The Mayan Adventure Review
Pitfall has been around for a long, long time. One of the first ever platform games, its 1982 debut predates even Super Mario! John Crane’s Indiana Jones clone was a huge hit on the Atari 2600 and the arcades, and while the series has never captured success it held when it was the only game in town, it still holds a fond place in the hearts of many 20-something gamers.
Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, first came out almost six years ago, and was an attempt by Activision to recapture the platform gaming market. It wasn’t a bad idea, since Pitfall has some unique gameplay elements that haven’t really taken the advantage of by any other game, before or since. At its most basic, Pitfall was a side-scrolling platform game peppered with obstacles that needed to be avoided, jumped or swung over on vines tarzan-style. Some of it’s trademark features were tar and quicksand pits that rapidly expanded and contracted, and trios of alligators would all open and close their mouths in unison.
The Mayan Adventure brings Pitfall forward to the next generation. Pitfall Harry Jr. is investigating some Pitfall ruins with his dad, when the forces unknown abduct Harry the Elder. It’s up to the teenage tomb raider to follow in his fathers footsteps, solve the mystery of the disappearance, and scour South America of every last piece of loot into the bargain.
This is a direct port of the SNES version, and on the GBA it looks very impressive. The style of play is most comparable to Rayman Advance, in that the pacing is very quick indeed. The characters and backgrounds are painted in lush colors, and the actors, particularily Harry, are very large on screen. Harry has loads of different animation’s, for all his leaping, swinging, crawling and so forth, and glides across the screen like quicksilver. Danger may lurk around every corner, but you’ll be tempted to play at breakneck speed just to see him sprinting about.
Each level is a huge maze begging exploration, an animatronic obstacle course infested with native wildlife and belligerent natives. Who knows, maybe you’ll even find the original game buried in the undergrowth. The gameplay is simple, yet difficult, this is a classic arcade fare. The visuals are definitely a triumph, enough to give that French weirdo Rayman a run for his money and reignite the gaming passions in the older audience.
Visuals: 8
Sound: 6
Originality: 7
Replay: 7
Overall: 8