Video Game Review: "Titanic: Adventure Out of Time" (1996)

    A Race to Alter History On a Ship Out of Time!

Rated T for Teen

   Though I've been pushing aside the drafts currently sitting in my post list, I just had to write a review on this video game! In a time of Xboxes and Wiis, Nintendos and Kinects, I'm still trying to keep it classy. As modern games (with lots of warfare) dominate living rooms, I decided to try out something that many of you will consider a dinosaur of its own -- Titanic: Adventure Out of Time.

   Many of you younger folks probably haven't heard of this game, but I know that you '90s people know exactly what I'm talking about. This game first made its soon-to-be successful appearance in 1996, when Windows was a big hit. (Nowadays, we resort to Apple or Macs.) In fact, this two-disc game can only be played on my old desktop, a prehistoric Gateway with Windows XP! Bet you haven't heard of that ancient computer in a while, huh? (I'm sorry, HP laptop. You've been replaced.)

   In the late 1990s, Titanic was slowly becoming more popular. With this PC game in 1996, James Cameron's world-renown box office smash, and the not-so-well-thought-of musical, the horrific tragedy of the sunken ocean liner was certainly making headlines. 

   Titanic: Adventure Out of Time was created by the company CyberFlix which sadly doesn't exist anymore. In the game you play the role of Frank Carlson, a  failed British agent struggling to make a living in 1942 England during the Second World War. After his disastrous mission on the Titanic twenty years ago, he's still praying for a second chance. But what if time could be changed? Soon you're whipped back in time to 1912 with a little more than two hours before the iceberg strikes. Your mission is to find four priceless objects which could help prevent three life-shattering events, and get them off the ship: a painting by Adolf Hitler, a copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a pocketbook filled with names of Russian radicals, and a diamond necklace.

The graphics are simply stunning for that time period.

   ...Okay, so I lied. The diamond necklace can only help your ex-girlfriend from falling into a life of poverty. The others, however, can prevent disasters such as World War I, the Russian Revolution, and World War II. (If only Hitler was accepted in the University of Vienna... We could only wonder.)

   Throughout the game you meet many people, each with a different background and a different problem. Remember, the bad guy is that German dude by the name of Zeitel, but I wouldn't be too panicked about his protegee Haderlitz... Am I getting ahead of myself? Let us continue!

   In its peak of technology, Titanic: Adventure Out of Time could be compared to Titanic 3D (in my opinion of a crazy Titanic nut mind) -- people's jaws were simply dropping open. Could this possibly have any better effects?? Well...

See what I mean?

   I must say, the first time I got this game in 2011, I was psyched! I'd heard so many great things about it, but when my steward (whose name is Smethells) appeared, the first thing I did was laugh. It was almost disturbingly...realistic? The people were slightly animated, but the actors were recorded and then turned into...this. 

   By far, this game is probably one of the most accurate depictions of the Titanic that you could get. Don't get tricked into buying Hidden Mysteries: Titanic! That was an insult and I was so horrified by its many mistakes, which could've easily been fixed if the people studied their facts. Anyway, the display of the ship is so detailed and so precise, I was amazed.

So this is what it's like to be on the Titanic, huh? Since then, I've felt closer to the tragedy than ever before. 

Oh, and before I sign off, I must add a little something: OHMYGOD I'm so glad there was no steam coming out of the fourth funnel! (Truthfully the Titanic's fourth funnel was used to release small amounts of steam from the galleys; the rest were connected to the boiler rooms. In short,  the fourth funnel was basically inoperable.. Yet, in James Cameron's movie, there was black smoke coming out of it!!!)

 Adieu, goodbye, au revoir, ciao, adios... Auf Wiedersehen!

Movie Review: "The Others" (2001)

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and frightening moments.

Sooner or later, they will find you.

   Some secrets are better left unknown than said. Or should I say remembered?

   In Alejandro Amenábar's suspenseful thriller The Others, it's nearing the end of World War II in England, where the Stewart family is distraught over the long wait for Charles Stewart (Christopher Eccleston) to return from combat. His wife Grace (Nicole Kidman) and their children Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley) are convinced that he isn't gone. As they wait, the children are to live under Grace's rules in their house in Jersey.

   The movie starts with three servants -- elderly Bertha Mills (Fionnula Flanagan), gardener Mr. Edmund Tuttle (Eric Sykes), and mute Lydia (Elaine Cassidy) -- coming to apply for work under the Stewart family. Grace explains that all their servants left unexpectedly a couple weeks back without a trace of where they had gone. Throughout the film, the world outside slowly gets denser with strange fog.

   However, Grace has some very strict rules. Anne and Nicholas have a condition where they are photosensitive to light, making them vulnerable to anything brighter than a candle. Under these conditions, the new servants are told to always keep the curtains closed and "never open a door without closing the previous one."

   As the days go on and the house stays dreary, Grace goes to check the mail and learns that the advertisement for new servants was never sent out. She confronts Mrs. Mills, who explains that the three of them have worked in the house before a long time ago. Shortly afterwords, strange happenings begin to occur in the house, which includes Anne seeing a young boy by the name of Victor. Thuds on the floors, footsteps on the stairs, and doors closing are some of the phenomenons that Grace witnesses -- but refuses to believe that "intruders" (or ghosts) could be lurking in their blessed home.

   The plot unfolds when Grace, on a hunt to find the "intruders," finds a book full of photographs. What looks to be peaceful people sleeping is actually the complete opposite -- the album is known as the book of the dead. The story becomes even more twisted when one morning, while Anne is trying on her Communion dress, Grace sees an old blind woman instead of her daughter and attacks her, only to release her and see Anne crying. 

   There were also previous mentions of Anne telling Nicholas of their mother holding a pillow, and Nicholas always refusing to believe that their loving mother was going crazy. Then the audience watched the strange occurrence of Mr. Tuttle burying gravestones with dried leaves, his face hiding an unexpected secret.

   Who are the others, you ask? Well, I can't tell you, but I can say this: This movie simply gave me the chills! It was definitely an eery plot with the most unpredictable of an ending. (Though deemed as a thriller -- not a horror -- film, my friends were curled up on the couch crying.) I recommend it full heartily and give it a thrilling 10 out of 10!

   My Recommendation: **** 4/5 Stars for The Others (2001) starring Nicole Kidman. IMDb rating: 7.7/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0230600/

Watch the Trailer!