Review: Pitfall: The Lost Expedition (GameCube)

In this review, we collect the idols in the GameCube game Pitfall: The Lost Expedition. We find out how well this adventure game plays.

This game was released in 2004 and is another instalment of the Pitfall series.

We’ve played a number of games in this franchise so far. Previously, we tried Pitfall: Beyond the Jungle. That game was barely passable. Before that, we tried Pitfall! for the Atari 5200. That game wound up being a very solid game. We also played Pitfall II: The Lost Caverns. That game also ended up being a very solid one. Finally, we tried Pitfall for the Atari 2600. That game was also very solid and wound up being the best instalment we played to date. So, we thought we’d give this instalment a try to see how well it plays.

The story is that Pitfall Harry has joined another expedition into the jungle along with many other archaeologists. While pressing his credentials with others on the plane, he notices Nicole, a beautiful expedition team member and fellow archaeologist. Harry tries to charm her, but his advances are ignored. At that point, lightening strikes the plane and causes the whole plane to go down. The passengers on board scramble to get their parachutes and jump out of the plane. Eventually, Harry jumps out of the plane.

When he wakes up, he realizes his is alone somewhere on the jungle floor. After he comes to his senses, he sets out to rescue other members of the expedition.

You start out with not a lot. All you have is a basic set of moves. Use “B” to attach and “A” to jump. You can also double-jump by tapping “A” again while in the air. Really, this is a nice small amount of basic moves that have long been standard in many adventure games.

As is the tradition of this franchise, you also have vines you can latch on to and swing over gaps with. Jump to the vine to grab onto it and jump again to jump off. The lower you are on the vine, the more momentum you can gather. To adjust this, hold down on the “C” stick. You’ll stop swinging and start adjusting your height accordingly. The vines vary in distance, so this is extremely useful to fine tune your jumping capabilities.

There are also two standard returning enemies: first is the giant holes that open and close (some just stay open). They are given teeth almost like a reference to a Star Wars movie. In addition to this are crocodiles that you can jump on as an extra platform.

There are, of course, other threats. There are scorpions, hostile natives, penguins, unsafe water passages, electric eels, Parana fish, and many other threats. You do have a health meter in this game. Falling off of cliffs, touching electrified or frozen water, or being hit will deduct one point of health. If you lose all of your health, you’ll be forced to restart the area you are in (full health is given).

Along the way, you obtain various tools to assist you. Some of the items include a canteen (stores extra health), a torch (scares away bats, attracts butterflies, and lights dark places), a gas mask (permits you to go through poisonous clouds), and a sling (stuns enemies from a distance and knocks down things stuck in high places). Each item helps you along (in fact, a vast majority are mandatory to use at some point or another).

Items are equipped in the diagram on the top right hand corner. You can equip four things at a time. To use one, simply press the direction on the “D” pad to use. The icon will be replaced by a hand. When you are done, press on that direction again to put it away. You can, of course, easily switch between items via the directional buttons without having to manually put them away, so quick change is available. When you get more than four items, you can swap out items by holding down the direction of the item you are putting away. You’ll get a small menu that allows you to select which item you want to replace that item with.

In addition to this, each item utilizes the “C” stick. All four directions may or may not have a use. For instance, to use the gas mask, equip it. When you want to wear it, you have to hold down the up direction on the “C” stick. On a side note, when you don’t have anything equipped, the “C” stick acts as your hands when you want to collect an item. Simply walk up to, say, an idol, then use the “C” stick to grab it. In short, everything is pretty much manually activated

Along the way, you’ll notice certain features found in the game. The first, and probably most, important feature are the health springs. Each spring has an idol spitting out glowing water in a small pool. simply jump onto the spring to restore all of your health. In addition, you can use the canteen to fill up on extra health that you can carry along with you.

Another feature are the golden idols. Golden idols work as the games currency. The more you can collect, the better. There aren’t exactly hundreds of them in the game, but each one is quite valuable.

A third related feature is the shaman. In various locations throughout the game, there is a floating shaman who is asleep. Walk up to the shaman and hit “B” to wake him up. The shaman will then open up his store and allow you to browse the items in the store. Increasing health and canteen capacity will gradually get more expensive as you purchase more of them. You can also buy added moves to help attack and defend yourself. Finally, notes will offer information about the different types of areas you’ll visit.

Just know that you can only buy one item at a time. Once you buy something, that location will no longer be available. You must find another Shaman location to buy something else. So, not only do you have to be wise of what you want to buy with relation to price, but also how likely you are to find another and when.

In addition, there are missing pages in the handbook you get. As you venture forth, you’ll start obtaining pages for different moves you can perform. Until you get those pages, those moves will remain locked.

Along the way, there are mini-games. What mini-games are available depends somewhat on what moves you have unlocked. Many of them occur on the side as a side mission. Others, however, are mandatory. Occasionally, you stand on a gold circle and you actually play a common enemy for a brief period of time. You then take on your own character that the computer controls. So, there is some variety to be had with the gameplay that makes this interesting.

So, for me, there are some things to at least acknowledge about this franchise before delving into what I think about this game. When this franchise was around in the Atari days, it had a lot of what other games did not. Back then, most games, at least on the Atari system, had a simple black background with some basic sprites. The gameplay was very primitive in that most developers were simply trying to emulate the arcade experience. So, when this game was released, it felt much less a programmers experiment and more a fully polished game. Back before the NES days, that was huge in and of itself.

Because of what existed in consoles back then, this franchise was really at the top of the pack and among other more legendary games like Pac Man, Space Invaders, Missile Command, and many others. In some respects, it was ahead of its time because it was less about getting a high score and more about completing an objective.

Fast forward to 2004 (which was when this game was released), we’re looking at a very different world of gaming technology. Game units carry more memory, consoles are vastly more powerful, systems are becoming more and more integrated to the Internet, controller designs are improving, more talented developers have already entered the field and impressed many people over the years. Comparing an old classic Atari game to something like the GameCube is night and day. Because of this, what I look for in this game is not just something that exceeds what was done previously in the franchise, but also becomes comparable to other games at the time.

For this game, I’m not really seeing it in the end. Yes, it has some interesting features like utilizing the D-pad for utility slots, but I’ve already seen that in games like The Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time. Yes, there are plenty of interesting moves, but games like Super Mario 64 had a very similar suite of agility moves.

Probably the only thing I see in this game that brought something new and interesting to the table is the use of the “C” stick to obtain items. For me, this pretty much takes something that is dead simple (just touch an item and take it) and making it more annoying (actively having to reach for something). Yes, it adds a sense of realism, but I’m not sure it really adds anything to the gameplay as a whole.

If anything, I’m seeing a game that is struggling to keep up with other adventure games of the previous console generation let alone being able to take on current generation games. Probably the only thing going for this one is the nostalgia of being able to play a Pitfall game on a more modern console. If you haven’t played Pitfall back in the Atari days, it makes it way harder to really find this game noteworthy.

In addition to this, the game literally starts on a boss fight. I’m sure that it’s possible to have a boss fight as the first thing you encounter in a game and make it work. In this game, however, I don’t think it was well implemented. If anything, I have to rely on what I’ve learned in other games to quickly figure this one out and defeat the boss. Even after that, the learning and difficulty curve is a bit steep still in the initial stages which is something you don’t want to have when trying to get players into a game they’ve never had before.

Also, the navigation system in this game is pretty bad. It is literally a picture of some basic ideas with a few random scribbles and the occasional icon. That’s it. Unfortunately, it barely told me anything other than giving me a very vague idea of what things are like in the general area. Probably one of the worst ones I’ve seen that at least made an attempt.

Having said that, there are certainly good points to be found here. The first thing that I do notice is the writing and the dialogue. I thought that trying to inject some humour gives this game a certain amount of personality. That is something I really like seeing in a game. I’ve played a fair share of games that have a core concept, relies on some general design, and offers players a chance to beat it. This game, at the very least, tries to go the extra mile and offers some added entertainment along the way. I personally wish more games in this era did that because they are generally among my favourite games. It’s certainly not the most comedic I’ve ever encountered, but I have to give some credit for trying at the very least.

Another positive I think is very worthy of being brought up is that you can tell that the developers tried to break the mould a bit with this game. Yes, it has the classic pits that try to eat you and the swinging on the vines, but those elements kind of had to be in there as a nod to previous games. At the same time, you could tell new things were being added to those basic concepts. The game ran the risk as coming off too much like, say, Crash Bandicoot, but luckily, it didn’t really fall into that category. You can tell the developers did try to add new features and get to be on similar grounds to other games. After all, trying to take an old Atari game and turn it into a blockbuster GameCube game is not exactly an easy thing to do in the first place.

Generally speaking, this game will very likely be appealing to people who have a nostalgic attachment to the franchise, but for the rest of the gaming world, I would say this is a game that struggles to keep up with the level gaming has become by this point in time. The initial learning and difficulty curve is pretty steep, some of the features makes a nearly automatic feature more complex in an annoying way. Additionally, the navigation system leaves a lot to be desired. There are positives in this game as well. I respect the writing to give this game not just a comedic twist, but also some personality. Also, I think there is certainly some nice evolution to this franchise with this instalment. Sadly, I still have to say that it’s a very mediocre game at the end of the day.

Graphically speaking, had this game been released within the first two years of the systems life span, I would have said that the graphics were very solid. Unfortunately, graphics have improved by quite a bit and this game is winding up further behind because of it. It’s reasonable, but nothing to get overly excited over.

As for audio, I do like that majestic orchestral tone throughout the game. You can almost get that shades of Jurassic Park going for this one, yet with the overlay of its own personality, it works in its own way. The sound effects adds an interesting cartoon like flair to the experience and the voice acting is actually pretty respectable. So, on that front, this is probably the strongest aspect in this game.

Overall, if you are already into this franchise, this game likely won’t disappoint. However, for your average gamer who is well aware of what expectations are at the time, this one is a pretty mediocre play. The navigation is pretty bad, some aspects are more annoying then they need to be, and the difficulty and learning curve is too steep at the beginning. Graphics are decent and the audio is actually pretty respectable. So, not a game I would get all that excited over.

Overall
Furthest point in game: Obtained the pickaxes.

General gameplay: 16/25
Replay value: 6/10
Graphics: 7/10
Audio: 4/5

Overall rating: 66%

Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.