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 pril
10, 1912, a liner (worthy of esteem) sets sail from
Southampton to New York. The largest moving object ever
built by man (funnely enough), she weighed 46,000 tons
and was longer, stem to stern, than the tallest skyscraper
was high. She was RMS Titanic.
The
first four days of this, her maiden voyage, were uneventful.
Cruising through the cold waters of the northern Atlantic,
her captain, crew and passengers hadn't a care in the
world . . . until the unthinkable (unsinkable?) happened:
the kitchens ran out of ice! No more bourbon on the
rocks, no more crushed solid-state water to drape smoked
salmon over, no more arctic appetizers. Passengers couldn't
cope, they screamed for ice! Ice! Ice! . . . and they
got it.
Just
before midnight on the fourth day of the voyage, a tremendous
jolt was felt by all onboard. Mere minutes later the
captain discovered that RMS Titanic had hit an iceberg
which had ripped a 300 foot gash in her previously watertight
compartments. Just three hours later this monument to
human skills and technology sank 13,000 feet to the
bottom of the sea. Only 705 of the 2,207 people onboard
survived.
Search
For The Titanic gives you the chance to find and
explore the wreck of this great liner. If you're a wimp,
you can choose to command only the search for the Titanic
-- or be a man and have a go at a complete game where
you need to build up experience and a healthy bank balance
before embarking on a search for her.
The
equipment and skills required to find such a seriously
sunk wreck are expensive and take time to collect. Hence
at the start of a 'complete game' you're stuck in Miami
with just $10,000 and no equipment -- doesn't sound
too bad to me, can we forget the wreck hunt and just
have a good time? (No you can't, and that's my Miami
advice -- Ed).
Your
aim is to rent (and eventually buy) an affordable boat
-- there are four types to choose from, with varying
equipment-carrying capabilities -- complete with necessary
items such as weather radar, ship's sonar and magnetometer,
plus a capable crew. Then use this equipment m seek
out and search wrecks and build up your liquid assess
to enable you to find more wrecks and so on until you're
eventually ready to look for RMS Titanic.
Port
options include visiting various organisations to try
and obtain a grant for your work (the better your rep
as a wreck finder, the better your chances), renting
or buying a ship and equipment, hiring a crew, and stocking
up with sufficient food, water, fuel etc for an expedition.
There's
a wreck called The Fly just off the coast of Miami and
the manual suggests you visit her first to gain experience.
Should you be incorrectly decked out for your voyage
(insufficient crew, for example) you're not allowed
to leave port. An organisation will Evaluate your plan
(for $1,000) and tell you where you're going wrong.
Once
you set sail you can either use Navigation mode (for
travel) or Explore mode (for diving). Using coordinates
provided in the manual, make your way to a likely looking
wreck and prepare to dive. Remember, divers aren't allowed
to go down on their own. Which reminds me: reading the
whole manual before you commence play is a good idea
(boring though it may be) as this snippet of information
was hidden amid the reams of text and I didn't notice
it until I'd set sail, with one diver on board, and
found a wreck. Only then did the game inform me that
divers have to go down in pairs at least. I had to go
back to port, minus a few hundred dollars, and start
again.
Once
over a wreck, you may cither send divers down to use
whatever equipment they have to salvage items or get
them to survey the area for booty. The longer they stay
down, the better their chances of finding something
-- and the more rest they'll need before, ready to dive
again.
Apart
from the not-so-big-deal of having digitised graphics
to ogle should you successfully find RMS Titanic, there's
little to see in the game. Screen layouts are uninteresting,
consisting mostly of garish boxes displaying options
or maps.
Although
most elements required by such an extensive undertaking
as searching the sea bed for wrecked ships appear to
be included in Search For The Titanic (giving
it depth?), it's implemented in a yawn-inducing way.
The excitement of searching above and below the waves
for a taste of history is destroyed by having to stare
at boring little boxes and watch dots move around the
screen. To be pacific, I thought it sub-standard and,
without being too stern, difficult to fathom.
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