Hands On, Kid Tested: Mattel Dora the Explorer Dora Links Doll
from geerlog.com
Mattel’s Dora Links Doll ($59.99 list for ages 5 to 10), a new fashion doll that portrays a tween-age Dora the Explorer, could be a great toy. But you must connect it to a PC to make it work, so make sure you have some computer troubleshooting skills. You’ll need them.
While my daughter and I were able to get the doll to do all the things in the commercial— change her eye color, hair length, and “makeup” and jewelry colors—it took a long time to update my PC laptop to work with the doll. The installation took over an hour over a broadband connection! And Dora Links wouldn’t work with my Mac. These are not the kind of things you’d like to find out on Christmas morning, or on one of the nights of Chanukah or Kwanzaa.
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The only way to get the doll to change hair, makeup, and so on is by connecting her via USB to the computer. When we took Dora Links out of the box, she asked (in character) to be connected to the computer. And when my daughter played with the doll when it was not connected, Dora Links kept asking to connect (by asking to go to the beauty salon).
The interactive games in the Dora Links program consist of several mystery-solving “quests,” which foster problem-solving and interpersonal relationships. The games update as you play them, changing the story Dora follows. This part is certainly fun: Like the kid Dora on TV, the tween Dora Links speaks both English and Spanish.
I had to reset my daughter’s user account to “administrator” rather than the safer “limited” account, however, just so she could play with Dora Links. Also, the Quest function also stopped working after one of the program’s automatic updates, and all we could do was visit the beauty salon and the town overview after that happened.
Dora Links, has the potential for hours of fun. And my daughter does love the doll, but making it work was muy doloroso.