Pitfall: The Lost Expedition Glaciers is the follow-up to May's Pitfall: The Lost Expedition Caves, and as you might imagine, shifts the setting from bat-infested jungle caverns to mountainous, icy terrain. True to form, obstacles now include slippery surfaces, precariously hanging icicles, and ravenous mountain yetis. The core game and engine, however, remain much the same.
In Glaciers, you must guide Pitfall Harry to the end of each perilous level, through the use of your directional keys and the attack button. To dispatch enemies, Harry can swing his mighty fist or hurl rocks at them. This latter technique is useful for downing airborne baddies, or for hitting ceiling switches. The game's control is as intuitive as you'd hope it to be for a simple platformer, and most players will take to it easily.
Each of Glacier's levels is short, but they all contain a few hidden coins which, upon their collection, will increase your completion score. Often, grabbing these will necessitate the exploration of areas off the beaten path. Apart from these avaricious endeavors, however, you'll pretty much just be jumping from platform to platform while avoiding taking damage.
Certain platforms are spaced slightly farther apart, and they're too far apart to leap across. In these cases, you'll have to latch on to the very edge of a mysteriously suspended glacial chunk and use your nifty pair of ice picks. Pitfall Harry's use of these tools makes him seem all the more capable.
Audiovisually, Glaciers is on a par with its brethren--which is to say that it's not overly impressive on the Sony Ericsson S710. The sprites are crisp and animate nicely, but the game's backgrounds aren't particularly detailed. As for sound, an atonal loop plays throughout the game, and dedicated celebratory or conciliatory tunes accompany your success or failure.
Pitfall: The Lost Expedition Glaciers is a typical platformer with some inventive obstacles. If you enjoy the games of this occasionally frustrating genre, you'll find that this game toes the line just fine and provides plenty of decent gameplay.
