Titanic: Adventure Out of Time
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| Titanic: Adventure Out of Time | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Cyberflix |
| Publisher(s) |  GTE Entertainment,  Europress |
| Release date(s) | 1996, 1996 |
| Genre(s) | Historical Adventure game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | T (ESRB), 12 (BBFC) |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Macintosh |
| Media | CD-ROM |
| System requirements | PC: Windows 95, Windows 3.1, 486/66 or faster processor, 8 MB RAM; Mac: OS 7.1, 68040 or faster processor |
| Input | Mouse, Keyboard |
Titanic: Adventure Out of Time is a video game for the personal computer. It was developed by Cyberflix and was published in Europe and the United States by Europress and GTE Entertainment respectively, released on October 31, 1996. The game is a point and click adventure game which sees the player traveling around a virtual representation of the RMS Titanic, the doomed ocean liner which struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912 and sank with great loss of life.
Titanic: Adventure Out of Time comes in three versions: a PC, Macintosh, or hybrid version that works on both the PC and Mac. Version 1.0 of the game is an upgrade of the game from GTE Entertainment to just Cyberflix and is a stability upgrade first released in 1997. It comes in either a three-fold CD jacket or a jewel case version. The French version of the game comes in two paper sleeves. The Mac and Windows versions were released first, produced by Cyberflix and distributed by GTE Entertainment in 1996. Hybrid versions of the game, which are compatible with both the Mac and Windows operating systems, were distributed and produced by Cyberflix after GTE Entertainment went out of business in 1997. Later versions were distributed by Hammerhead Entertainment, who took over production after Cyberflix also went out of business in 1998. The game is availible in four languages: English, French, German, and Polish.
Characters in Titanic: Adventure Out of Time were rendered by way of photographs of actors given limited animation in sync with dialogue. The producers of this game used this same style of rendering for a previous adventure entitled Dust: A Tale of the Wired West.
Contents |
[edit] Summary
The game begins with the player (named "Carlson") being caught in a fatal explosion during the London Blitz of World War II and being sent back in time to 1912 with an opportunity to change history. In 1912, he is a British secret agent who has been sent to retrieve a priceless copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The open-ended gameplay allows the player to either follow the storyline by solving puzzles or simply explore the rooms of the ship.
The computer graphics of the ship have been used in several documentaries about the Titanic, due to their authenticity. However, on a ship with a complement of over 2000, the game portrays the Titanic as almost deserted (though the whole storyline takes place on a Sunday night when everyone is sleeping). With the exception of the main characters, there are only a few sparse "wallpaper" characters who appear as unmoving figures in the hallways and major rooms of the ship.
The main plot of the adventure game revolves around recovering the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which is revealed to have been stolen earlier in the year and is now suspected of being in the possession of Zeitel, a German Oberst (Colonel) who is traveling on the Titanic under the guise of inspecting embassies in the United States. Along with the Colonel is a young protegé named Willie Von Haderlitz. Through a web of intrigue it is revealed that the Colonel has made a deal with an art dealer to exchange the Rubaiyat for a rare painting. The Colonel and the art dealer (named Sasha Barbicon) act through an intermediary go-between, a Serbian stowaway named Vlad Demonic.
In addition to the Rubaiyat and the painting (which is revealed to conceal secret military plans), the agent soon learns that Willie is in fact a Russian spy and has in his possession a notebook with names of top Bolsheviks. The notebook is to be handed over to the Okrana forces of the Czar so that the Communist rebels will be executed.
A final item that appears in the game, acquiring of which is critical, is a rare diamond necklace that Sasha has stolen to pay Vlad for his services and also to finance a Serbian terrorist group called the Black Hand. Vlad’s involvement with the Black Hand sets the stage for the events on the Titanic directly impacting whether or not the Black Hand will assassinate the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, thus sparking the start of World War I.
During his mission, the agent also becomes involved in several sub-plots unrelated to the central mission or, for that matter, the winning conditions of the game. These plots include a wealthy couple (the Lambeths) whose marriage has gone bad (and to whom the agent had previous relations with the Lady Georgia Lambeth) as well as the agent also meeting the ship’s “gossip hound”, in the form of an middle aged woman named Daisy Cashmore. The agent also encounters a psychic, a religious preacher who is returning from an African mission, and an American freelance businessman, who provide backstory and insight of varying value. Assisting the player from time to time is fellow agent Penny Pringle. Also, in exploring the ship, the player may also encounter a French blackjack expert who may look familiar to players of the earlier game, Dust (see below).
[edit] Opening Monologue
The past, forever locked in regret. But what if the past could be changed?
The monologue helps to tell the backstory of the protagonist, and what went wrong on his fateful voyage. As he recites, the camera flies over an ice field. The opening credits also start to play.
Thirty years have come and gone since the night that saw the end of the world. My world. The service needed someone on the Titanic. They chose me. I was to wait for a signal from my contact, so I remained in my cabin. I left only once, Georgia was on board. And that's when it came. There'd be no second chance. It was Sunday, April 14th. Too late, you see, for the Titanic, for me. What if I'd met with my contact and prevented disaster? What if the past could be changed? What then?
Much like Myst, the opening scene ends with a fly-by of the Titanic. The camera flies through a porthole and into the agent's stateroom. And the game begins...
[edit] Objectives
After learning of the major characters and items in the game, the agent is faced with the following five objectives to win the game
- Obtain the Rubaiyat
- Obtain the rare painting
- Obtain the secret notebook
- Obtain the Lambeth diamonds
- Escape the Titanic on a lifeboat before it sinks
[edit] The Rubaiyat
Most walkthroughs and hint sites suggest that the player let Vlad steal the Rubaiyat early in the game, which happens if the agent does a favor for Vlad (getting a package for him) before going to the Rubaiyat’s location to acquire it. The location of the Rubaiyat is revealed in one of two ways: Either decoding a secret telegram, or going to the Turkish bath and using steam to see the location written on a mirror.
Once the Rubaiyat is discovered in one of the Titanic's coal chutes, the player can move it to an alternate location so that the Serbian national Vlad will fruitlessly search for it and eventually abandon his pursuit. The player can then acquire the Rubaiyat much earlier in the game than is normally suggested. It should be noted that, if the Rubaiyat is taken before Vlad searches for it, Vlad will kill the player to acquire it.
Taking the Rubaiyat early in the game alters the course of events and dialogue of the characters as well as eliminating the need to solve at least two later puzzles. For this reason, players are urged to let Vlad take the Rubaiyat (he is bribed at the end of the game to give it back) thus experiencing the “full” version of the storyline.
[edit] The Painting
The painting that the player seeks is hidden in a crate in the Titanic’s cargo hold. The player is led to believe that it can be taken from the hold and, after stealing the keys to a motorcar (whose headlights shine to reveal the art box in question) the painting is revealed to have been either taken already, or still there. More often than not, the painting has already been stolen. Some versions of the game allow the player, with foreknowledge of the painting's location, to enter the cargo hold much earlier than normal. This significantly alters the game's progression and causes a large amount of dialogue and puzzles to be omitted in later scenes.
Towards the end of the game, it is learned that a pair of Irish immigrants acquired the painting (if it was already taken when the player arrived at the cargo hold earlier) from Willie, Colonel Zeitel's protegé who is later murdered. The immigrants give the painting back in exchange for a kidnapped baby, stolen by the wife of Andrew Conkling. Conkling is the head of a major steel company that helped build the Titanic. Conkling’s wife returns the baby due to a scandalous letter which reveals the steel on the Titanic was substandard, making the risk of a sinking in a serious collision more likely.
The painting, whose canvas conceals secret military plans, is a landscape portrait of Vienna, Austria. It is shown at the end of the game to be a work of Adolf Hitler. Depending on whether or not the player gets the painting off the Titanic, Hitler becomes a world famous artist instead of a Nazi dictator.
[edit] The Notebook
The notebook, containing the identities of Stalin, Lenin, and Trotsky, is revealed through character dialogue (or, depending the course of play, a photograph) and is eventually found to be hidden at the top of one of Titanic’s smokestacks. Willie apparently hid it when Titanic made its last stop in Ireland (revealed by a photographer on board, who took a picture of the incident, or the American businessman saying he saw him there). It is still somewhat unclear why Willie put the notebook on the smokestack.
Once the notebook is acquired, it is either surrendered to the German Colonel Zeitel (who then shoots the player, although not fatally), or the player gives a knockout-gas pen to Zeitel that then allows him to escape with the notebook. However, on decending the smokestack, once more the player will encounter Vlad, who viciously knocks the player unconscious with a large wrench. He will then take the notebook from you. If Vlad already has the Rubaiyat and he steals the notebook, then it becomes impossible to win the game. Most walkthroughs and hint sites suggest letting the Colonel shoot the player and steal the notebook, which may then be retrieved after disarming a bomb in the Colonel's Titanic state room.
[edit] The Diamonds
The diamonds which the player seeks are found to be locked away in a Russian doll by the art dealer Sasha Barbicon. The player must first acquire a fake diamond necklace by way of an old love affair now turned nobility, break into Sasha’s stateroom (by way of disabling the cabin’s power), and finally solve a puzzle to open the doll and take the actual necklace. If the player does not replace the diamonds with the fake version, Sasha will kill the player once the theft is discovered. Interestingly, in earlier versions of the game, the player may use his map (which contains "hotspots" or shortcuts that will transfer the player immediately to a location on the ship when clicked on) to "teleport" out of Sasha's suite and to some other location on the ship. This will result in a rather interesting arrangement whereby the player retains both the fake and real diamonds with no penalty.
[edit] Escaping the Titanic
The final portion of the game takes place while the Titanic is sinking. Unlike the first section of the game, you no longer have the luxury of exploring and getting sidetracked: you are under a strict time limit. The main character must complete his mission before the last lifeboat leaves (50 minutes in game time, and a few minutes in real time). The player must acquire all of the needed items as well as succeed in getting a place on a lifeboat, although the player can board a lifeboat before all the items are acquired, thus finishing the game but not winning it.
There are several ways to accomplish escaping the Titanic, with the most secure being to acquire a lifeboat pass in a hand of blackjack from the Frenchman Rivera. The player may also get on to a lifeboat by helping certain passengers or conversing with the crew. In the last minutes of the game, the German Colonel reappears to offer a "deal" to the player, seemingly adding another objective to the game which is to save the agent's former lover who the Colonel has poisoned. If the player agrees to any of the Colonel's deals, then the Colonel will obtain the painting, and the player will not win the game. However, the Colonel will then make a second deal, offering to trade you back the painting for the lifeboat pass, enabling you to win the game (provided that you find another way off the ship).
There is yet another method of escaping the ship, however it may mean not winning. Throughout the game, the player encounters a couple by the surname of Gorse-Jones. They will, on three separate occasions, engage the player in a lengthy conversation (although the player seldom gets a chance to talk). While the ship is sinking, the player will encounter them for a fourth time on the boat deck; they give the option of entering a boat. Often, however, not all objectives have been completed, so leaving at this moment would allow you to complete the game but not reach a desirable ending. But, if you avoid them on deck and get the object you need and come back to them when you have gotten it, you can get on a lifeboat.
Throughout the last part of the game, you will be frequently interrupted by various cutscenes showing the Titanic gradually sinking in various stages. After the character completes his mission, several ending scenes are available depending on whether or not the agent acquired all of the necessary items before leaving the ship. In addition, if the player stays on the Titanic for too long, the ship will sink and the agent will die.
In the final section of the game, many areas which were accessible in the first part are closed off. The Grand Staircase is inaccessible below C-Deck, as are the Turkish Baths and forward Third Class cabins, the Cargo Hold, Squash Court, and all of the Boiler Rooms and Engine Control Rooms. The Turbine Room on G-Deck is an exception and is accessible via the Second Class Stairs. Vlad can be found here over the dead body of Sasha. One new area which is open which was not available in the first part of the game is the First Class Lounge on A-Deck - Trask and Zeitel can be found in here before 2:00 AM.
The Rubaiyat or the real Lambeth diamonds can be acquired from Vlad in the Turbine Room on G-Deck, after giving him Claris Limehouse's shawl (this can be acquired by visiting the First Class Lounge beforehand). However, you can only exchange for one item; therefore, if the player has failed to obtain both the Rubaiyat and the necklace before the sinking, then you will only be able to exchange for one of them, thus being unable to fully complete the game.
Where you obtain the notebook depends on whether Zeitel or Vlad got it at the smokestack. If you surrendered it to Zeitel, it can be acquired from Colonel Zeitel's cabin, C-59. Upon travelling there, it is discovered that the Colonel has planted a bomb in his room along with the notebook and locked you inside. The bomb does not actually have to be defused correctly; you can simply blow yourself up, click "Give Up" and you will appear back in Zeitel's cabin with the key and the notebook. Alternatively, if you gassed Zeitel and Vlad took it, the notebook can be obtained from Vlad himself in the Turbine Room in exchange for the shawl.
[edit] Game Endings
The game offers a variety of cutscenes at the end of the game, once the player has succeeding in leaving the Titanic. The course of history may also be changed, depending on how many items the player got off the ship. In the endgame sequence, the time shifts forward back to April 14, 1942. The main character narrarates what has happened in the thirty years that followed the sinking with the "Memories" book.
Failed to obtain Painting, Notebook, Rubaiyat and/or Real Necklace
History unfolds exactly as normal. World War I occurs, the Communist take power in Russia, and Hitler becomes dictator of Germany and starts World War II. The player is killed in the original bomb explosion seen at the start of the game.
Obtained Rubaiyat and Real Necklace only
World War I is averted but the Communist take power in Russia and Hitler topples Kaiser Wilhelm II and comes to power in Germany in 1927. Germany uses the additional years under Nazi rule to develop the atomic bomb and eventually starts the Great War (Our World War II) in 1939, but with a fully operational nuclear arsenal. The player dies in a nuclear bomb attack on London, England.
Obtained Notebook and Rubaiyat or Real Necklace or neither
World War I occurs as normal, but the Czar stays in power in Russia, meaning that the strong army the USSR would have otherwise built up never amounted to anything. World War II starts on schedule and a weak, faceless Russia falls easily to Nazi Germany in 1939. This gives Germany the freedom to concentrate on Western Europe, and the Nazis invade England and the British Empire is forced to surrender. Winston Churchill is executed, and the player dies when Nazi stormtroopers raid his apartment.
Obtained Notebook, Rubaiyat and Real Necklace
World War I does not occur and the Czar stays in power in Russia, meaning that the strong army the USSR would have otherwise built up never amounted to anything. Adolf Hitler topples the Kaiser in 1927 and the Great War (Our World War II) starts in 1939. A weak, faceless Russia falls easily to Nazi Germany. This gives Germany the freedom to concentrate on Western Europe, and the Nazis invade England and the British Empire is forced to surrender. Winston Churchill is executed, and the player dies when Nazi stormtroopers raid his apartment.
Obtained Painting and Rubaiyat or Real Necklace or neither
World War I occurs on schedule, but Hitler does not rise to power in Germany (having instead become a famous artist). The Communist take power in Russia and all of Western Europe and the British Empire falls to the wave of European Communism and becomes part of a Bolshevik Empire. The player is killed in his apartment by a Russian shock trooper.
Obtained Painting, Rubaiyat and Real Necklace
World War I does not occur, the Kaiser stays in power and Hitler does not rise to power in Germany (having instead become a famous artist). The Communist take power in Russia and all of Western Europe and the British Empire falls to the wave of European Communism and becomes part of a Bolshevik Empire. The player is killed in his apartment by a Russian shock trooper.
Obtained Painting, Notebook and Rubaiyat or Real Necklace or neither
World War I occurs on schedule, but Hitler does not rise to power in Germany (having instead become a famous artist). Also, the Czar stays in power in Russia, meaning that the strong army the USSR would have otherwise built up never amounted to anything. This allows communism to take hold in Germany instead of in Russia. All of Europe, Russia and the British Empire falls to the wave of European Communism and becomes part of a German Communist Empire. The player is killed in his apartment by a German shock trooper. However, this ending does not make sence since the notebook was, in fact, retrieved. It is possible the programmers forgot of this bug.
Obtained Painting, Notebook, Rubaiyat and Real Necklace
The optimal ending. World War I is averted, the Communists in Russia are stamped out and never seize power, Adolf Hitler becomes a famous artist, and World War II never comes to pass. The player awakens in London in 1942 to a world of peace and retirement from a successful career.
Deaths you can encounter
- Attempting to leave the Boiler Room with the Rubaiyat before Vlad leaves; he will confront you as you attempt to climb the stairs and shoot you.
- Attempting to leave Sasha's cabin with the real diamonds, without replacing them with the fake Georgia gave you. Sasha will catch you in his cabin, take the necklace back and shoot you.
- Failure to properly disable the bomb in Zeitel's cabin during the sinking; bomb will explode, blowing a hole in the side of the ship. The player presumably dies in the explosion.
- Repeatedly refuse to help Zeitel when he asks for the painting in return for the antidote for Georgia during the sinking; Zeitel will grow too impatient, draw his gun and shoot you.
- Repeatedly hassle Third Officer Morrow demanding to get on a lifeboat; he will panic and shoot you.
- Fail to escape the sinking Titanic; after staying around long enough, you will see the cutscene of the ship sinking, after which the game over screen appears.
[edit] Ship's Tour
Besides the game, the CD-ROM also included a separate exploration feature that featured characters in the game discussing various aspects of the ship, its crew, and the sinking. Several character narrations were included with the game, while others could be downloaded from the game's website (a later reissue of the game included a bonus CD-ROM with these downloadable narrations). These characters would be placed at locations around the ship. The following is the tour guides and where they are.
- Smethells, Your Cabin (C-73)
- Eric Burns, the Smoking Room
- Leyland Trask, the Turkish Bath
- Officer Morrow, the bridge
- Officer Morrow, the Wireless room
- Daisy Cashmore, the Grand Staircase
- Willie Haderlitz, the Gymnasium
- Shailagh Hacker, the Scotland Road
- Boiler Stoker, the Boiler Rooms
- Penny Pringle, the Aft Well Deck
[edit] Music
The music of Titanic: Adventure Out of Time is one of the game's central features. Throughout the story, Chopin's Preludes Op. 28 No. 7 provides a haunting ambiance to the game. Some other tracks used throughout the movie (as well as the intro) were written by Scott Scheinbaum and Erik Holt. They are currently available on the website of Cyberflix's succesor. [1]
[edit] Connection with Dust: A Tale of the Wired West
Titanic: Adventure Out of Time is linked in some ways to another Cyberflix game, Dust.
- "Buick Riviera." In Dust, Riviera is a con artist in a remote town in the Old West who keeps borrowing money from the player; in Titanic, Riviera is now an elderly man who spends his time playing blackjack on the doomed ship. If the player indicates having been to Diamondback, New Mexico (the setting of Dust), Riviera thereafter uses a special deck of cards marked with the logo of the saloon from Diamondback for the blackjack game.
- The actor who plays the photographer Eric Burns (Erik S. Quist) also appears in Dust as a farmer.
- When talking with Haderlitz in the squash court while fencing, he mentions he is headed to study the Yunni indian tribe in New Mexico, the setting of Dust. The Yunni tribe is of great importance to the game Dust.
[edit] Trivia
- Fans of the 1997 Titanic film can use the game's free-roaming feature to explore some of the areas of the ship that are featured in the movie. It is possible to knock on the door of Rose's cabin (but not enter), get close to the bow of the vessel, visit the boiler room, walk down the Grand Staircase, take an elevator, walk along service corridors similar to those seen in the film, visit the bridge, see the automobile in the cargo hold, and explore assorted common areas such as lounges that are featured in the film. With knowledge of the available areas of Titanic presented by the game, it is possible to follow the movements of the film's protagonists to a degree.
- During gameplay, it's possible to steer Titanic off-course. However, when you stop steering, Third Officer Morrow throws you off the bridge and orders a seaman to re-correct the position.
- As mentioned, there are several ways to accomplish the objectives. Finding the location of the Rubaiyat, for example, can be done by gaining access to the wireless room and intercepting a message containing its location. Or, the player can meet with the Colonel and having a psychic use the pipe he leaves behind to 'sense' it was at the Turkish Bath. This will allow the players to access the mirror there, which contains a hidden message accessible by turning on the hot water.
- Again, during gameplay, you can listen to incoming wireless transmissions, which are historically accurate. Simply enter the wireless room, turn the set on, select "REC" on the send and receive switch, turn the tuner until the light flashes, and then click on the morse key.
- At the start of the game the newspaper says it is 1942, and the radio states that fighting is going on in places like Leningrad and Burma. However, by 1942 bombing of the United Kingdom took place only at night. It is clearly daytime in the game. V1 and V2 rocket bombs were used against London later in the war to great loss of life, and the Luftwaffe continued raiding the coastline.
- If you go down into the Turkish Bath and look in the drawers of the mirror table, you can view some of Cyberflix's other game's boxes.
- The graphics are considered to be so accurate that several Titanic documentaries have incorporated them.
- The Serbian stowaway Vlad's last name, "Demonic", means fiendish.
- The painting is called "The Courtyard of the Old Residency in Munich", painted by Adolf Hitler. However, this work was done in 1914- two years after the Titanic sank.
- A copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam was actually on board the Titanic. The book had 1,051 semi-precious stones set in 18-carat gold, 5,000 separate pieces of colored leathers, and 100 square feet of 22-carat gold leaf in the tooling. It went down with the ship.
- The character Third Officer Morrow, who appears in the game several times, is fictitious. The actual Third Officer on Titanic was Herbert Pitman.
- In Titanic: The Lost Mission, a photo in Eric Burns's cabin reveals that are developed that Colonel Zeitel's first name is Alfred.
- The original title of the game was Titanic: A Journey Out of Time.
- The earliest trailer for the game uses an original score not used in the final version.
- Neither Smethells the steward nor Eric Burns appear in the second half of the game. It is probable the programmers forgot them. Eric's wife Stephanie, however, can be seen on the boat deck.
- During the game it is possible to enter Eric Burn's cabin (C-78) and develop three photographs in his darkroom. The photos are: a picture of Sasha holding the Lemke and Buchanan box the painting is contanined in; a picture of Zeitel and Sasha together; and a picture of Willie and Claris Limehouse. Developing them is optional and not required for the main storyline, but showing them to Penny Pringle will prompt her to make a few comments about them.
[edit] Deleted Scenes
There is a screensaver of the game "Titanic: Adventure Out of Time" that shows scenes of deleted footage of people who do not exist in the final game and people (Beatrix Conkling, Max Seidelmann, etc.) that are in situations that the creators did not want in the game. This Screensaver is found on the game "Titanic: The Lost Mission," which is a demo of the actual Titanic game. You can see these pictures in four places.
- On DISC 1 of the Titanic: Adventure Out of Time game, in the SHOTS folder are some scenes that are deleted from the final game.
- On the barracudanet.com website.
- On the screensaver of the demo of the Titanic game.
- In the Titanic: Adventure Out of Time "Hints and Solutions" book, which provides answers on the most challenging puzzles in the game. The Deleted Scenes are located at the beginning of each chapter.
In the trailer provided by "Titanic: The Lost Mission," some scenes are never shown in the game. In addition, the earilest demo that was released by Cyberflix in 1996 may have had more deleted scenes than the re-packaged 1998 "Titanic: The Lost Mission" version.
[edit] Deleted Dialogue
Eric Burns, who is an American photographer traveling with his wife Stephanie on the Titanic, has interactions with the player on the Titanic. When the Titanic is sinking, however, Eric Burns disappears; his wife is still onboard the ship. This may be due to an error on the part of the creators. You can find some dialogue about Eric Burns trying to find his wife Stephanie a boat and getting a boat pass to get off the ship on the DISC 1, PUPPETS2 folder. This is where all the other characters' dialogues are located.
[edit] External links
- Game Walkthrough
- CEO Hints Includes instructions for the entire game and info on the alternate endings.
- Barracudanet.com[2] Which shows some deleted pictures from the titanic game.
- Additional Tour Guide Downloads
- Review at MacGamer
- Review at GameSpot
- Mr. Bill's Titanic Review
- Titanic: Adventure Out of Time at MobyGames
- Titanic: Adventure Out of Time at the Internet Movie Database
