Another remake of some ancient classic game has hit the shelves. It's Pitfall, the godfather of platformers, the one that your father might have played a long time ago, during the Atari glory days. Over the years Activision kind of dug a hole too deep for this franchise with sub-par follow-ups and sequels. Still they thought there was a place for another Pitfall adventure in the form of Pitfall: The lost Expedition and no other then elite force Edge of Reality developed it.

 

The lost expedition:

The main purpose of the game is to find all the other expedition members that have been lost due to a plane crash. And during this quest Harry meets all kinds of people and beings such as a gorgeous blond explorer, a blue haired native princess and a talking cheetah. He'll also encounter his nemesis St. Claire, some cocky mercenary that hunts ancients artifacts for commercial purposes. He and his henchmen are constantly in poor Harry's way, throwing TNT and whatnot just to get rid of him. In addition, there also some native tribes that don't like our hero's presence and do anything to knock his lights out. So Harry definitely got his share of foes.

Harry's bible:

Has Pitfall Harry, the main character, trouble with all the enemies in this hostile environment? Well not particularly, he has more trouble finding his way to all the places. A lot of backtracking is required and also a good understanding of map reading. You see, Harry carries a book with him at all times. It's a large book that contains a lot of information of numerous things like a map of the area, but also all the things Harry learns or discovers. Call it a diary, a journal or better yet, a menu. In short, Harry depends on this book a great deal, he protects it, he nurtures it because he is lost without it.

 

Adventure or Platformer:

Although on the surface Pitfall is a platformer the crew of Edge of Reality added a lot of adventure elements in the game. For instance, the control system has the same learning curve as an average adventure. Clear some area and you've learned a new trick. With that new skill you'll be able to advance to some new places on the map. We've seen it all before, but it seems to work for Pitfall Harry.

And there are more adventure elements in here, Harry gets access to all kinds of objects throughout the game such as a gas masker to get him through some poisoned areas, TNT to blow up stone walls or a torch so he can burn some cool stuff and animals. Again we've seen it all before but our Harry doesn't seem to mind.

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There are even some stealth elements in the game and initially this is nice change of pace between all that jumping and hopping around. But the artificial intelligence is so ridiculous that it never becomes convincible. Luckily the stealth 'operations' are a far and between otherwise it would have screwed the game up entirely.

Another common thing are the areas, your typical elements of the earth areas. We've got green tropical forests, snowy mountains, lava covered fire areas and deep pitch dark caves. Again maybe Harry is fine with this but we, the consumer, might disagree.

 

Final say:

Anyone who's ever played a platform game may not be impressed with what Pitfall has to offer. It shamelessly borrows bits of other games and genres and implements without any worry of getting sued. But truth be told, this mixture of recognisable game elements results in a actually enjoyable whole, unless you're looking for originality that is.

The game can grow on you although it will never surprise you. If you are a fervent platform lover and can pick this game up at a fair price, you probably won't regret it. Otherwise, leave Pitfall Harry as it is.