Blue's Big Musical

Blue's Big Musical lets kids explore Steve's house, yard, and neighborhood as they experience life through Blue's eyes. Based on the super-popular children's show, this game is for young kids who are intent on using their wits to decipher "Blue's clues" for themselves.

Steve and Blue have decided to put on a musical for all of their friends. Typically, they don't just "perform" the musical -- there are clues to be found, pondered, and put together in order to have the musical. All along the way, (as is usual when speaking of Blue and Steve) we help their friends with small errands needed to complete this group project. We must invite friends, figure out what instrument Blue wants to play, and determine which career Sidetable wants to sing about in the production. We fetch tape for Mailbox and Crayons for Tickety and search for the ever-elusive (yet somehow omnipresent) Periwinkle.

There are arcade-style games along the way which are very well suited to preschoolers. In Music and Motion, we have to race to catch up with Fifi the Felt Friend, but remember to stop our progress when she stops playing music (think of a combination between "Red Light, Green Light" and musical chairs.) In Birdsong Sing-Along, we get to help Blue jump from cloud to cloud, collecting song notes along the way -- the finished product is played when we've collected them all. We must help Slippery burst bubbles to find his boat in Bustin' Bubbles, find Shovel and Pail's props in Search and Recovery, and jump emerging sprinklers in Sprinkler Skipping. There are many more games to play along the way.

Steve is a cute cartoon version of himself in this title -- everyone else looks as they do on the television show. Almost every character commonly featured on the show is present at one time or another. The creators were very thoughtful of young children when they decided to have the X button used for almost every function in the game (picking up things, etc.). You can, however, make Blue dance by using other buttons. There is a Parent Info menu, which lets us access favorite games, "cluesets", or songs from the main menu. The Game Settings Menu allows control of the music and sound effects volume. The company has very graciously included a map of Blue's world to assist in figuring out where we're going and where we've been.

This game is sweet and simple. I would suggest it for three (with help), four, and five year olds. I liked that they stuck with the spirit of the show -- such as Steve saying, "It doesn't matter how you draw the clues, as long as you know what it is." Blue's Big Musical will delight young "Blue" fans everywhere with its tried and true formula. Now, get into your thinking chair!