Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess

Looking for a well-designed first game experience for a preschooler? This is an excellent choice.

In Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess, players join Dora, Boots and Pirate Piggy as they help the Snow Fairy save the Snow Princess and the Magical Snowy Forest while defeating the Mean Witch. The game features 12 minigames that can be unlocked; all are easy to play and master. In the console edition, adults can pick up the second controller to help, or just play along, creating an excellent social opportunity. In the Wii version, players hold the Wii Remote like a pair of handlebars, leaning left or right to move through the side-scrolling levels. Along the way, they climb, dig, build snowmen, paddle a canoe, steer a dogsled and ride a Pegasus using various motions. You can also ice skate, snowboard and ski while trying to find the magic crystal. In the DS version, you can shout into the microphone to make the sea snake go away, blow into it to help the Snow Fairy fly across the moat, tap with the stylus to steer Paj's dogsled, and use the stylus to drag ice blocks to light up the ice cave.

Both the Wii version and the PS2 version are well-designed, although the game play is very different. Testers found the DS version to be more limited in content, resulting in a slightly lower rating (4.5 stars), compared to the Wii and PS2 versions (4.6 stars).

Link to download Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess
Link to buy Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess

Diner Dash: Flo on the Go

Warning, this game is addicting, so consider yourself warned. Anyone who's ever waited tables knows that it requires juggling a variety of tasks at once. In this game, you assume the role of a fast-footed waitress named Flo. As customers line up at the front door, you must seat them, take their orders, turn them into the kitchen, deliver the food, take the bills, bus the tables and seat the next customers. The better you do, the bigger your tips. Customer satisfaction is measured by a set of hearts; if a customer waits too long, they will leave and your score goes down.

There's been a variety of Diner Dash games in the past (the original idea comes from GameLab). This edition combines casual gaming with a story where Flo is going on a vacation, but loses her suitcase. She has to use her waitress skills to get her vacation and wardrobe back on track. The game features 50 levels and includes blackout and turbulence modes that make waiting tables more difficult, as well as nine types of customers -- including tacky tourists and lovebirds. For $20, you can't go wrong with this fun game, and it definitely stretches your short-term memory. Created by PlayFirst for Bright Minds Media.

Link to download Diner Dash: Flo on the Go

Eco-Creatures Game

Confusing and hard to learn, this one-player DS game attempts to teach players about the effects that over-industrialization, deforestation, pollution, extinction and global warming have on the environment. While these are big topics, it is hard to figure out what they have to do with this game. Players use the Touch Screen to move a tribe of woodland creatures around an island. Each creature-type has different abilities (Ecolis grow trees, Ecoby build bridges and swim, and Ecomon move objects and fly, and so on). There are 40 missions, but we couldn't get through the first, and our testers all gave up as well. So this really could be a good game, but we'd never know. Other features include a two-tofour player game-sharing mode, and a make your own island feature. Developed by Lightweight Co. Ltd., and Headlock Corporation for Majesco.

Link to buy Eco-Creatures