One of my son's favorite shows on Nick Jr. is Dora the Explorer. The show is known for its simple lessons, either about life or learning, catchy songs, and colorful artwork. The show debuted in 2000, and it has been spawning games ever since. The latest of these games is Dora the Explorer: Dora's World Adventure, and is our personal favorite. It isn't easy to make a game that preschoolers can both play and enjoy independently, but this one does it successfully. Though my kindergartener says “Oh, that game is easy”, he still picks it up often to play both the story mode and the mini-games.The story mode is told not through having to read the text on the screen, a pitfall most preschooler games fall into, but by a series of pictures. I like this for two reasons. One, of course, is that my pre-reader doesn't need me beside him to play the game. The other is that when we do sit down together, I can tap into his creativity and have him tell the story by asking what is happening in each picture. And the pictures are detailed enough to tell a story, but allow him to imagine different “what might have happened” each time he plays the game. The images that tell the story stay on the screen for about thirty seconds or until you press the “A” button, allowing your little one time to create and imagine. Once you've passed the images, the gameplay is simple and straight forward, another plus for the target audience of the game. Dora starts out with three items she needs to find in the maze. You have a few choices about which way to go, but not many. Collect all three, and you'll move on to the next maze, where you have to follow the path with the right shape (and color of shape) given to you by the gargoyle to move on. You can't really go wrong, coming to a dead end if you take the wrong path, but this does help a child playing the game learn more visual acuity, as some of the shape choices are between a triangle and diamond, or oval and rectangle, for example. There are usually three mini-games for each level of the game.
Between levels, you travel on different vehicles, having to dodge obstacles as you do. Again, the game is designed for preschoolers, because you can't fail. If you don't move up or down by the time you reach the obstacle, Dora just stops moving forward until you move her around it. And, of course, I see the pattern of up/down in it, but preschoolers will think that they're actually playing the game. The “world” part of world adventure comes in the form of different backgrounds depending on where Dora is in the world. She starts in Paris, for example, and the scenes are the Eiffel Tower. When Dora gets to Tanzania, she's on safari, dressed appropriately and riding on an elephant as she looks for different animals. In Tanzania, the first mini game is a counting game, where you have to find an increasing number of different animals on each game screen before moving on.
Dora travels to Russia, China, and somewhere in South America (we haven't gotten that far in story mode yet to see exactly what country). The mini games vary a bit between each world, and while they don't really teach, they do reinforce good lessons for preschooler aged children. Let me reinforce that. This game is for kids aged 3 to 6. By the time your little one is in first grade, even, they will probably have outgrown this game. But it excels at teaching kids how to use controls on a GBA, cause and effect, and other basic skills that will let them play more advanced games as they grow up. It is a great game for the youngest gamers, and we highly recommend it. Even when it starts to get “too easy” for my kindergartener, he still picks it up to play often.
I’ve played computer games since college, addicted first to story type games like Might and Magic. I have 3 children who also love computer games. My oldest son is a typical kid who loves the challenge of pressing the right combination of buttons and levers on a joystick in just the right way to make something happens, and frequently gets frustrated with mom’s slow fingers. ;) We use computers for both education and entertainment, and sometimes even bribery for good behavior.
The “glory days” of computer gaming for me were when games like Spectre Supreme, Pirate’s Gold, the Might and Magic series, the original Prince of Persia… those sorts of games were coming out on a regular basis. Back then I owned a Macintosh and was a die hard Mac fan. I was one of the first in my area to buy an iMac and on it learned the joy of playing games on the internet like daily crossword puzzle and “mind bender” type puzzles. My first online RPG was given to me for Christmas the year EQ was released, and I was hooked from day one. I played EQ for about a year. I started playing DaoC during late alpha testing, and was hooked on it.. well, to be honest I still am. I’ve tried pretty much every MMORPG I can get my hands on, from big names like EQ, to more obscure ones such as Underlight. I’ve been writing for IMGS since the first DaoC guide, and find I love the challenge of learning a game and presenting what I’ve learned (and sometimes my opinions), to other players.
I’m not a very strong player as far as learning PvE or quick reaction times, so I tend to stay away from games where I’m pitted against someone else in a way that requires physical (rather than mental) response. I still enjoy story and puzzle games, and in a way that’s how I still approach online games. I would much rather spend hours working through a quest than 5 minutes in combat against another player. I still get lost in simulation type games, obsessing over them until I’ve gotten them beaten. And I like being able to sit down at the computer when I’ve got less than half an hour and playing through a few levels of a puzzle game. I tend not to like first-person shooter type games, or anything with person to person violence, so I steer away from them unless they are fantasy based settings. All in all, I enjoy computer gaming so much that my life feels incomplete somehow when my computer is down.
