Pitfall: The Lost Expedition

As the risk-taking explorer Pitfall Harry, you’ve got to rescue the members of a lost expedition.

NA release: 19th February 2004
EU release: 20th February 2004
JP release: N/A
Developer: Edge of Reality
Publisher: Activision
NGC Magazine: 48%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

It’s always nice when a game surprises you. The Lost Expedition was the last proper game in the Pitfall franchise, which originated on the Atari 2600. This one was a 3D platformer that received middling reviews and that’s all I was expecting. And, to begin with, that’s exactly what I got with Pitfall: The Lost Expedition. However, it wasn’t long until the game started growing more than I expected.

At the start, Pitfall Harry’s moveset is a bit empty. He can run, jump and punch. However, you gain new abilities as you progress such as a high jump, long jump and an incredibly fast run. These abilities can be used to reach new areas in previous locations – there’s a lot of backtracking involved, but the new abilities makes traversing previous areas fairly swift, and movement itself is fun and fluid.

On top of new abilities, you’ll also find equipment. Just like the abilities, these also allow you to access new areas. These are the usual kinds of adventure equipment like slings, torches, inflatable rafts and explosives, with a few surprise ones as well. You can solve puzzles and get through obstacles, or sometimes use them to help deal with enemies. Pitfall also has an interesting method of using these objects.

The C-stick is not used to control the camera in The Lost Expedition – you use the shoulder buttons for that. Instead, the C-stick is used to grab objects, activate switches and use your items. Your sling is fired by flicking down then up, while you can wave your torch around. It’s an interesting mechanic, however I don’t feel it’s fully utilised as the positioning of objects. It’s still a fun idea, though.

You can also unlock the first two Pitfall games.The first one is played inside a tomb and you need to reach a high score to get one of the difficult to find collectables, while the second is an unlockable extra. Both games play the same and require lots of practice to find the routes you need to take.

The story itself starts off as something you hate (with a very womanizing and assaulting main character) but somehow ends up fun and charming – which manages to reflect the game itself. With the fun movement, interesting use of items and the metroidvania elements, I really, really enjoyed Pitfall and it’s a shame that the only thing that followed this was a re-release on Wii (with a very childish box art) and a mobile autorunner.