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Go Diego Go : Safari Rescue Nintendo Wii

Format:
Nintendo Wii

Genre:
Platforming

Buy/Support:
Support Sinan, click to buy via us...

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Other GamePeople columnists have reviewed this from their perspective - huh?:
Family Guide Gamer (Wii)

Go Diego Safari Rescue ensures that parents will not be needed every step of the way, and the kids can get on with enjoying some well balanced platforming fun. It's not intended to be overly educational and never loses sight of the fun factor.

Along with the companion title Dora Saves the Snow Princess Wii, I'd been hanging on to Go Diego Safari Rescue for a good while for my daughter's 5th Birthday. For those of you that don't know, Diego is the South American cousin of Dora, and is accompanied by trusty companion baby Jaguar (pronounced Jagwaar). Diego's main purpose in life is to rescue animals. How he has never been done for skiving in the process we will never know. An internet and TV phenomenon, it was only a matter of time before the progression to gaming was made.

I mentioned that this is a companion game to the Dora title above in that the same platform formula is used and the controls almost identical. This is not a bad thing though as the game is geared towards two to five year olds. In gaming terms this demographic is one that appreciates repitition, characters that they can bond with and levels that are playable.

The plot for this one is so bizarre that Steve Hawking and his crew will start working on decoding it after they have finished with their black hole analysis. I will brief you a little though, a mosquito lands on a wand, becomes a magician and subsequently develops a hatred of elephants, who are then turned into stone. Confused ? You will be, but don't forget that adults aren't supposed to understand this one. Anyhow, Diego and the crew then commence their adventure which includes traversing Jungles, Volcanos, Islands and more. The location – Africa.

Children's games are not like they used to be, we started with simple joysticks and a fire button. These days youngsters are faced with grappling with motion controlled wiimotes and possibly an additional nunchuk to boot. As a result, parents often find themselves conducting as much of the game as the kids. Not so with this cleverly thought through title. There are a dozen or so different uses of the wiimote used during the game, all done in a nicely packaged way with fun as the main theme. Along the way Diego will collect various souvenir stamps.

My eldest particularly enjoyed riding the Elephant and laughed her head off shouting timber as the trees were knocked down. Other rescue features include hot air balloon rides, mud boards, trampolines and vehicles – delightful. It's nice to see the speaker in the Wiimote blasting out some cool African sound effects also. The audio is of a similar standard to show and this enhances the experience.

Upon level completion - the cut scenes are a rather cheesy selection of 2D images. A cartoonised version would have been nice but let's face it your kids won't gripe about such trivialities. The title can be completed fairly quickly but one of it's greatest assets is the ability for parents to tag along

The makers have gone out of their way to create a Wii game that ensure that parents will not be needed every step of the way. It's not intended to be overly educational and never loses sight of the fun factor. If your kids do enjoy this one, be sure to point them in the direction of the Nick Jnr website for similar Dora/Diego fun along with much more.

Written by Sinan Kubba

You can support Sinan by buying Go Diego Go : Safari Rescue



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Sinan Kubba writes the Returning Gamer column.

"As an 80s kid I was obsessed with gaming. But university, stress and life relegated my hobby to the backseat. After years in the wilderness, I'm back into video games. I don't just want to play games that remind of a happy youth though. I'm just as excited about games that take things forward, experiences that re-ignite that curiosity and fascination I had years ago."

Here are the games I've been playing recently:

• Dark Souls
• Metal Gear Solid
• Portal
• Tiger Woods 11
• Home