Wild Discoveries Await in Dora the Explorer Animal Adventures Computer Game!

I’m not a “gamer,” and when it comes to adult computer games, I know zilch. A couple of years ago, I picked up a computer game for my son, which turned out to be a fun, and educational activity. Thus, over the years we’ve collected a few more games to amuse the boy. As with all things, some games are better than others, Dora the Explorer Animal Adventures is rated EC (Early Childhood), and in my view, it ranks above average.


Story:
If you’re familiar with the television series, Dora the Explorer, then you already know that Dora is an adventurer. Dora speaks English, and Spanish, and lives somewhere in Latin America. In this venture, a big storm has blown through the Rainforest creating a mess for Dora and her team to resolve. Boots, her trusty sidekick, joins the team along with Dora’s cousin Diego. Your mission is to help the crew find, and return the animals to the Rescue Center. As you help our hero’s with their task, you earn stars, and animal stickers.


Game Play:
After installing the game, you’ll enter the sign-in page. Enter your name on the Field Journal, so you can begin play. You may change the color of your Field Journal, or the featured animal as well. To erase a saved game, click on the trash can. When you wish to stop, click on the stop sign. To begin the adventure, click on the picture of Dora and Boots.

The Map Page ~ The Map Page takes you to 7-different game adventures, and the Field Journal. There’s also a back arrow, which will return you to the previous screen, a difficulty level setting (1, 2, 3), and the Field Journal.

Field Journal ~ The Field Journal allows you to sing along with Dora and her team, or you can create environments for the animals you’ve rescued in the games. The Sing-Along button features 5-different musical videos. The Habitat Maker allows you to adorn 3-separate environments with stickers, the Riverbank, the Canopy, and the Understory. Each habitat includes 10-stickers, an eraser, a trash can, and a printer. The animal stickers are earned as you complete the tasks in the visual spotting games. The eraser permits you to remove a sticker from the habitat, while the trash can allows you to delete all the stickers, and start over. The Field Journal appears on all the game screens, so you can enter it at any time. When you enter the Field Journal, the game will pause, so you won’t miss anything.

Games ~ There are 5-difference types of games: visual spotting, logic, counting, spatial relationships, and matching. Three of the games include animal spotting where you look for the hidden animals. When an animal is discovered Diego announced the animal, and tells an interesting fact about the animal. Then, the curser turns into a camera, so you can take a picture of the animal to store in the Field Journal. In Move Like the Animals game, Dora must maneuver through the Rainforest to rescue a baby animal. She may need to climb like a spider, or crawl like a snake to move beyond the obstacles. Choose between 6-buttons to aid in completing the task. In Animal Snack Time, count and feed the hungry animals. Diego tells you how many items the animal wants. Select the proper food, and count along. Dora and Boots rescue another baby animal that’s been stranded in, River Rapids Rescue game. Move your mouse up and down, and click so Dora can jump over the hurdles that float in the storm ravaged river. In the Dark Mountain Match-Up, the big storm has separated animals that need to be matched, and paired.

Star Catching ~ During play, a soft ringing will sound, and a star appears on the screen. Find the star, and click on it to store it in the backpack. Click on the backpack to count all the stars you’ve collected. You can count in Spanish, or in English. The backpack appears on all the game screens, and can be entered at anytime during the game. When entering the Star Catching screen, the game pauses, so you don’t miss anything.


Graphics & Sounds:
Like the television series, the characters, and the animal animation are flat. You know, it's very cartoonish looking. Everything has a thick black outline. There's plenty of shadowing, and texture on the plants though. Since we're in the Rainforest, there's LOADS of plants. I don't believe this game utilizes 3D animation, but I could be wrong. The colors are crisp and vibrant, and it certainly attracts preschoolers. The view is in elevation, so we are always seeing the game as if we're sitting in front of it. There are few effects, short of Dora and Boots eyes blinking. A star will fly on the screen, and they are quick to shout "Catch the star!"

The sound quality is decent. Dora’s voice is a little grating on my nerves, but that’s not exclusive to this game. The television program has the same effect. She sounds like a 6-year old on helium. Boots has the same effect on me, although he sounds like a 4-year old boy on helium. Diego is easier to understand, and is not as annoying. He actually sounds like a prepubescent, maybe 13 or so. All the background music is instrumental, and it varies depending on the scene. Sometimes it sounds like a soothing lullaby, while other times it sounds like a Native American pipe flute is playing. In one scenes it sounds more jungle music with drums, and in another it might be calypso music. In my view, the video sequence is boring, and it just repeats the TV series. There’s nothing new there.


Our Experience:
Dora the Explorer Animal Adventures makes an excellent beginner game. The characters speak slowly, and the instructions are thorough, in my opinion probably a too comprehensive. For instance, after you sign-in, the characters introduce themselves, and they explain about the big storm. It takes them 2 long minutes! That’s a lot of time. I’ve found it’s easier for this age group to listen to short explanations, so they can get on with game. If they’re having problems, further instruction is always welcomed. Fortunately, you can click the mouse and skip over the narration in the replay.

Dora the Explorer Animal Adventures is recommended for children 3 to 5-years. I think a 2½ year old could easily handle level 1 on this game, especially in the River Rapids Rescue game. This is my son’s least favorite, because it’s the least challenging. All you do is move the mouse and click somewhere within 6” vicinity, so Dora can jump over the logs in the river. The visual spotting games are fun for little ones too. Once the animals are discovered they put-on a silly performance that young children find amusing. For example, the Fruit Bat puts on a hat of fruit, and dances. The Caimen stands up and brushes his teeth. My son actually laughs aloud.

The game offers lots of encouragement as well. For instance, Dora will shout “great idea,” or Diego will say, “excelente.” Just like the television series, the Fiesta Trio will play a little ditty at the end of each task. In our house, computer time is an earned privilege, thus some weeks he plays, while others he doesn’t. William’s not allowed to sit at the computer for hours at a time, as his gaming time is limited. I like that my son instantly understood this game, so it’s intuitive. I also appreciate the educational, and bilingual features. One could literally learn interesting facts about 2 dozen different animals. I’m not sure how far the game counts, but I know my 4-year old has collected at least 40 stars, because I heard him count to 40 in Spanish.

Bottom line, William enjoys the Dora the Explorer Animal Adventures game. Even though it’s not his favorite computer game, he does request it. It think 3-year old children are the prime target market, but older children just starting to play computer games would enjoy it as well. It was a steal for $5.99, and I definitely think I got my money’s worth!

Operating System: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
Memory: 32 MB RAM (64 MB RAM for XP)
Hard Disk Space: 90 MB Free
CD-ROM Drive: 8X Speed

Atari, Inc.
417 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016
www.atarikids.com



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