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PC - Windows : Pitfall: The Lost Expedition Reviews

Gas Gauge: 76
Gas Gauge 76
Below are user reviews of Pitfall: The Lost Expedition and on the right are links to professionally written reviews. The summary of review scores shows the distribution of scores given by the professional reviewers for Pitfall: The Lost Expedition. Column height indicates the number of reviews with a score within the range shown at the bottom of the column. Higher scores (columns further towards the right) are better.

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ReviewsScore
Game Spot 70
IGN 78
GameZone 80






User Reviews (1 - 3 of 3)

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Pitfall is pretty cool!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: January 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I picked up Pitfall: The Lost Expedition because of it's nostalgia factor and because I like mascot platformers. As soon as I saw it, I caught myself thinking "oh, cool--a new Pitfall game"--it didn't take long after that for me to talk myself into buying it. Little did I realize however, that I would be in for a true treat. Pitfall manages to avoid committing many of the sins which are normally all too common in console ports. The game supports rumblepads, has pretty good graphics, and perhaps best of all, doesn't force you to switch between using your gamepad, and keyboard/mouse when you exit to the menus. It has also been updated to be comparable to modern platformers nicely.

Pitfall stays pretty true to it's original gameplay forumula of running and jumping puzzles, but also adds in several new conventions such as a treasure hunt, climbing and scaling walls and cliffs, and even rescuing a damsel in distress (as well as other explorers and comrades). There's even an interesting over arch to the story centered around an ancient power, and a legendary lost city. This keeps the game interesting, and drives the action along. Paying homage to it's forebears, Harry's long standing friend from Pitfall 2 "Quickclaw" returns in this installment--though as a jaguar this time whereas he was originally a lion. His presence isn't just cursory either--you find out much later that he plays an important role in the story. Harry himself has been modernized as well havng allot more personality, a stylized look, and new moves too--among them are several unlockable "heroic actions" which you can either purchase (with recovered idols) from one of the game's many shamans (who also sells maps, health powerups, and other useful items), or unlock them as you progress by finding heroic handbook pages. And you're going to need them as Harry will be racing against a rival explorer for the treasure and artifacts (as well as the lives of his friends), and fighting in croc filled swamps against screaming natives, as well as a variety of idiginous critters. There are as you might expect, a fun assortment of "native" games, and bonus challenges scattered thoughout the game as well. The graphics while not spectacular, are pretty nice for a game with such modest specs (though those water effects need some help) as you'll notice nice detail touches like Harry's hair blowing in the wind, his backpack bouncing on his shoulders as he runs, and even some fairly detailed, and nice 3D looking backgrounds. At several points, Activision also throws in sly jokes, and tributes to previous Pitfall installments as you find that it even contains an emulator which includes full versions of "Pitfall!" and "Pitfall 2: Lost Caverns" as playable mini-games. More than that, playing these games, and reaching certain scoring threshholds in them grants codes which unlock different outfits for Harry to wear in-game (Nicole, Old School Harry, and Pusca) as well as a few handy cheats. I thought this was a nice touch as other games with bonus/mini-games like "Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut" contain them purely for your enjoyment, and that's fine--but here, Activision has gone one better, and there is an in-game reward for playing them. Truly, this game does it's forebears proud.

I can find little to complain about in Pitfall save that it doesn't implement a true "save anywhere" system (you re-start at the beginning of an area regardless of where you save) so like many platformers, there is a slight reliance on a frustration factor to keep you playing at times, but the game doesn't seem to over-rely on it. The game isn't a system hog, and doesn't seem to demand inordinately high system system specs. However, the game is one of those rare ones which will not minimize to the taskbar--which could be a problem given that without any way of opening the task manager, or returning to desktop, it would force a hard re-set if the game were to freeze up, or otherwise become unresponsive--thus it's advisable to play it with background programs and/or processes minimized. Mercifully enough though, problems like these seem rare--on the whole, the game seems very stable, and well behaved. Overall, I'm satisfied with my purchase, and don't see myself selling, or trading this game. There were moments when I caught myself wishing I had a game guide (also available here on amazon--search for "Pitfall Harry Official Strategy Guide"), but the puzzles and brain teasers don't seem terribly abstract, or overly difficult. But make no mistake: Pitfall's main selling points are it's personality, and high nostalgia factor. For a game that launched as a value title (I paid $30.00 because it was a new release, but I've seen it since then for $20.00 or less), you'll be hard pressed to beat "Pitfall: The Lost Expedition" for old school platforming fun.

Pitfall: The Lost Expedition

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: September 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm an old school fan of this franchise. The play control of this game is excellent and coupled with a fun physics engine. You will not find the game childish as you may other platformers. Excellent heroesque music, beautifull graphics and steady pitfall style challenges will capture your imagination and draw you into a simple, yet entertaining plot centered around discovering an ancient power & a lost fabled city. And the constant challenges of pitfalling, will delight your sense of accomplishment or possibly frustrate you at times. All in all, a positively brilliant title.

My only caution, is to point out that the game will not minimize to the task bar - so be sure your computer is optimized for it before you get into the game, and try to save often.

Pitfall is fun at first, but gets much harder.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I played this, and at the end of the first level, there is a violent confrontation with an animal. Later, he swings on a vine and nearly gets eaten by alligators. It has violence in it (especially at the level end bosses), but no blood. It is creative, but I found the "spirits" that chased me on one fast-moving level to be disconcerting. Not very fun. Impossible to beat, without codes. Only for people who are fans of the original, simpler, version.


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