Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle

Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle (Pitfall 3D in Japan and Pitfall: Beyond the Jungle in Europe) is a platform game developed by Activision's internal Console Development Group and published by Activision in 1998 for the PlayStation and by Crave Entertainment in 1999 for the Game Boy Color, where it is called Pitfall: Beyond the Jungle in the Americas and Europe, and Pitfall GB in Japan.

Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle
North American PlayStation cover art
Developer(s)Activision
Luxoflux
Crave Entertainment
Publisher(s)Activision
Crave Entertainment
Director(s)David Pass
Producer(s)John Lafleur
Designer(s)Ryan Sinnock
Aaron Cammarata
Programmer(s)Francois Yves Bertrand
Justin Lloyd
Gary Jesdanun
Artist(s)Robert Stahl
Jeffery Buchanan
Christian Gossett
Composer(s)David Logan
Platform(s)PlayStation, Game Boy Color
ReleasePlayStation
  • NA: February 28, 1998
  • EU: April 1998
  • JP: December 10, 1998
Game Boy Color
  • NA: December 1998
  • JP: May 28, 1999
  • EU: 1999
Genre(s)Platformer
Mode(s)Single player

Gameplay

Just as in its predecessor Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, the original Pitfall! for the Atari 2600 is available as an Easter Egg. Unlike The Mayan Adventure, however, the game is set in a 3D environment which allows the player character to move in any direction.[1] The player character also has a much wider range of attacks, some of which must be acquired through item pick-ups.[1]

Plot

In this adventure, Pitfall Harry Jr meets a girl named Mira who enlists his aid in freeing her people from "The Scourge", an evil woman bent on controlling the world.

Development

The developers decided to set the game in a magical parallel universe because there were no genuinely unexplored lands in the real world, and because it provided a story explanation for gameplay elements such as morphing creatures and floating platforms.[2] Director Tony Grant explained the team's approach to level design: "If you think about Crash Bandicoot, it was extremely linear, and we don't like that. Mario 64 was really open, but the structure we've chosen is somewhere in the middle. We have definite paths, but they're not as limited as those in Crash. They branch a lot, but we wanted to make sure the player always has a sense of where to go."[2]

The game's characters, creatures, and terrain were all modeled from concept sketches by comic book artist Christian Gossett. Gossett stated during development that coming up with designs that would be clear and not confusing in the game's environment was a challenge, since 3D gaming was a relatively new medium which he and the rest of the team were still learning how to work with.[3] Two key members of the development team had a background in the Virtua Fighter series; lead programmer Franscois-Yves Bertrand developed the camera and collision system for Virtua Fighter and Virtua Fighter 2, and lead modeler/animator Jeff Buchanan worked on the models and animations for Virtua Fighter.[4]

The game was demonstrated at the September 1996 European Computer Trade Show. Electronic Gaming Monthly said it was "one of the biggest surprises of the show" and "one of the games that'll really test the PlayStation and push its hardware to the limit."[5] The release date was originally set for the second quarter of 1997, but slipped to the fourth quarter,[6] and was pushed back again to March 1998.[7]

Reception
Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
GBCPS
AllGameN/A[8]
CVGN/A3/10[9]
EdgeN/A6/10[10]
EGMN/A5.17/10[11]
Game InformerN/A8/10[12]
GameProN/A[13]
GameRevolutionN/AB[14]
GameSpotN/A7.1/10[15]
IGN3/10[16]7/10[17]
Next GenerationN/A[18]
OPM (US)N/A[19]
Entertainment WeeklyN/AB−[20]
Aggregate score
GameRankingsN/A67.83%[21]

Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it two stars out of five, and stated that "There is some fun here, but the appeal is almost retro - there's nothing in Pitfall 3D that hasn't been seen before."[18]

With six reviews, Pitfall 3D has a GameRankings score of 68% for the PlayStation version.[21]

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gollark: I'm not one, see.
gollark: Of course, with automation it would be much easier to provide a full picture of things.
gollark: It might result in that. I try and get the active-conversationy ones and particularly important ones.
gollark: I don't screenshot *everything* because scrolling is at least 3 work.

References
  1. "Pitfall 3D: Activision's Rumble in the Jungle". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 89. Ziff Davis. December 1996. pp. 210–2.
  2. "NG Alphas: Pitfall 3D". Next Generation. No. 24. Imagine Media. December 1996. pp. 149–150.
  3. "The Man with the Plan". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 89. Ziff Davis. December 1996. p. 213.
  4. "Pitfall's Virtual Fighters". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 89. Ziff Davis. December 1996. p. 211.
  5. Rider, David; Semrad, Ed (November 1996). "ECTS: The European Game Show Sets London on Fire!". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 88. Ziff Davis. pp. 160–1.
  6. "Protos: Pitfall". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 93. Ziff Davis. April 1997. p. 46.
  7. "Inside Scoop". GamePro. No. 106. IDG. July 1997. p. 20.
  8. Green, Earl. "Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on 2014-11-14. Retrieved 2014-11-25.
  9. Alex C. (1998). "PlayStation Review: Pitfall 3D". Computer and Video Games. Archived from the original on 2007-09-22. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
  10. Edge staff (June 1998). "Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle (PS)". Edge (59).
  11. "Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle". Electronic Gaming Monthly. 1998.
  12. "Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle". Game Informer (61). May 1998. Archived from the original on 1999-09-11. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
  13. Scary Larry (1998). "Pitfall: Beyond the Jungle Review for PlayStation on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on 2005-02-09. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
  14. Tony V. (March 1998). "Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle Review". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on 1998-06-13. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
  15. Fielder, Joe (1998-03-31). "Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
  16. Averett, Steve (1999-06-16). "Pitfall: Beyond the Jungle". IGN. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
  17. IGN Staff (1998-03-27). "Pitfall 3D". IGN. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
  18. "Finals". Next Generation. No. 42. Imagine Media. June 1998. p. 136, 142.
  19. "Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. 1998.
  20. Walk, Gary Eng (1998-04-17). "Pitfall 3D Review". Entertainment Weekly (427). Retrieved 2014-01-25.
  21. "Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle for PlayStation". GameRankings. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
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