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Dora herself is a well known cartoon character and millions of children love the show which teaches Spanish, counting and other useful pre-school ideas. One of the special adventures released as a full animated movie is Dora Saves the Snow Princess. The game takes the principles and presentation of this and makes a fun game for 3-6 year olds.
The game starts with a small story segment explaining that the Snow Princess has been captured and that Dora and Boots (her monkey buddy) set out to save her. Then it’s on to the game which, for the most part, plays like a simplified Super Mario Bros. It’s easy to control, tilting the Wii remote (held sideways like in a driving game) to move left and right and using the ‘2’ button to jump or perform actions.
At certain points in the game you will need to perform special moves which are displayed clearly on the screen with Dora giving the children instructions the first time they come across it. Actions like sending boots in to objects to look for things or sweeping snow away break up the standard control sections quite well.
In addition to the left, right and jump sections there are a few other areas such as the end of level mini-games like skiing and ice slopes as well as sections where you need to ask Dora’s backpack for a certain item to help out of a choice of 3. Older kids may find this all too easy, but the 3-6 (and maybe slightly older) age groups will love it. Players also get the chance to earn stickers for certain things, which can all be looked at from the menu. This gives them plenty of opportunity to play again until they collect all the stickers.
The game ensures that the young gamers don’t get too annoyed by the controls, it always helps out and allows for mistakes and while the game won’t take long to complete (having no way to fail) it opens the end of level games and the levels themselves so that they can replay them to get more items, stickers or points (or just to have fun). It’s ideal for younger gamers who get annoyed at the tough controls and limitations of more complicated games and is a great introduction to the Wii and Wii remote for young children.
8 out of 10 (for 3 to 6 year olds)
Dora herself is a well known cartoon character and millions of children love the show which teaches Spanish, counting and other useful pre-school ideas. One of the special adventures released as a full animated movie is Dora Saves the Snow Princess. The game takes the principles and presentation of this and makes a fun game for 3-6 year olds.
The game starts with a small story segment explaining that the Snow Princess has been captured and that Dora and Boots (her monkey buddy) set out to save her. Then it’s on to the game which, for the most part, plays like a simplified Super Mario Bros. It’s easy to control, tilting the Wii remote (held sideways like in a driving game) to move left and right and using the ‘2’ button to jump or perform actions.
At certain points in the game you will need to perform special moves which are displayed clearly on the screen with Dora giving the children instructions the first time they come across it. Actions like sending boots in to objects to look for things or sweeping snow away break up the standard control sections quite well.
In addition to the left, right and jump sections there are a few other areas such as the end of level mini-games like skiing and ice slopes as well as sections where you need to ask Dora’s backpack for a certain item to help out of a choice of 3. Older kids may find this all too easy, but the 3-6 (and maybe slightly older) age groups will love it. Players also get the chance to earn stickers for certain things, which can all be looked at from the menu. This gives them plenty of opportunity to play again until they collect all the stickers.
The game ensures that the young gamers don’t get too annoyed by the controls, it always helps out and allows for mistakes and while the game won’t take long to complete (having no way to fail) it opens the end of level games and the levels themselves so that they can replay them to get more items, stickers or points (or just to have fun). It’s ideal for younger gamers who get annoyed at the tough controls and limitations of more complicated games and is a great introduction to the Wii and Wii remote for young children.
8 out of 10 (for 3 to 6 year olds)