Pitfall: The Big Adventure (Wii)

Cool Yule Rating: 3 stars

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Cool Yule Rating: 3 stars

Price: $39.99

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Description: Back in the '80s, the game that really got me hooked on video games was the original Pitfall by Activision, which at the time advanced the state-of-the-art in terms of video game designs – it proved you could build a good game for the Atari 2600. Having played that game non-stop as a child, jumping crocodiles, avoiding scorpions and swinging on vines, I was pretty excited to hear that Activision has updated the game for the Nintendo Wii.

You take on the role of Pitfall Harry, who is on a plane headed for Peru with a bunch of other characters when the plane crashes and dumps you in the middle of the jungle. The beginning levels will immediately remind you of the original Pitfall, where you have to jump over pits, swing on vines, and avoid the crocodiles by jumping on their backs without getting eaten. The game is now 3-D and played in a third-person perspective, so the camera angle is now pretty much behind Pitfall Harry as you traverse the jungle. This means instead of timing your jump from left to right, you are going forward in order to time your jump onto the vine. This can be fun or excruciating, depending on how good you are at figuring out the right perspective and timing on your jumps. The same problems arise when trying to jump on the crocodiles, I found myself falling into the lake and then getting devoured by the crocs – if you enjoy getting eaten by crocodiles, this is the game for you! Fortunately, you can shake the Wii remote to try and escape the croc's jaws with only minimal damage.

Speaking of the remote, it's used for various purposes, including swinging on the vines, kicking and punching sleeping monkeys (my favorite part of the game) and doing other various moves (later in the game you can use the remote to row a raft, use an ice pick, etc.). Along with the Wii Nunchuck, you move around and jump pretty easily.

The levels in the game don't really tell you that much where to go next, it's really a part of just walking around and hoping that you're going in the right direction. Another frustrating part is that you keep finding dead-ends and road blocks, with messages like, "You need a raft to get over the electrified water", or "You need TNT to blow up this wall", or "You need a torch to break through this Web". Unfortunately, I never found these items, making this a very linear game (at some point I suppose I will get the things I need to progress) in terms of only being able to go in one direction.

The game has a pretty good sense of humor – Harry is an arrogant explorer, and it definitely has an Indiana Jones type vibe to it (lots of traps to avoid and some puzzles to solve to get through areas). But by the time I ran into the talking jaguar, I knew that the designers were probably working pretty late at night on this game.

Hardcore gamers might appreciate the challenges in the game, but after a while I just got sick of falling down pits, getting eaten by crocodiles or bitten by scorpions. Which, ironically, was what caused me to stop playing the original Pitfall in the '80s.