Dora the Explorer Saves the Mermaid is the latest Dora game on the DS for young children. Unlike the companion game Go Diego Go Safari Rescue, this new Dora is a wholly average game at best. Many parents will probably lean toward buying the Dora over the Diego game, especially if they have girls. My advice is to eschew Dora and get Diego, which is a superior game.

The basic story of Dora Saves the Mermaid is that a mean octopus is dumping garbage all over the ocean. Dora and you must help clean it up. By playing various mini-games, Dora will be able to travel to where the mermaids live and help save them from the Octopus.

The mini-games are very simple, as this is a game aimed squarely at the preschool/kindergarten crowd. Many of the games are obstacle course types, where Dora has to move up or down to avoid obstacles in her path. Sometimes she jumps over them. The other mini-games are simple color matching and number sequencing games. A few of the games are “tap the stylus very fast” types of games. The best mini-games are the Spot the Silly Animal, where players have to choose the Cowfish, Catfish or Dogfish, which look like cows, dogs and cats, and the Find the Magic Crown, where players look under the sand to find hidden treasure. All of these games can be played separately, which is a good feature in a kids’ game.

The main problem with Dora Saves the Mermaid is that the games aren’t incorporated into the story well enough (the whole mermaid theme isn’t used hardly at all in the games), and the games aren’t very fun to play. They should all be more interactive and mesh into the story better. As they are, they are mainly just stand-alone mini-games. The matching colors and number sequence games could have been better designed to be more engaging.  Simple doesn’t have to mean boring.

While the mini-games in Diego Safari Rescue aren’t dramatically different, they are more fun. The obstacle games aren’t very good in either game, but the animal-themed games in Diego are better, and they are tied into the story much better with the whole photo shoot theme.

An average Dora game, and one that parents may want to pass in favor of Go Diego Go Safari Rescue.

Gameplay: 6.0
This is an average game that isn’t a whole lot of fun. Even preschoolers will get bored fast.

Graphics: 7.0
The graphics are decent. Dora and her friends look just as they should, and the environments are bright and cheerful.

Sound: 6.0
The music is average.

Difficulty: Easy
This game is very easy.

Concept: 6.0
There isn’t anything new, and the execution is average.

Overall: 6.5
Dora the Explorer Saves the Mermaids is an average game. It’s not a bad game, but neither is it very good. The mini-games are not engaging for the most part except for a few, and the whole structure is choppy. Go Diego Go is designed in a similar manner by the same design company, but for whatever reason, is much more fun. A good feature is the ability to play the mini-games separately from the adventure, but the games aren’t fun enough to warrant playing very often. Parents should probably pick Go Diego Go over Dora for their young children.