Game Review: Dora the Explorer: Dance to the Rescue
Rate This Article
What Parents Should Know
Parents should know that this title does not feature any
objectionable content, but it doesn't have much educational
value either, beyond teaching some hand-eye coordination.
Families playing this software will want to encourage their children to get up and move and to try to imitate Dora's dancing. They also might want to discuss why Dora helped Swiper, a character who is always causing her trouble.
Common Sense Media Review
Dora the Explorer is a big star with the preschool set
because she is fun, bright, intrepid and bilingual. Parents
relying on the brand to produce quality products will be
disappointed with DORA THE EXPLORER: DANCE TO THE RESCUE, a new
software game from Atari.
Dance to the Rescue falls short because it doesn't have enough substance and it forces preschoolers to sit and watch instead of encouraging them to click and think.
In the somewhat convoluted storyline, Dora has to win a dance contest so she can free the pest Swiper the Fox from inside a bottle. Dora visits four locations to learn new dance moves. At each, Dora and the player must play a game with some character. Unfortunately, the games are very short, lack educational value, and focus on minimal hand-eye coordination as kids move the mouse either up and down or back and forth. For example, to learn the pirate dance, the player must push away a bad elf by rapidly moving the mouse back and forth to make waves in the ocean.
Since the theme of this software is about learning dance moves, the program might have been redeemable if that goal had translated into interactivity. But as it is, a character will show Dora a dance which she imitates while the player simply watches. Because this is a software title, not a video, parents migh expect the software to involve the player in the learning of the dance moves. This only happens at the very end when Dora is in the dance contest and the player must remember the order of dance steps.
The software does give kids a chance to make a dance video, but the process is somewhat confusing for the targeted audience of children ages 3 to 5. Likewise, preschoolers are unlikely to use the software's printable dance instructions.
The bottom line: If you are looking for Dora software, dance past this one and select the older but better Dora the Explorer: Fairytale Adventure.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
