Being the old school gamer that I am, one title that caught at least some marginal interest for me is the redux of the SNES's Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure. Being an old timer who remembers playing the original Pitfall in the glory days of the Atari 2600, I'm surprised I never got a chance to check this title out when it came to the SNES years back. With the release of the new Nintendo handheld that could, I've now had my chance, and at least in terms of how the GBA presents it, I don't think I missed too much.

First, it may be unfair to attack the game itself...it is quite possible that the failings it has in handheld form could have been less severe when it was on your living room TV. It is quite possible that if the game weren’t so dim and murky in its coloring for both backgrounds and, very unfortunately, many enemy creatures, playing the game would have been much less frustrating. If everything were scaled up to a TV size it is possible that some of the items like the seemingly microscopic glowing stones and other too-small objects would have been simpler to see and appreciate. As it is though, too many things on screen, though attractively animated and artistically conceived, are just too damned small. You’re almost constantly getting bumped by something you didn’t see before it hit you, or you're wondering if that blotch over there mixing in with the tree is something you want or just a detail.

Sound-wise there’s not a whole lot to write home about. Some basic music opens the game and pretty standard sound effects are there for your whip, projectile weapons, and assorted enemy creature types. Certainly nothing that will push the GBA’s sound capabilities to the limit and probably not even complex enough that there is much, if any, gain from putting on headphones (over letting it play through the speaker).

Gameplay, for the most part, is most severely affected by the problems with the game graphically on such a small screen. Without sufficient contrast between the background and objects in your way, in many places you’ll be injured or have problems...draining down your health and much more often your patience. Another fatal flaw in the translation to the small screen is the lack of good visual cues for different surfaces that may be slippery or in some cases dangerous. With details being small, these visual cues at times are difficult to pick up on short of trial and error letting you know where you must jump. Finally, I don’t know if it is just me or not but the freaking jungle cat boss at the end of the first stage seems pretty tough for a first boss...much more so than a few subsequent ones even. The main problem is dodging it is a total matter of luck; even if you time it right he will occasionally pounce at you, making him practically unavoidable since you often have to anticipate the cat coming in order to jump over him, since he moves very quick before he dies.

Having played through the first 3 levels now, I would find it extremely difficult so far to recommend this title over something else more worthy in the launch line-up. Even if all of the other levels of the game happened to somehow make up for the problems of the first three and be exceptional, I doubt most people would have the patience to wade through the first few unless they were quite determined. This looks like a good example of a game that was ported with too little care put into considering what changes may have needed to be made to make the game more playable on a handheld system.

Full review to follow once I can stop ripping my hair out and cussing at my enemies who blend stealthily into the background so often...