Taste-Test: Pitfall: The Lost Expedition

Rated: E for Everyone Developer: Edge of Reality Publisher: Activision Players: 1 Saving: 51 blocks, manual GBA Connectivity: No Progressive Scan compatible Taste-test by Mike Twomey

Pitfall…well, damn. When I left you, you were but a little guy on the Genesis. Now…now you look amazingly like Robert Downey, Jr. There are a lot of jokes I could make now about why Pitfall Harry is really going into the heart of the equatorial jungle, but my head hurts. Anyhow, let’s get on with the impressions.

The game opens up with a nice short training sequence – you’re standing in a circle of fire with glowing hands, going toe-to-paw with a rather large panther. In fighting the beast, you get a handle on what are rather simple controls – control stick to move around, A for jump, B to attack, and the supplemental buttons combined with A and B to perform special moves and attacks. After the panther scene, the game moves back in time a day to allow you to discover precisely why your hands were glowing, why you were in a ring of fire, why you were fighting a panther, and why some people in your dorm just won’t die. Mind you, I’m not certain the game will solve all these questions. These are only impressions, not a full review.

When you start the full game, you have no special attacks or items, just clothes, backpack, fists, and feet. The environment is closed off, but like the Lord of the Rings games, is detailed to the degree that the sense of wandering still exists. It’s in this part of the game that you find the other two controls – the C-stick works your backpack, allowing the access of items, while the D-pad is used to navigate the Start menu. Yes folks, the D-pad. The appendix of the GameCube controller has a purpose. As you progress, you encounter people that you came into the jungle with. Whenever you help them perform tasks, they end up giving you either items or teaching you special moves to help you progress through the game. There’s going to be a lot of backtracking in this game from what I’ve seen kids. So be prepared to get real familiar with the various levels.

As mentioned before, the camera does leave something to be desired. It’s just instinctive to go to the C-stick to work the camera, and when it ends up accessing your canteen…well, between this and getting reacquainted with the D-pad, there was much head-smacking going on when I started playing this. If this was a stealth game like Splinter Cell or something, the camera-in-the-wall would be intolerably painful, but since it’s just a fun romp through the jungle undergrowth, it’s just a mild annoyance. Whether the camera problems will develop beyond that, or other problems remain lurking in the depths like a damned crocodile that just WON’T LET GO ALREADY – pardon me. All of that remains to be seen, so look for the full review from either myself or Kevin in the near future.

Mike Twomey