Fans of the Heeler family are in for a treat this holiday season with Bluey’s Happy Snaps, the latest adaptation of Ludo Studio’s instant classic family cartoon.
When I started this game for review, I realized it had somehow already been three years since the first Bluey game hit consoles. At the time, the show was a daily staple in my household, but now its presence shows up mostly in little quirks of my family’s vernacular (and lingering wishes for a fourth season). Yet it felt like no time had passed once the familiar voice cast and settings graced our television again.
Bluey’s Happy Snaps splits the difference between the franchise’s previous two console games. Like Bluey: The Videogame, players explore locales from the television show, encounter plenty of familiar faces and items, and play recreations of games. In the process, it seeks to be a little more adventurous, like Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen. Surprisingly, the end result is reminiscent of Pokémon Snap.
“To its credit, Bluey’s Happy Snaps stays fresh by interspersing little diversions, like those interactive photo activities, or pivoting entirely into a mini-game or scene based on an element from the show.”
Taking notes from the season 1 episode “Bob Bilby,” the family’s rediscovery of their Polaroid-style camera sets the wheels of another imaginative adventure in motion. The family brings it along on their adventures, turning trips to the park and other locations into photo scavenger hunts. In these free-roam stages as either Bluey or Bingo, pressing A brings up the camera, letting the active player look in 360 degrees and snap photos.
Getting certain objects or people in your snaps unlocks stickers for your collection, encouraging players to hunt down familiar easter eggs from the show like Turtleboy. A “sticker sheet” of sorts tracks your progress and provides some hints. One can also interact with other characters to hand the camera to an adult and get in the shot themselves; at other points, you can trigger a short race to get to a photo op—racing the camera timer to get to a slide, for example. Getting enough stickers in one stage unlocks the next.
These environments are fairly large and chock full of things to discover (by kid game standards, anyway). To its credit, Bluey’s Happy Snaps stays fresh by interspersing little diversions, like those interactive photo activities, or pivoting entirely into a mini-game or scene based on an element from the show. Once they find some chairs, Bandit quickly sets up an impromptu game of Taxi, for example. Purely taking photos in different sandboxes might get old or lose younger players’ attention quickly, but these side attractions spice it up.
In fact, the game does a pretty good job of changing gears often. Moving between sandbox levels triggers a minigame straight out of Pokémon Snap, where the goal is to snap pictures of certain animals (like seagulls or fruit bats) while on a moving vehicle. This is a more legitimate challenge than the usual free-roaming gameplay, though the game isn’t punishing if you miss too many targets.
“The formula behind Bluey’s Happy Snaps is solid, but a few factors keep it from outshining the usual model of licensed tie-in games.”
The formula behind Bluey’s Happy Snaps is solid, but a few factors keep it from outshining the usual model of licensed tie-in games. Right away, the game engine’s approximation of the show’s animation style didn’t totally click, or at least not in cutscenes, where the characters have a sort of dead-eyed stare, not focusing where they would in the show. Some moments feel a little undercooked too, like an attempt to recreate the infamous “Pass The Parcel” incident—Lucky’s Dad asks which rules to use; it seems a minigame is imminent… and then it’s over, off-screen.
The stickers and other craft supplies awarded for finding certain stickers fill a virtual scrapbooking studio of sorts, where players can decorate colouring pages and frame their shots. It’s a natural fit for the story and theme, but it doesn’t translate satisfyingly to a controller-based experience. Younger players will probably have fun nonetheless, but it shows Bluey’s Happy Snaps is stumbling into familiar design pitfalls.
In reviewing the original Bluey: The Videogame, I was largely relieved from a parental perspective that a franchise my kids adored was available as something more than a cheap app with a monthly subscription to bypass an artificial paywall. Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen was a step further in the right direction: a legitimate game that could launch kids into more substantial adventures like The Legend of Zelda. Bluey’s Happy Snaps, however, still shows that app-based DNA. I half-expected the voice actors to tell me I could unlock more colours and washi tapes for my scrapbook if I signed up for a subscription.
On that note, there is a virtual paywall of sorts in the form of the Deluxe Edition. One of the most entertaining side activities is “Grannies,” a minigame where you can rip around the Heelers’ backyard in the kids’ car, dressed as Rita and Janet, and wreaking havoc. Unfortunately, it’s exclusive to the Deluxe Edition add-on, which costs an extra $20 CAD and also includes some of the better dress-up items for customizing Bluey and Bingo. That price tag and paywall put a sour note on the experience, since this content feels pretty essential.
All told, Bluey’s Happy Snaps is another romp that young fans and their parents should both enjoy. It lacks focus and polish, like they were trying to throw too many ideas at the wall, and I’d still heartily recommend Quest for the Gold Pen instead… yet the Bluey fan in your household or on your holiday shopping list will still have a great time snapping pics and recreating moments from the show.
