In The Mayan Adventure you are Harry Jr., son of the original Atari 2600 Pitfall Harry who took time off from his adventures to raise a son. Seeing how his son loved adventure and longing for an experience like he had in the past, he and his son set off to the jungles of Central America to search for the lost treasures of the Mayans. While they were exploring the temple of Uaxactun, Harry Sr. gets kidnapped by an evil Mayan warrior named Zakelua, Lord of Evil, who guards the treasures of Uaxactun.
This is where your adventure begins as you try to rescue your father traveling through thirteen different levels and four bonus rounds, one of which is the original Atari 2600 game. In some of the levels you will discover a basic white scorpion which will time warp you back to a primitive time, back to the first Pitfall. In the present, you are armed with ancient Mayan weapons which you and your father have found in the jungle such as a sling shot, Mayan boomerang, and the exploding stone of Pacal which destroys almost all your enemies in sight. Stones are used as ammunition for your sling and are found all throughout the Mayan lands in small brown sacks. Your enemies are everywhere in the jungle. You'll have to fight spiders, snakes, monkeys, bats, butterflies, skeletons, jaguars, hawks, and many others! There will be ropes for you to climb, vines to swing on, spider webs to bounce in, bungee-jumping, pit-hopping and crocodile-dodging.
A game starts you off with three lives in which you can monitor your health by watching a crocodile in the upper right corner of the screen. As you get weaker, the crocodile approaches and finally chews you up. The bottom of the screen consists of your current weapon and the amount of gold coins you have collected. Having only a certain amount of continues available for a game, every 50 gold coins collected will gain you another continue. During the levels you will run into Location Idols which will point the direction in which you should be traveling. They will also remember your visit with them and allow you to continue from there the next time you die. Other items you will find in the jungle are diamond rings, hearts (good for a little health), Mayan chili pepper which causes an increase in strength, silver and gold bars, and also a rare Mayan artifact called the Golden Idol which bestows to you an extra life.
The bonus levels will allow you to gain extra lives and other rare Mayan artifacts. The Atari 2600 bonus level looks quite easy and shows just how far we have gone in video games in the last 13 years. Sounds are simple beeps and buzzes with graphics that have almost no detail.
Pitfall's Mayan Adventure graphics were brought to life by the award-winning Hollywood animation studio Kroyer Films, best known for the movie "Ferngully: The Last Rainforest". The animation is fluid and beautifully designed in this 2D arcade game with 256 brilliant colors. The game play is fast and rapid for a windows game which provides fast arcade action. You will see lucious jungles, sparkling waterfalls, and cool mines to explore, all of which is very realistic looking.
The sound effects for Pitfall are also quite spectacular and were created by Soundelux Media Labs, who has also worked on True Lies, Cliffhanger, and Home Alone 2. Sounds are authentic having been recorded deep in the jungles of Central America. You'll hear tropical birds singing, jaguars roaring, and drum beating music creating suspense as you explore the jungle. You'll even hear yourself say, "Whoa!" while jumping from vine to vine.
Installation of the game is so simple that anyone can install the game. Since it runs under Windows 95, you simple place the CD into your CD-ROM drive and wait. The game will automatically run and if needed, you may make control adjustments such as keyboard play or joystick, and the difficulty level which is either normal or hard. The game comes with a CD SFX option which allows you to select amibient sound-effect tracks instead of music tracks to set the mood of the jungle. The game can be played in a standard window size of 320x224, double window size of 640x48, full screen fast of size 320x200 or full screen smooth of size 320x224.
Gamepad recommended.
Windows 95 compatible sound card.
Technical Support: 310-479-5644
BBS Support: 310-479-1335
Hint line:
1-900-680-HINT (USA)
1-900-451-4849 (Canada)
Order line:
1-800-782-7927 (USA)
1-800-828-7927 (Canada)
See Developers.
In Europe:
In UK:
Activision Europe Ltd.,
Long Island House, Suite 3A,
1/4 Warple Way,
London W3 0RQ.
Technical Support: +44-(0)990-143-525
In France:
Ubi Soft
28, rue Armand Carrel
93108 Montreuil sous Bois Cedex
In Australia and Pacific Rim:
Activision Australia,
P.O. Box 873,
Epping, NSW 2121.
Tel: +61-2-869-0955
Click here for additional screen shots.
Copyright © 1995 Coming Soon Magazine! All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express
written permission of Coming Soon Magazine is prohibited.