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Pitfall was one of those games that looked and felt like Temple Run. It had the same theme but made the game better by introducing different obstacles and putting the game in a different environment. Temple Run was just simple; you are an explorer trying to run away from monkeys and you encounter monochromatic tiles and ledges, and obstacles included chasms and protruding trees. In other words, Pitfall builds up on the core mechanics and gameplay of Temple Run. You play as Pitfall Harry, the classic hero, and start the journey running in a 3-dimensional sideways view. What is weird is that this game is usually played in landscape mode, which makes it easier to see the wider environmental aspects of the game. The different obstacles include falling lava bombs, falling trees, low bridges, and falling stones and debris. On the first run, Pitfall shows you the basic control mechanisms: swipe left or right to turn at intersections, swipe up and down to slide under objects, and swipe up to jump. Unlike in Temple Run, you have the ability to whip at the various snakes, crocodiles, and baddies that hinder your path. Like in Temple Run, you can tilt the iDevice to pick up treasure when it appears on the left or right side of your path. Those treasure are usually silver bars.
While pitfall shares some core mechanics and gameplay from Temple Run, there is much more to discover as you progress through the game. The sideways view mentioned before turns into tan over-the-shoulder view as you jump over obstacles, jump to swing across chasms, and slide under low bridges. Since the game throws these obstacles quickly, you need to have great hand-eye coordination. There are tokens in the game that suddenly have you riding a jaguar (similar to getting a boost in Temple Run after jumping over the boost power-up), speeding on a motorbike, riding in a mining cart, and other twists that keep the game challenging. Riding a jaguar takes you past obstacles while you get some rest. When you are in the mining cart, you will need to duck under low obstacles, jump over broken tracks, and swipe to change tracks.
As you progress in the game, you will move through many environments, which look detailed on the newer iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches. The jungle setting appears in the beginning; you will run through villages offering choices on the path you want to take, speed through dark caverns, and eventually jump into a mining cart to ride down a degraded track over hot lava. The best part of the environments are that they are unpredictable – your path is randomly generated and you will find some of the environments surprising.
There are some bugs in the game. I notied some laggy skipping in the action at some points, and there were times when the swipe controls were less than accurate. For instance, I would swipe down to slide under a bridge, but the game read my control input as a swipe up, jumping over the bridge and dying in the obstacle.
Like most games these days, Pitfall has an in-game store which offers extras like costume changes, potions for extra boos, and antidotes to use when you are poisoned by the snakes and scorpions. The game store has an in-app purchase system. There are checkpoints you can pass in the game ever 2,000 meters you travel, and when you die afeter a checkpoint, you will need to use a Macaw Token to be flown to the last checkpoint. There was a bug where I died after traveling 3,000 meters but after using one of the Macaw Tokens, I ended up traveling after 6,000 meters, which is close to the motorbike ride. The game gives you a few tokesn to start, buty soon you will need to buy more from the store using silver bars or jewels. A ten pack of Macaw tokens costs about 6,000 silver bars or 12 jewels. But the game is sill fun enough that I may slowly collect treasure for new power-ups and items.
Now, I have traveled about 10,000 meters in one round of the game. I noticed that the character runs faster as he reaches high distances, like in Temple Run. When you are running very fast, the obstacles come so quickly and you have think very quickly and thoughtfully. If you like the idea of a fast-paced endless runner, then you should check out this game.
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