I actually played this version of the game before I saw the original. Nice, cool action, really made me feel like Indiana Jones as a kid. A lot of after-school hours were burned up trying to reach the end of Pitfall 3.
Bit of trivia – this game was also released under the title “Orpheus In The Underworld.” In fact, I spent years trying to find “Pitfall 3” as an adult, only to find “OitU” and recognize it as the same game! I guess maybe the original release was “Orpheus” and when that didn’t sell too well, they rereleased it as Pitfall 3.
Anyway, the plot of Pitfall3/OitU is really no different than Pitfall 1 – you are a guy running around, doing your best to survive deathtraps and reptiles that cross your path. In fact, most of the deathtraps are kind of ridiculous, but that’s part of the fun of the game. Like in Pitfall 1, you’ll find pits which open and close, floating stones which move back and forth and instant quicksand. And lots of bottomless pits. Pitfall 3 has no lack of bottomless pits.
The game also has this weird sci-fi/fantasy thing going on. As a kid, I could never figure out if the bad guys were aliens or gremlins or evil Snorks or what. This is not a game to play if you’re looking
for some internal logic to explain everything. By and large, you just plunge in and try to survive all the weird stuff they throw at you.
The game is a side-scroller, no surprise to the fans of Pitfall 1 & 2. You move the joystick to control your little dude, hopefully jumping at the right time to cross a pit or grab a vine or hop over an enemy. The controls are a little awkward, and too often your dude won’t jump fast enough or hesitate when you need him to run, duck, shoot, whatever. This delay always equals instant death and a little frustration. You really have to play the game a million times to anticipate what the enemies are going to do before they do them.
As about graphics, the game looks good, colors are a little blah to be honest.
But at its core, you are still a fearless adventurer running, jumping, and doing whatever you need to do to survive to reach your goal. If you liked Pitfall, I guess there’s no reason you won’t at least like taking a look at Pitfall 3.
