Review of Astraware's Hidden Expedition: Titanic

October 1, 2007

Few disaster stories have captured the minds of generations like that of the RMS Titanic.  On her maiden voyage from England to The United States, Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in less than 3 hours taking over 1,500 souls with her.  An expedition in 1986 fully documented and explored the Titanic's wreckage which rests over 2 miles beneath the Atlantic ocean but the mystery surrounding the night of April 14, 1912 continues today.

Along with the mystery surrounding her sinking, the contents of what went down with Titanic are also a mystery.  Given the number of enormously wealthy people that were on board, many have suspected that treasures of the "Gilded Age" went down with the ship as well.  Playing on that idea, Astraware and Big Fish Games have released Hidden Expedition: Titanic for Windows Mobile Professional and Standard (as well as Palm), a game which allows you to dive to the wreck of the Titanic and search for hidden treasures.  While the premise of the game sounds simple, the graphic quality of the game makes it quite difficult at times to find the treasures on each dive.  The difficulty though is what makes the game so addictive and one that will keep you entertained for hours.

Hidden Expedition: Titanic is installed on your Windows Mobile Professional or Standard device via ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center and requires approximately 13MB of storage space on the device.  Installation can be done in the device's main memory or onto a storage card and your device must run PocketPC 2003, 2003SE, Windows Mobile 5.0 (PocketPC or Smartphone) or Windows Mobile 6 (Professional or Standard).  Once the installation is completed and the game is started, you are prompted to enter your name so you can begin the dives down to the Titanic.  With your name entered (you can have up to six players stored) you are brought to the main screen of the game.  From here you can begin your expeditions to the Titanic, check the high scores, adjust settings of the game and get help.  This main screen should also give you a good idea of how detailed Astraware and Big Fish have made the game graphically.

Figure 1:  Main Screen of Hidden Expedition: Titanic

The object of Hidden Expedition: Titanic is straightforward.  Over the span of 14 dives to the wreck, you are on a quest to collect the variety of items which are listed for you at the bottom of the screen.  The ultimate goal is the crown of the Queen which was on the Titanic (fictionally).  You progress through each dive until you reach the final dive to collect various items from the wreckage. 

Figure 2: Welcome Message!

The items are scattered throughout the playing area with some easy to find and others a bit more challenging.  Objects that are to be found vary for each dive - even if you repeat a dive later - and usually related to items that would be typically found in that location of the ship.  For example, if you are on a dive to the dinning room, you will searching for items that would normally be found in a dinning room.  Once you find an object on your list tapping it with your stylus causing that item to balloon to the surface and it is removed from your list. 

Figure 2:  Hidden Expedition: Titanic Playing Field - Dive 1	Figure 3:  Found Object Ballooned To The Surface

Before you begin each dive a map of the Titanic is displayed letting you know where on the ship you will be diving too.  Most dives consist of two or three rooms that you will enter and find objects as well as a bonus level in which you have to find additional special items or put a puzzle together. 

Figure 4:  The Dive Map

You will also see the minutes of oxygen you have available to you for that particular dive.  Again, it sound simple but there is a time limit - or should I say oxygen limit.  Keeping in mind that you are "diving", you have to find the objects required before running out of oxygen.  If you tap the screen on the wrong item, you loose precious seconds of oxygen so you have to be selective and make sure what you are choosing is indeed the correct object.  If you run out of oxygen before you find all of the objects you will be to restart that level.  You cannot proceed to the next level until the current one is completely successfully.

Figure 5:  Easy object and not-so-easy object (See The Clock... But where is the chess Knight?)	Figure 6:  A Dive Bonus Round

Once you have completed a dive you are shown the score you achieved as well as the number of jewels you collected and how much time it took you on the dive.  The more jewels you obtain (I'll explain these momentarily) and the shorter you take finding the objects the higher your score will be at the end of each dive.

Figure 7:  Round End Score Sheet & Ranking

In addition to the objects to be found on each dive, there are two other key items throughout the levels to find as well:  Jewels and oxygen tanks.  Jewels - up to 5 per location - are collected for additional points at the end of each level.  Generally the jewels are a bit easier to find than some of the artifacts you are searching for but they can still be well hidden.  Oxygen tanks can be, literally, a life saver! These are found in various locations - but not all - and by tapping them you gain more oxygen (time) on the dive.  This can be really helpful further into the game when more locations are required per dive.

Figure 8:  Jewels and Oxygen Bottles are things to look for while on a dive

Once you reach the final dive, you must complete an amazingly challenging bonus portion to open the Captain's safe and get the Queen's crown.  I do not want to give anything away so I won't go into detail other than to say that you must be patient and pay attention to the numbers.

Figure 9:  Master Diver Achieved....	Figure 10:  ...And The Crown Found!

One of the challenges of any game is to keep you entertained once you have completed (or as Robert says, "beaten the thing") it.  Hidden Expedition: Titanic does this quite well by randomizing the items you will have to collect in each room on each dive.  This means that even if you complete the game's 14 dives and start anew, it is quite likely you will be challenged to find a whole new set of items on each dive.  This gives the game much more appeal as it isn't a "beat it once and your done" title.

Overall it is hard to find anything to improve in this game.  The challenge of finding the artifacts on each dive is difficult but no so difficult it becomes overly frustrating.  Complementing the outstanding graphics is a pleasing sound track which adds a bit of mystery and excitement to the game.  It would always been nice to see more levels in the game but given the random nature of what is to be collected on each dive, 14 is sufficient.

Hidden Expedition: Titanic is available from a variety of online retailers for $19.95.  Now through October 20th you will receive a 15% discount on the game when you purchase it at the Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! software store and use the coupon code CFTITANIC.  This discount applies to the Windows Mobile Standard and Professional versions of the game.

What I Like:  Great graphics and sound, challenging puzzles, easy to play for hours

What I Don't Like:  easy to play for hours!

Rating (10 Scale):  9

Try or buy Windows Mobile Standard version by clicking here

Try or buy Windows Mobile Professional version by clicking here

Clinton Fitch, MVP-Mobile Devices
Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com!