Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess for PlayStation 2 Reviews & Ratings by IGN

Everyone's favorite bilingual explorer is back with her monkey sidekick in tow, this time wandering through a mysterious icy landscape. Dora and Boots are on an adventure to save the Snow Princess, who after finding a gem and smiling into it to bring snow to the forest, was captured by an evil witch who wants the snow to melt. It sounds like a backwards story, but that's what it is.



While the Dora the Explorer TV program serves as a pretty good educational show for children, Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess doesn't do a whole lot to teach the youngsters very much. There are really only two sections where any sort of thinking is involved, and both involve picking the correct item from a group of three. When you finish a level and go to travel to the next one, Map will show up and tell you where you need to go, and then you need to pick the picture that matches the description. Similarly, you'll sometimes come across an obstacle, like a frozen lake, and Backpack will pop up to ask you which item Dora should use to cross the challenge. In the case of the lake, he might show you a tennis racket, a flashlight and a pair of ice skates.



Other than that, this is as simplistic a platformer that you'll find most anywhere and the only thing it really teaches your kids is how to use the controller for the system of their choosing. When you need to climb a ladder, sweep aside snow to find an object or have Boots search somewhere, you need to perform a certain controller motion. On the Wii, this might be to shake the controller from side to side, while on the PS2 this would mean wiggling the left analog stick. Generally speaking, it's simple stuff, with visuals in the corner of the screen that show you what you need to do.



There are a couple presentation issues with this though. In some cases, a meter will appear in the upper-right corner to show you the "progress" of your motions. So, while you move the controller, it'll keep filling up to let you know that you're doing the right thing. There are segments where this doesn't happen, however, and it can be a little confusing whether you're doing the right thing or not.



The worst bit about the whole experience though is how incredibly repetitive it is. After you've played through the first level or two, you'll have seen pretty much everything there is. Every level after that is just a remix of the same thing. The background is different and the obstacles are in a different order, but there's nothing new after the first few minutes. It easily ranks as one of the most repetitive games I've ever played, and even kids will likely find it boring after a short while.





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