Pitfall II - Lost Caverns : Atari 2600
A review by iN008.

An Atari gem?
Pitfall as a series is one of the most well known Atari games, with it being one of the few innovators on the Atari 2600. The original game spanned across seven different systems within two years of release. At this point the development of this game was already in progress and during the same year of 1984, Pitfall II - Lost Caverns was born. This game was popular and received eleven ports to multiple systems topping the original games seven. The game soon became critically acclaimed even going as far as being called the 1# Atari 2600 game. However I myself do not agree with this statement, I'll be going into more detailed during this review. Besides the acclamation it was popular amongst non-critics whom were the ones playing it more. In this game Harry the greed-driven explorer (see my Pitfall! Review for reference.) returns once more to plunder the forests, swamps and all-manner of caves in order to find treasure. This time going even further out of his way to get it, against even dangerous environments. So what exactly is wrong with the game you ask? Well you'll just have to read and find out now won't you?


Graphics and Design : 8/10
At this point the Atari's limitations had been discovered and developers made more and more interesting games, more games featured more detailed environments and enemies however what did Activision do instead? Well they reduced the size of Harry and the enemies and created larger stages that could scroll vertically. This was quite the unique feature however similar things had been done for example the horizontal and vertical scrolling in Keystone Kapers and thus wasn't really that special. As this reduced the sprites detail, this was quite a down-side for me on the Design aspect as things weren't as clear as they could have been. So starting off, as I said things weren't as detailed as they could be and Harry really isn't an exception he is a lot more pixelated and his animation for running isn't quite up to bar with that off the original game. However his general design is the same. In this game, there are a lot more enemies, such as the frogs and electric eels. Most of these are easy to recognize however... there are some exceptions. Mainly what I believe to be, a brown-Mosquito like creature that lacks a proboscis. This is probably the only real non-distinguishable enemy. Other new additions include bats, frogs, monkeys and electric eels, these are all easy to recognize, my problem however is that of the monkey, it's tail some-what spazzes-out as a two frame animation of it quickly wagging. This makes it quite ridiculous, not to mention the fact the only animal that gets the size right in-comparison to that of the human is really the frog, not even the flashy eel makes that cut. Besides those, there really isn't that much to talk about enemy wise.

Set within a jungle and underground caverns, the game is quite well presented, starting off with the trees, these seem slightly better than they do than in the original game, looking more dense and thick. This sets a better atmosphere than before. This in addition to the setting sun offers quite the lovely thing to look at the gradient is fantastic and is probably the best that was possible and the sky was more purple-blue with the setting sun. This in all was quite the mix for above ground, as if the area was safer. As per underground the background remained black however platforms had stalactites and a more rocky formation which was quite charming and really was a much needed change from the original game where it was a simple black and uninspired background. Of-course background was the only thing graphical-wise. The ground / platforms are generally the same from what they are in the original game, same color and general size. The stairs look unchanged and keep the same color, the only real change is that of the brick-walls being replaced by boulders. This made much more sense than what the original game did as boulders seemed more fitting in the environment, being caves, and this seemed much more appropriate. Water is a real change in this version, instead of being a lake, opening and closing, it is now found in the caves like an underground reservoir. The water now featured movement and the water had waves in it, however being as it was underground it seemed a bit off, since I'm not sure that the moon's gravitational forces works quite like that... technicalities aside, it was quite a nice change from that original. Over things I noticed was that the "checkpoint" was introduced and was in the shape of a D-pad, this was probably unintentional, correct me if I'm wrong, but this seemed quite funny to me as the system used a Joystick.


Sound : 4/10
The sound in this game is probably the best of any Atari 2600 game, the sound-effects are quieter and the music, yes music! Is now more prominent whilst playing. Through-out the game the music stays generally the same, however the same track is altered slightly as you go, speeding up when finding treasure, slowing down as time goes by or if you get hit. This was quite innovative as I'm pretty sure this is the only game that does this for the Atari 2600, as far as I'm aware anyway. The music it's self is quite good, upbeat and exciting, this matched with an adventure game is just perfect. As for the sound, most aren't as noticeable as the music however it still can be annoying at times, the jumping remains just as annoying as it is in the original using an odd sound-effect, the checkpoint and treasure does a plink noise and is less noticeable as the jumping, finally the only notable sound effect is that of the "thud" that comes by falling down a story onto the floor. This was quite unexpected but still welcome. So all in all, why is this game's sound rated quite low? Well, the only problems besides some of the more annoying sound effects is that of the lack of sound-effects elsewhere, I mean what sound do you get from splashing into water? None, what sound do you get, when you get attacked? None. This is the only flaw with sound except some of the sound-effects.


Addictiveness and Replay-ability : 3/10
Here comes one of the down-sides of this game.... Addictiveness and Replay-ability. The game-play is quite different in comparison to the first one, this is probably why I feel as if it just isn't as good. However the game does succeed in replay-ability, in this case the game can be played multiple times thanks to the choices it allows you to make. This offers a unique and still okay experience each time you play. This means it makes for a good time-killer as you can always expect something different in very little time. As for Addictiveness, this is what it really lacks, sure... it's an okay game I just really never found myself quite as interested in it, my attention would drift quickly as I would end up comparing ever slight thing with the original. I really wasn't able to play this for quite as long as, excluding the harder difficulty, the game itself just didn't reach my expectations, although yes, it can be interesting at times. It just didn't work for me.


Story : 1/10 (Check my Pitfall! Review for more information.)
As per the norm for the Atari 2600, the only store comes from that of the box. In this case, Harry returns once more! Even more cockier than ever. The story is set in a real-life location this time, being Peru, more specifically the Urubamba River. Going on to mention electric eels, now for once the game gets something right, electric eels do in-fact take habitat in that of the Amazon River, the Urubamba River being one of the branches, however some of the other animals are still out of place and are probably there as they were in the first game. Besides that it notes that our adventurer knows of an infamous, cursed Raj Diamond and a recent robbery of gold bars from the US depository. And you wondered where all the gold-bars came from! ... yeah bad excuse Activision. Also at this point it explains that the brown enemy that was hard to know what it was, is in-fact a Andean Condor. These are most likely out-of place as-well and are regularly black in appearance.


Depth : 5/10
Within the game there is a lot more depth than in the original, firstly the game is a lot longer and much more bulkier. This is mostly likely due to the level design which is quite good. There is no time limit as far as I'm aware and you get plenty of time to explore the area of the Urubamba River. The major boost to depth is that of the choice, you get a lot more choice in this game as there are many more path-ways to go to and from. This allows for much more interesting play-through for each time you play the game. Staying on the surface can be pretty boring, but once you get into the caves the game is expands a lot more and allows for more choice. The experience is definitely unique each time you play the game, from whether you go one path or the next or if you get past those annoying Andean condors, it all adds to quite the experience, however the major flaw is still to be discussed which is probably what I'll cover next.


Difficulty : 8/10
In this game your ability to run to the left right away is gone as you are now forced to go forward, however this really doesn't change anything as there are no more rolling barrels to cheat your way past. The game is a lot more difficult, for example the Andean condor is very hard to avoid and will end up sending your straight back to your last check point, yes right back, no damage, no stutter, it just sends you back reducing your score for how long it takes to send you back. This adds so much more difficulty as if you get past a hard part then you get hit by something you will have to do the whole part again, this is slightly unfair as many of the difficult bits are slightly before the checkpoints. The game-play itself is pretty much the same, avoid the enemies and get treasure. The only real mechanic changes is that of swimming and diving and that really isn't anything special. The level design is a little bit better however is still challenging in comparison to the first game. It adds a lot more to the difficulty of the game and can be quite tricky to work with. Finally the controls. The controls are pretty much the same as before, being on the Atari 2600 pretty much means two actions at most. Jumping and running is pretty much all you do, besides of-course collecting treasure and avoiding enemies.... which the latter happens frequently. Overall the difficulty is ramped up so much in this game.


Overall : 4.2/10
The game overall is pretty good, yet has so many flaws in difficulty and addictiveness, sure I may be the odd one out here but I can't be that wrong, I mean seriously I have nothing against the game I just personally don't have as much fun with it as some other people. Do, I mean just because it has been critically acclaimed doesn't make it anything remarkable. Heck it just means some people like it. Every game has it's haters and lovers and all games have the neutrals, in this cause I'm pretty much neutral. I dislike some aspects of it, but like others. What else can I say really?

References :
GameFAQs : Box description.

iN008 : Wow! This is a really long review for an atari game! I didn't know there was that much to say about this game. 2000+ words! That's a lot! This is a really descriptive review, and it was a great read! I will look forward to your next review!

TreasurePlanet23 : Not really much input there.... I'll still take the compliment but seriously does all the replies to my reviews have to be the same =_= no offense or anything....

TreasurePlanet23 : Well iN00B IS a staff member after all.

iN00B8:Nice review on a game that was on a console that has terrible games! This was a pretty good review to stand out. You passed 2,000+ words.

PixelBrick : The atari 2600 doesn't have all bad games,  If you actually look you can actually find some decent gems for the system like ports of pacman, mario brothers, and Donkey Kong. 

iN008 :
Very nice review! Very descriptive and fun to read, I think you are an awesome reviewer here on the vizzed board and I hope that does not change!

Great review! It was super descriptive and it was really long! You went into wonderful detail and you told everything about the game! I always love reading your reviews!