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> Results: Dora The Explorer: The Search for Pirate Pig's Treasure
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Nickelodeon's bilingual Dora the Explorer series is undoubtedly recognized by the majority of modern day preschoolers in the United States and abroad. In this game, Dora, her sidekick, Boots, and her faithful Backpack set out on "The Search for Pirate Pig's Treasure." Whew! That title's a mouthful.
This game is very basic and therefore perfect for its three to five year-old target audience. The entire adventure takes about two (adult) hours to complete. The video scenes are crystal clear, and the graphics are of decent size and clarity. Dora fans will enjoy familiar scenes from the series. Dora stops the sneaky fox with the much loved mantra "Swiper no Swiping", and the game is replete with the show's characters and their mixture of English and Spanish. You play primarily through Dora, but depend on Boots to jump and swing along vines to access coins and stars that are inaccessible to Dora, her not being a monkey and all. Dora and Boots explore 8 locations, including Dora's House, Blueberry Hill, Spooky Forrest, Volcano, Rainforest, Waterfall, Beach, and Treasure Island. Gameplay is comprised of coin and star collection, circumnavigating obstacles, foiling the antagonist, Swiper the Fox, and finally, locating and opening Pirate Pig's missing treasure.  Often, games requiring comprehensive item collection can be a problem for younger adventurers who tend to be less thorough in their endeavors. Pirate Pig alleviates this issue by making the majority of item collection an option, but not mandatory for level completion. Thirty coins are present in each level, and a star will appear on the overall map when all available coins have been collected from an area. Dora will proceed to the next level of the game, regardless of how many coins are collected, which makes this game especially nice for younger gamers. Each level does require that three stars, a reasonable number, be collected in order to progress. If only two of three stars for a level are collected, Dora will count "Uno, dos, oops we need one more star", and the level gate will remain closed until the required stars have been found. Fortunately, there are more than three stars in each locale, so possessing enough to pass through the gate at the end of the level typically isn't an issue. As an added bonus, the Dora bug band plays when each level gate opens, to the delight of my three-year-old daughter. Additionally, certain levels produce an item to be stored in Backpack. The ball, flashlight, watering can, umbrella, and an assortment of keys are required to complete various objectives. Dora faces off with Swiper the Fox over each of these items, but if not successful, after three confrontations, the item will be found lying out in the open at the end of the level. During these collection extravaganzas, Dora and Boots will be circumnavigating the standard Indiana Jones-style obstacles. Think snakes, bats, crocs, boulders, and logs. In order to pass through each area, they must avoid these creatures by crawling, crouching, or jumping. Overall, Dora the Explorer: The Search for Pirate Pig's Treasure, is the one of the most age appropriate games available on Game Boy Advance for preschoolers. The lack of violence or "bosses" is very refreshing, as kids at this age want to explore and discover in a non-threatening environment. So...vamonos, let's go!  
Because this game is very repetitive, it's perfect for the needs of the very young audience it targets. The game provides opportunities to focus on numbers, Spanish, problem solving, and navigation (right, left, up, down). Item collection is engaging and enforces numeric familiarity. As previously mentioned, this collection is key to the game's overall play, but appropriately designed for a young audience by its ease and flexibility.
Solutions to problems come through reason and stealth, as opposed to violence. There is no physical aggression of any kind in this game. Inanimate obstacles such as rocks and wood can be knocked over with the ball from her backpack, yet backpack items are useless on any living antagonist. For example, you can't whack a snake with the bouncy ball. Manual dexterity can be an issue for very small gamers trying to outfox Swiper. Be prepared to assist in this B button-mashing task if your child is very young. Luckily, after three failed standoffs with Swiper, the item in question will be lying on the ground and easily snagged before the level's end. The most impractical part of the game is the save feature. The save function generates "passwords" which are comprised of different picture combinations, and worse, are linked to levels. Many children who will enjoy this game will not be capable of writing these passwords down, and less able to understand the concept that different passwords open different levels. We keep a small "password" note card in our daughter's Game Boy case to alleviate this frustration. Best of all, this game is a "no fail" game. Dora and Boots don't "die", which I think we can all agree would be particularly traumatic for 3-5 year olds.This game is something that any child age three to early primary school years can easily enjoy over and over again. Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Browse Amazon.com's selection of "Dora the Explorer" themed games Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Dora The Explorer: The Search for Pirate Pig's Treasure |
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