Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure

Pitfall is a 2-D side-scrolling adventure in which Harry Jr. is on a mission in the South American jungle to recover artifacts, gold, treasure, his pop, and other goodies. There must have been an explosion in a major cache somewhere, because this stuff is sitting in trees, on the ground, and in subterranean locations. Harry and Harry Jr. likely mugged Indiana Jones because they're wearing his outfit and his whip. They also find lots of snakes and go on a mine car ride in this game.

But the lack of originality doesn't matter that much because the gameplay offers pretty good stuff overall. Harry Jr. must run and jump over quicksand and the gaping maws of crocodiles, swing on vines, climb ropes, and fight chattering skeletons and chittering monkey foes in his quest. He's also got to solve a few puzzles along the way.

While the graphics are enhanced in 32-bit finery for the Game Boy Advance screen, the details and colors are muddy, making it hard to appreciate the lush environments. Seeing where you're going and what you're grabbing can be difficult, even with perfect lighting. Also, the game suffers from repetition and a lack of inspiration. There's only so much Harry Jr. can do, and you'll find him doing it a lot, over and over. Still, Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure is a worthwhile romp on the handheld even if it is outshined a bit by other, cleaner-looking launch titles. --Andrew S. Bub

Pros:

• Pitfall Harry (and son) are back
• The game features several distinct environments
• Swinging over open-mouthed crocs is as cool now as it was almost 20 years ago

• The graphics are a bit muddy and hard to see without perfect lighting
• The game feels a little repetitious and uninspired

Pitfall is a 2-D side-scrolling adventure in which Harry Jr. is on a mission in the South American jungle to recover artifacts, gold, treasure, his pop, and other goodies. There must have been an explosion in a major cache somewhere, because this stuff is sitting in trees, on the ground, and in subterranean locations. Harry and Harry Jr. likely mugged Indiana Jones because they're wearing his outfit and his whip. They also find lots of snakes and go on a mine car ride in this game.

But the lack of originality doesn't matter that much because the gameplay offers pretty good stuff overall. Harry Jr. must run and jump over quicksand and the gaping maws of crocodiles, swing on vines, climb ropes, and fight chattering skeletons and chittering monkey foes in his quest. He's also got to solve a few puzzles along the way.

While the graphics are enhanced in 32-bit finery for the Game Boy Advance screen, the details and colors are muddy, making it hard to appreciate the lush environments. Seeing where you're going and what you're grabbing can be difficult, even with perfect lighting. Also, the game suffers from repetition and a lack of inspiration. There's only so much Harry Jr. can do, and you'll find him doing it a lot, over and over. Still, Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure is a worthwhile romp on the handheld even if it is outshi

To solve both of these problems you will need a game light and some cheat codes. Once you overcome these two obsticles, you will start to enjoy the game. One thing about using the cheat to get to different levels is that the area of the screen which shows you how many points you have accumulated will have its place taken by coordinate numbers. These numbers were probably used to debug the game by the programmers. So you will not have a total score when playing with the level cheat. That's really too bad because you won't know just how well you did on each level.

As you play throught the levels, you will encounter some pretty fun gameplay. The levels are thought out well and some of the levels are pretty challenging. If you do not have good eye/hand coordination, you probably should pass on this game as you will really need to time your moves well.
There are "secret" levels that you will unlock and it will take you a while to understand how to defeat some of the bosses, but all in all, I would say this is a pretty fun game. One word of caution. If you already have a penchant against "platform" type games, you should steer away from this game as only those who like this sort of gameplay will enjoy it.


Needs a SAVE feature!!   June 30, 2001
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

I bought this game because I used to have the OLD Atari version, and wanted to see how they could update it. The gameplay itself is pretty fun, but visibility is poor, especially in the third level mineshafts. Also, every time I turn on the darn thing, I have to start over from the beginning. That gets old really fast. Other than that, the graphics are great, and it's not difficult to play...but then again, I keep playing the same levels over and over and over...


Please read   June 2, 2002
7 out of 11 found this review helpful

sorry to say this but this game really bytes. No only is it hard to play it is just not fun. The only reason I got this game is because the back looked cool(i will never do that again) Please dont buy....you will regret it!


I have this game for the PC and it sweet!!   May 14, 2001
Game Boy Advance Freak™ (Toms River, NJ USA)
6 out of 16 found this review helpful

I have this game for the PC and it sweet!! I had it since I was in 2nd grade (5 years now) and it is so awesome. There are great levels and it is really addictive. Not only that it is really fun. It is one of the best made platform games there is. So if you are looking for an excellent platform/adventure game, this is definitely the one for you!