Dora is back in her third computer adventure, Dora the Explorer: Animal Adventures. Her friend, Diego, needs help finding the lost animal babies that have been scattered because of a bad storm. Once found, they are reunited with their mothers.
To find the lost animals, kids will play seven activities, three of which are basically the same hide-and-seek game played out in different habitats such as the Riverbank, the Canopy, and the Understory. Once the animals are found and photographed, they're placed in a field journal as stickers for creative play with the three habitats as backgrounds. The four other games are Dark Mountain Matchup, a memory match game; Move Like the Animals, a logic game that requires kids to choose the correct animal movement that will help Dora get past obstacles through a simple tree maze; Animal Snack Time, a counting/math game where kids will choose the right amount/kind of food to feed the animals; and River Rapids Rescue, an arcade waterski game where Dora has to jump over obstacles to travel down the river and rescue the baby animal.
There are also five of Dora the Explorer's songs from her TV show included in the Sing-Along section, and the pictures created with the stickers can be printed out.
This is a cute preschool game that offers toddlers and preschoolers a good variety of things to do during the game with decent replay value, as the locations of the animals change and the games randomize. The best activity is the Move Like the Animals game, which requires kids to choose the correct animal that will enable Dora to move past an obstacle, like a snake to help her crawl under things, and a spider to help her climb. The three Animal Spotter games in the hide-and-seek locations are a little disappointing, as there is no information given on the different animals besides their names.
The one problem with this game is the lack of a goal - at the beginning of the game, children are told they need to find the animals which are lost, but nothing happens once all the animals are found and all the games are played. It's unclear how much of the game has to be played before a reward is reached, or if there even is a reward.
Still, this is a fun game with an engaging animal baby theme, and young children ages two-four will enjoy playing it, but kids ages five and six may find it simplistic, even on the more difficult levels.
Gameplay: 7.5
The gameplay is fun enough and the interface is easy to maneuver, but the program suffers from a clear goal or reward system. Is the adventure ever finished, or is it simply a collection of activities? The activities are cute and interesting, with a good variety, but may be too easy for older kids (5/6)
Graphics: 8
The graphics and animation are great, with vibrant colors and smooth movement. Everything looks just like the cartoon.
Sound: 7
The songs are cute and catchy, and fans of Dora will be singing along!
Difficulty: Easy
All the activities are easy to play, and are obviously designed for very young children.
Concept: 6
Despite the skillful execution of the activities, for the most part they're the standard counting, memory matching and hide-and-seek games often offered for this age group, but there's nothing wrong with that, toddlers and preschoolers like these type of games. The Move like the Animals maze game is innovative in concept and is a real treat to play, though.
Overall: 7.3
A nice collection of preschool games for young kids, but not one that really stands out from the crowd. There's nothing really educational going on here and the goal is unclear, but it is still an enjoyable program. Of the three Dora software titles, Lost City is the best, with Animal Adventures coming in second place and Backpack Adventure in last place.
