Hidden Expedition: Titanic Preview

Big Fish Games, the savvy folks behind the popular Mystery Case Files games, is about to launch its next addictive puzzler: Hidden Expedition: Titanic. And this time, you must don your underwater gear to collect sunken artifacts buried inside the mammoth ocean liner.

Gamezebo was offered an early dive with this adventurous title, and we’re pleased to report the game makers have yet another hit on its hands.

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Big Fish Games, the savvy folks behind the popular Mystery Case Files games, is about to launch its next addictive puzzler: Hidden Expedition: Titanic. And this time, you must don your underwater gear to collect sunken artifacts buried inside the mammoth ocean liner.

Gamezebo was offered an early dive with this adventurous title, and we’re pleased to report the game makers have yet another hit on its hands.

Hidden Expedition: Titanic takes players to the depths of the North Atlantic to find objects hidden inside the infamous ship that sunk after hitting an iceberg in 1912. Your goal as detective is to recover items for the Hidden Expedition Adventure League (HEAL) so they can be put on display at the Titanic Museum.

For each of the 17 areas you’ll need to visit — such as various bedrooms, bathrooms, the deck and so forth – you’ll need to study the environment and then find the items listed on the side of the screen, such as a kerosene lamp, pocket watch, wrench or suitcase. And there’s some rather unusual objects, too, such as a clown doll, baseball, lei and hotdog (yes, we all know a hotdog won’t last underwater for nearly 100 years…it’s just a game, ok?!).

While finding these items in a room may seem like an easy task, each locale is littered with hundreds of them so it can be tricky to find everything listed within the limited amount of time you have to do so. You must hand over these treasures from the wreckage, but at least you get to keep any found gems.

Click on the items listed and it will float to the surface of the water. Click on an incorrect item and it will temporarily eat away at your timer. If you get stuck, you can click the Hint button to highlight an object on your list, but it, too, will eat away at your timer, so use them sparingly.

Once you’ve found all the items listed – and pocketed a handful of gleaming gems per level — you’ll revisit the blueprint screen, which shows all of the locations on the Titanic, and you’ll then visit another area of the ship to continue your mission.

The great thing about these games is that anyone can play regardless of gaming skill level or age; a serious 40-year-old gamer may get as much out of this as a 5-year-old who enjoys looking for these well-hidden objects (a take on Where’s Waldo, if you will). Another bonus: you can go back and play the same location more than once (and in a few cases, you will need to) but you’ll be faced with a completely different list of objects to find. This helps the game’s replayability, too.

Every few levels or so, players will also be treated to a kind of mini-game, which may be assembling period photographs or finding objects on the screen not listed by words but by the item’s silhouette, such as seeing an outline of a typewriter or book.

After playing Hidden Expedition: Titanic, though, one curious thought kept bubbling up: if the game looks and plays just like a Mystery Case Files game (such as Huntsville or Prime Suspects), why isn’t this game called Mystery Case Files: Titanic?

Perhaps it doesn’t matter as budding sleuths with a keen eye will still enjoy clicking through this upcoming game – regardless of what it’s called. Be sure to check back with Gamezebo for our thorough hands-on review and a link to download to the game so you can try before you buy.