforming is shockingly imprecise at points.
- The "minigames" are rudimentary and barely there; they hardly serve a purpose in the game at large.
- I'm not one to dog (no pun intended) on gameplay hours and price, but you can beat the game in an hour. And its initial retail price was $40. Really?
Consensus: I'll be the first to admit, I've seen "Bluey" once in my life, and I just kinda tilted my head at it. Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance because it seems to be a really well-made show that might even be good for an older audience. "Bluey: The Videogame," on the other hand, showed itself to me with a recent Xbox Game Pass release, so I chose to try it out. Ultimately...it's a "Bluey" game. Developer Artax Games (research inconclusive on whether they named themselves after the horse from "The Neverending Story") did a nice job capturing the look and feel of the show, but otherwise, this is a pretty nondescript game that ends far too quickly, even for its intended target audience. The fact that it's on Game Pass now might mitigate some of the worries about its price tag, but I feel like it can only be enjoyed by the very, very, VERY young ones. And by that, I mean kids who aren't old enough to talk yet.
Final rating: 5 out of 10 "Hmm..."