What is Titanic: Adventure out of Time?

Titanic: Adventure Out of Time is one of the the best Myst-like mystery/suspense games released in the past year. You are a British secret agent on a mission as you move through a stunning (and historically accurate) 3D-recreation of the ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.

Your top secret mission is to recover a priceless book, trade it for secret documents, then get into a lifeboat and escape before the ship sinks from its iceberg encounter.

You’ll also become entangled in one or more subplots involving a Russian double agent, a diamond necklace and its fake replacement, and an unscrupulous steel baron.

The storyline and subplots are in the best secret agent tradition. And Titanic includes several interesting puzzles based on the technology of the day, such as the steam engine and wireless telegraph.

The game interfece is simple and familiar. The arrow keys are your feet and, the cursor changes into a hand whenever it’s over an object that you can pick up or manipulate, or when it’s over a character you can interact with. A helpful direction indicator glows green when you can move forward and red when you can’t. A detailed map of the ship’s eight decks provides guidance and a helpful “jump-to” feature lets you move around the ship quickly.

The first half of the game is event based — you explore the ship, figuring out who knows what and what to do next. In this phase, you interact with more than 25 crew members and passengers at your own pace. Each character has a distinct personality and responds differently, depending on what statement you select from the pre-scripted menus.

And then there’s the iceberg: Now, the game turns into an action thriller in real time. The clock is ticking and you must resolve your dilemmas before the ship sinks in just two and a half hours (the real Titanic’s sink time) .

The ship’s recreation is stunning, the characters are diverse and interesting, and the plots, subplots, and puzzles mesh well with the setting and characters. So what’s missing? A better help system. You could wander the ship for hours without any action. Although Smethells, your steward, occasionally provides hints and tips, he rarely offers specific advice. And the puzzles are too easy; the solutions are almost always close at hand.

Nits aside, Titanic is a spectacular, creative adventure. Repeat play is also enjoyable; characters may respond differently, affecting how you reach the end, if not the end itself. Even [sic] you’re not a mystery/adventure game-fan, Titanic may well be worth buying for the guided tours.

LeVitus, Bob. (February 1997). Titanic: Adventure Out of Time. MacAddict. (pg. 84).

Download Titanic: Adventure out of Time for Mac

Architecture

68K + PPC (FAT)

System Requirements

From Mac OS 7.1 up to Mac OS 9.2

Compatibility notes

Archirtecture: 68K (68040) + PPC (FAT)

At least 8MB of RAM

Mac OS 7.1 - Mac OS 9.2.2

Note: This is a hybrid (PC/Mac) ISO-9660 CD so it will appear as a Windows disk at first, but inside the INSTALLM folder is the Mac stuff.  You have to copy the INSTALLM folder to your hard drive and launch the game app from there.  Keep the CD image mounted to play.

 

Emulating this? It could probably run under: Basilisk II