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A solid platformer that doesn’t innovate, but still has its very entertaining times.
April 16, 2004 | 10:00 PM PSTby: Phillip Levin
Originally crafted and released in 1982, the original Pitfall introduced to gamers the “adventure” genre. It was a very simple theory – a blend of vine-swinging action and exploration – and it can be traced back that Pitfall was truly the “first” adventure or platforming game of all time. Either way, the original Pitfall game is highly considered one of the best games for its day and age.
Since 1982, we’ve seen a lot of new franchises and innovations. Nintendo has wowed gamers with the Mario series and the Zelda series. And the only attempt, thus far, to bring the Pitfall series into 3D hasn’t been extremely pretty. Some may feel that Pitfall: The Lost Expedition isn’t the most impressive entry into 3D, either, but Lost Expedition does offer a solid platforming experience to be had. It’s true; the original Pitfall was popular for its fresh new gameplay, while The Lost Expedition mostly consists of borrowed gameplay elements from a variety of series, mostly the Metroid series. Still, Pitfall: The Lost Expedition packs a compelling storyline and fun gameplay – a game with its fun times, no doubt.
Features
Pitfall brought to life in full 3D
Four different areas to explore
Over five different items to find and utilize
Rated E for Everyone
Pro Logic II
Gameplay
Pitfall: The Lost Expedition’s storyline is quite simple, but, believe it or not, you’re likely to find yourself attached to it by the time the credits roll. The game opens up with a boss fight. Harry finds himself face-to-face with a jaguar, surrounded by deadly flames. After a few rounds of punches, Harry finds himself about to be eaten by the animal. The scene is interrupted and we’re zapped back to the past. Harry narrates the scene, explaining that how he found himself in this life-or-death situation. And the rest of the game focuses around Harry telling how he found himself in the ring of fire with a very unfriendly beast awaiting him.
The beginning of this tale shows Harry inside a plane, talking with a Dr. Bittenbinder and a few other explorers. Soon enough, the plane is stricken by lightening, and the explorers find themselves twirling down to a dangerous jungle. Next, Harry finds himself in this un-explored jungle. He sets off, originally to gather survivors of the crash, but his journey soon turns into a quest to gather some ancient artifacts, with a touch of a love story. The storyline of Lost Expedition, from here on out, is mostly told through narrated cut-scenes, though there are some more compelling ones to find.
One of the icy moments Harry finds himself in.
Harry is controlled with the control stick a la the Mario series and other platformers. You can also control the camera, though not with the “C” stick, but instead with the “L” and “R” triggers. “A” causes Harry to leap – two taps causes him to double jump, similar to Mario, again, while “B” serves as his attack button. Meanwhile, the combination of the
d-pad and “C” stick allow Harry to equip and use different items he picks up along his expedition. For the most part, control feels a bit clunky, though not outrageously so. There are some glitches that lend to this clunky feeling. Still, control suffices.
Lost Expedition’s plot focuses around Harry’s exploration of a large jungle he and his fellow explorers are stranded in. Harry spends the majority of his adventure exploring areas, platforming and fighting off some crazed jungle animals. Since at the beginning of his adventure he loses all his items, Harry must also gather back all his items. This plays out much like a Metroid game. Harry will come across a variety of areas along his way that he cannot access without a certain item. After retrieving said item, he can then venture back and traverse these locations. It all works very similar to the Metroid series.
Also like the Metroid franchise, Harry must backtrack quite a bit. For example, he has to travel across already explored areas to travel back to certain places on his map. And like Metroid, this backtracking isn’t always tedious, because along his way, he’ll find areas he can now reach with recently retrieved items. For example, early in the game, Harry will find a wall that can be blown up with TNT. In the latter part of Lost Expedition, he’ll be able to travel back to this area to crumble this wall with his new TNT. In another part of The Lost Expedition, Harry will come across many icy walls that can be climbed with a pickaxe. When he finally retrieves his pickaxe, he can travel back to these icy slopes and climb them. These elements are what make The Lost Expedition as engaging as it is. It works just as it does for Metroid.
It's the haymaker!
Despite being in a jungle, you won’t find yourself always surrounded by greens. This is refreshing; as one of the most worrisome elements at the start of the adventure is that you’ll spend so much time surrounded by monkeys, alligators and jungle environments that you’ll feel tired by it all. This is entirely untrue, thankfully. Harry finds himself in four main areas in his adventure: the jungle, ruins, caverns and mountains. These areas are quite self-explanatory. The jungle is filled with monkeys, alligators and vines to swing. The ruins are filled with crazed villagers, lava pits and more. The caverns are home to lakes flowing with electricity, spooky caves and tons of platforming. And just when you’re in need of a drastic change in scenery, Harry finds himself in a freezing cold mountain range, complete with ice-climbing action, frozen lakes, some sledding and a few other surprises. It is a quite varied and satisfying adventure.
The Lost Expedition is a surprisingly compelling adventure. It is completely unoriginal – with a formula straight out of the Metroid, Zelda, Prince of Persia and Mario series. Heck, Harry can even roll up into a ball – cough, Metroid, cough – and roll through tight areas. And when you think it can’t get anymore cookie-cutter, Harry gets a speed-dash like maneuver. But, right when you’re about to deem the quest predictable and put down your controller, Harry finds himself ice climbing and rafting his way through frozen and electrified waters. Like opening a window on a stuffy day, these moments breathe fresh air into his adventure.
There are some innovative control choices developer Edge of Reality has chosen to execute, too, that we must mention. The biggest one is the use of full analog control. For example, when ice climbing, you use both the control stick and “C” stick to control Harry’s arms. Then, when rafting, both sticks control Harry’s arms. Anyone who has ever sat in a raft – in a swimming pool or any body of water – will find this authentic. The developer has also included some subtle touches that prove to make the quest all the more immersing and atmospheric – a pause screen that is made up of a book that Harry sorts through, depending on what you choose to do. For example, if you choose to toy with the game’s options, Harry will flip through a few pages in search of the options page. The same effect is used when you try to flip to the map page or any other page.
Since 1982, we’ve seen a lot of new franchises and innovations. Nintendo has wowed gamers with the Mario series and the Zelda series. And the only attempt, thus far, to bring the Pitfall series into 3D hasn’t been extremely pretty. Some may feel that Pitfall: The Lost Expedition isn’t the most impressive entry into 3D, either, but Lost Expedition does offer a solid platforming experience to be had. It’s true; the original Pitfall was popular for its fresh new gameplay, while The Lost Expedition mostly consists of borrowed gameplay elements from a variety of series, mostly the Metroid series. Still, Pitfall: The Lost Expedition packs a compelling storyline and fun gameplay – a game with its fun times, no doubt.
Features
Gameplay
Pitfall: The Lost Expedition’s storyline is quite simple, but, believe it or not, you’re likely to find yourself attached to it by the time the credits roll. The game opens up with a boss fight. Harry finds himself face-to-face with a jaguar, surrounded by deadly flames. After a few rounds of punches, Harry finds himself about to be eaten by the animal. The scene is interrupted and we’re zapped back to the past. Harry narrates the scene, explaining that how he found himself in this life-or-death situation. And the rest of the game focuses around Harry telling how he found himself in the ring of fire with a very unfriendly beast awaiting him.
The beginning of this tale shows Harry inside a plane, talking with a Dr. Bittenbinder and a few other explorers. Soon enough, the plane is stricken by lightening, and the explorers find themselves twirling down to a dangerous jungle. Next, Harry finds himself in this un-explored jungle. He sets off, originally to gather survivors of the crash, but his journey soon turns into a quest to gather some ancient artifacts, with a touch of a love story. The storyline of Lost Expedition, from here on out, is mostly told through narrated cut-scenes, though there are some more compelling ones to find.
One of the icy moments Harry finds himself in.
Harry is controlled with the control stick a la the Mario series and other platformers. You can also control the camera, though not with the “C” stick, but instead with the “L” and “R” triggers. “A” causes Harry to leap – two taps causes him to double jump, similar to Mario, again, while “B” serves as his attack button. Meanwhile, the combination of the
d-pad and “C” stick allow Harry to equip and use different items he picks up along his expedition. For the most part, control feels a bit clunky, though not outrageously so. There are some glitches that lend to this clunky feeling. Still, control suffices.
Lost Expedition’s plot focuses around Harry’s exploration of a large jungle he and his fellow explorers are stranded in. Harry spends the majority of his adventure exploring areas, platforming and fighting off some crazed jungle animals. Since at the beginning of his adventure he loses all his items, Harry must also gather back all his items. This plays out much like a Metroid game. Harry will come across a variety of areas along his way that he cannot access without a certain item. After retrieving said item, he can then venture back and traverse these locations. It all works very similar to the Metroid series.
Also like the Metroid franchise, Harry must backtrack quite a bit. For example, he has to travel across already explored areas to travel back to certain places on his map. And like Metroid, this backtracking isn’t always tedious, because along his way, he’ll find areas he can now reach with recently retrieved items. For example, early in the game, Harry will find a wall that can be blown up with TNT. In the latter part of Lost Expedition, he’ll be able to travel back to this area to crumble this wall with his new TNT. In another part of The Lost Expedition, Harry will come across many icy walls that can be climbed with a pickaxe. When he finally retrieves his pickaxe, he can travel back to these icy slopes and climb them. These elements are what make The Lost Expedition as engaging as it is. It works just as it does for Metroid.
It's the haymaker!
Despite being in a jungle, you won’t find yourself always surrounded by greens. This is refreshing; as one of the most worrisome elements at the start of the adventure is that you’ll spend so much time surrounded by monkeys, alligators and jungle environments that you’ll feel tired by it all. This is entirely untrue, thankfully. Harry finds himself in four main areas in his adventure: the jungle, ruins, caverns and mountains. These areas are quite self-explanatory. The jungle is filled with monkeys, alligators and vines to swing. The ruins are filled with crazed villagers, lava pits and more. The caverns are home to lakes flowing with electricity, spooky caves and tons of platforming. And just when you’re in need of a drastic change in scenery, Harry finds himself in a freezing cold mountain range, complete with ice-climbing action, frozen lakes, some sledding and a few other surprises. It is a quite varied and satisfying adventure.
The Lost Expedition is a surprisingly compelling adventure. It is completely unoriginal – with a formula straight out of the Metroid, Zelda, Prince of Persia and Mario series. Heck, Harry can even roll up into a ball – cough, Metroid, cough – and roll through tight areas. And when you think it can’t get anymore cookie-cutter, Harry gets a speed-dash like maneuver. But, right when you’re about to deem the quest predictable and put down your controller, Harry finds himself ice climbing and rafting his way through frozen and electrified waters. Like opening a window on a stuffy day, these moments breathe fresh air into his adventure.
There are some innovative control choices developer Edge of Reality has chosen to execute, too, that we must mention. The biggest one is the use of full analog control. For example, when ice climbing, you use both the control stick and “C” stick to control Harry’s arms. Then, when rafting, both sticks control Harry’s arms. Anyone who has ever sat in a raft – in a swimming pool or any body of water – will find this authentic. The developer has also included some subtle touches that prove to make the quest all the more immersing and atmospheric – a pause screen that is made up of a book that Harry sorts through, depending on what you choose to do. For example, if you choose to toy with the game’s options, Harry will flip through a few pages in search of the options page. The same effect is used when you try to flip to the map page or any other page.
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November 20, 2009
