Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet

Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet
The show may be interesting, but this game isn't.
Genre(s): Action Adventure Edutainment Platform(s): Nintendo GameCube PlayStation 2 Xbox (cancelled) Release: Nintendo GameCube NA: October 13, 2005 PAL: December 16, 2005 PlayStation 2 PAL: December 2, 2005 NA: February 9, 2006 Developer(s): Monkey Bar Games Publisher(s): Global Star Software Series: Dora the Explorer Predecessor: Dora the Explorer: Super Star Adventures Successor: Dora the Explorer: Dora's World Adventure

Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet is an action-adventure game developed by Monkey Bar Games (a division of Vicious Cycle Software) and published by Global Star Software. It is based on the Nick Jr. animated series Dora the Explorer, as well as the episode of the same name. It was released for the Nintendo GameCube in North America on October 13, 2005, and in Europe on December 16, 2005, making it the only GameCube game to get an EC (Early Childhood) rating. It was then ported to the PlayStation 2 in Europe on December 2, 2005 and in North America on February 9, 2006. A planned Xbox version of the game was cancelled.

Why It Sucks

1. The graphics are outdated even by PlayStation 2 or GameCube standards. It feels more like a PlayStation 1 game or an early PS2 game, which came out in 2005.
   • There is an inconsistent tone where on the Map scenes, the Map itself is in 3D, but the map himself is in 2D. This also goes to the Backpack sections, where she is in 3D, but the items are in 2D drawing that look like they're ripped from the show.
   • At one point when you hang on a cliff Dora's hair doesn't fall, which shows a bit of violation of physics.
2. The gameplay can be boring for people who have outgrown the show since all you do is walk and solve simple puzzles and travel through space. There are no enemies (unless you count Swiper) in this game whatsoever.
   • In the Earth section which extends to all of the planets that you go to, you have to run around collecting gems and then move on to the next area. All of the gems look the exact same with the green pentagons.
   • The space sections that have you drive to the next planet only last around 2 minutes and have you collect more gems on the way.
   • Many of the other sections other than the platforming where all you do is collect gems, is just wait for the button prompt and then press it.
3. While Swiper is the only enemy that you encounter, all he does is take gems away from you, which is completely random depending if Dora is able to say "Swiper no swiping!" to him like in the original show.
4. Every single button jumps (except for puzzles). Because of this, it literally feels and plays like a computer game where the Space bar jumps.
   • The fact that you travel to more places than just the Milky Way, Space Rocks, and Purple Planet from the episode could also indicate some poor source material grasp.
5. Annoying soundtrack, not to mention even though the game's title theme uses the same instruments in the show's theme song, it barely sounds anything like it. There's not even a "We Did It" ending in this game, as the ending just has Dora and Boots leave in their rocket ship before the credits roll.
   • On a related note, the Fiesta Trio's fanfare in the game sounds nothing like it does in the show, and you can also tell that their animations aren't in sync with the fanfare.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Unlike Race with Ryan, it might be fun for little kids.
2. It has the original voice cast from the show, i.e. Kathleen Herles as Dora.
3. The cel-shaded character models faithfully capture the characters' TV counterparts.
4. The game is faithful to the TV series in terms of its aesthetics, including the Backpack and Map.

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