Dora the Explorer:Dora saves the Mermaids/ Go Diego Go! : Safari Adventure Review (DS)

Games for infants!

Both these games are based on TV shows that are shown on Nick Jr. They are aimed at younger children aged from 3 to 7. I say this as there is no challenge whatsoever for children older than this. I have decided to review them both together, as they are essentially the same game. One aimed for young girls (Dora) and the other at young boys (Diego). If you are unfamiliar with the shows, Dora the Explorer is an educational cartoon, that encourages interaction from the kids watching to help Dora sort out a different problem each week. It features character including Boots, Backpack and map, as well as Swiper, who keeps pinching stuff!

The only positive was that for the 30mins they were playing, they didn’t ask me once : “Dad, how do you do this?”

Go Diego Go is a spin off series featuring one time Dora helper-Diego. Both series promote good family values and help teach Spanish as well (for some weird reason!).

Both these games feature excellent use of the DS, including the touch screen and the mic. Each game is basically one long episode from the series. For Dora Saves the mermaids it’s a case cleaning up beaches and saving the mermaids. This is done by lots of cut-scenes and about 16 mini-games. With Safari Adventure an evil magician has mixed up all the animals (ie giraffe with short neck, zebra with no stripes), and its up to Diego to rebalance nature thanks to a magic drum, and more cut scenes and mini games. They both recreate the tv series very well, including the voice actors from the shows and the overall feel.

I gave these two games to my kids (6 and 10)and went to see how they were getting on about half an hour later. Both game carts were back in the boxes and they were playing other games. When I asked them how come they are not still playing them, they both said in unison: “Dad, we have finished them” . Of course I didn’t believe them, so fired up my own DS, and within an hour, I had in fact finished both games. Even more worrying was the fact that once completed, there was no reason to go back, as everything appeared in exactly the same places every time you tried it out.

These are the kind of games you usually see on some kids website for free, and in that case are pretty cool. But with these two games retailing at around £25 each, I`m afraid I cannot recommend them above any other title targeting younger children. The only positive was that for the 30mins they were playing, they didn’t ask me once : “Dad, how do you do this?”.