Pitfall! app (bit of a review)

[VectorX]

So mom said she had downloaded a new app last night but didn't know how to play it. I said I'd have a look at it later; probably something not complicated, as usual, but not being much of a gamer...well, you know how it can be with parents

Then I saw where it said Pitfall! I said "I know how to play this game", and tapped on it. I was greeted by a nice, blocky 2600 rendition of Harry himself swinging across the screen on a vine as the Activision logo appeared behind him in his wake, along with a just as nice recreation of the 2600 first screen where he jumps over an open mine, crosses to the next screen...where some THING was there. What the heck is that? Oh, it says it's a volcano, so that's different.

Then as it turns out, Harry himself was just looking at an app when the nearby volcano goes nuts. So that was a cool intro. I click on it to start the tutorial (how is this going to handle, controls-wise?) to see Harry running. He runs and runs with updated graphics. I have to touch the iPad in certain areas to get him to jump and duck over/under various things. Okay...

So I start off a game. Harry runs and runs and runs. Push up on the screen to get him to jump over something, or press down to get him to slide underneath something that will knock him flat. There's some nice scenery, kind of viewed at a 3/4 side view, but then it changes to a behind the person, 3-D first person viewpoint, which is pretty cool to do on the fly. It's like Web Wars, but on the ground, sort of.

So Harry runs and runs and runs. Why is he constantly running? From those hot peppers he ate in the Genesis version? You see where all you can do is turn right at one point, so you touch right. Then there's a fork in the trail; touch right or left. There's a rock formation with a hole at the bottom; pull down so Harry will slide underneath, get back up, and keep on running. THIS IS PITFALL? No, not really, just in namesake only. However, it's a fun game, as Harry seems to be more like Indiana Jones with a hat and at least one scene later.

So Harry runs through all kinds of ruins, small villages, a cave (REALLY cool), rides a mine cart (ripping off the second Indiana Jones movie), and rides a motorcycle too. Familiar Pitfall! stuff includes vines (can't leave those out!), the crocodiles (or alligators; whichever they were), and CRAP did you ever THINK about how big those Cobra Rattlers are? Yes, imagine they're as BIG AS YOU, and in a first person viewpoint! Scary stuff! And also like I. Jones, you use a whip to dispatch them. And the scorpions would be pretty scary indeed as a dark purple inside the dark caves if you weren't running so quickly.

I would say controls are kind of iffy, but then my mom just got a stylus, so maybe that'll help, plus dad had knocked over the iPad the other week and it hasn't worked as well since The game doesn't always judge the difference between ducking, jumping and whipping something, which doesn't help. However, a really colorful makaw (sp?) will drop you off in the later parts of the game, although at times I had to start over at a previous save spot, even though I had passed a much later makaw marker. I'm not sure if I have to grab or whip the marker to activate it though.

There are also three mini-games that are pretty much the same, but the courses are a lot shorter, are in various themes (mountain, mine car and I think a ruins one), and the diamond rings from the original are yours to grab at one point in each course (other than that, you're just picking up generic treasure bars as you run along). This is where control falters though, as it can be hard to move left or right AND jump at the last possible second to go through holes in walls (think finding the right spot in walls in the second fortress in Zaxxon, for instance).

I give the basic game a 6.75 out of 10, maybe even a 7 out of 10 if the controls improve with the stylus, and a 7 out of 10 for the whole package, since it gives you a lot. I don't know how long the basic game goes on for, but it's simple and addicting; I played it for two hours last night. Mom gave up before playing one single game, since, just by watching me do it, she said she'd never have the timing to get very far.

Fine with me, I'll just take your place then

[TrekMD]

Your review is consistent what I've heard others say about the game. It seems to be Pitfall just in name.

[VectorX]

I found an interesting review tonight where someone said this one made sense as an update, since you were also always running with the original. Interesting thought, but at least you could freakin' STOP when you wanted to!

She also mentioned the problem with the macaw. That's too bad it's like that; I looked around the store in the game to see if there was a way to fix that/there was something I was doing wrong but there wasn't. I got further on the game tonight and got far enough in the game for a save for right before I started riding the motorcycle. I also found the secret passageway for good where you get to ride a panther briefly!

You can read the review and see the trailer here: www.148apps.com/reviews/pitfall-review/ Also note the good, majestic music in it (forgot to mention that). She rates the controls highly though, so I guess I can blame them on dad for screwing up the iPad. I've given up on the Relic Rush mini-races. Too frustrating and hard with so-so controls.

[VectorX]

Ok, figured out some new stuff since...

First is that you can tilt the iPad left or right to make Harry move in those directions, making it a lot easier (and MANDATORY) to navigate those paths where suddenly a rock or something obscures the, say, right area of the screen, or if there's a small, long trail to the left with lava on the right, you just tilt the iPad left. I couldn't figure that out earlier--and I don't think it was in the tutorial, which disappears after only going through it once and there doesn't seem to be a way to access it ever again --and its made things quite a bit easier. Earlier I would get to an area like that, pull Harry left, then try to jump to make it through the rest of the difficult area. You can't just hold Harry in one position; after a second and a half or so, he snaps right back to the center. I've since unlocked all four of the mini-game Relic Rushes, although by the third Rush things speed up. You need near-Jedi reflexes to get through them. It makes me wonder what happens if you ever win all four races, but with a lot of video game endings in general still being crap it's probably not worth taking the time to try to do so.

I think I also forgot to mention the patches, being like the original Activision ones, although they're virtual ones, of course. Some of them are funny, such as the cartoonish snake with Xs for eyes, meaning it had been beaten up. When you click on it, it reads "You don't like snakes, do you?", as it was earned after whipping either one or two hundred snakes. I've earned quite a lot of them.

And, you can buy or earn outfits, which clicking on one will give a brief description and then Harry is shown wearing it. The very first one is a fairy outfit, with Harry being in pink and wearing wings! ;D Others include a bear suit, a ninja, etc. Very funny stuff, as Harry usually makes a sound in regards to each outfit when you click on it, as he does that with the "aviator" one, where he buzzes like a plane, which he has the old-time cap, goggles, and moustache. Ha ha.

[VectorX]

The nephew downloaded Temple Run onto the iPad the other week. Pitfall swiped pretty much everything from that game, although did more with the added mini-games.

That's some crazy nerve to do that though, if you ask me!