It was supposed to be unsinkable. It was meant to be perfection. It was a ship built like no ever. On the evening of April 14, 1912, when at 11:40 pm, the Titanic hit an iceberg where everything changed forever. 1,496 lives ended that very early morning on April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank in 2 hours and 40 minutes. Their souls never had a chance to get off the Titanic to continue with their dreams as it sunk to the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean. So does Developer VR Immersive VR Education bring us the most immersive Titanic experience ever? Let’s find out with Titanic VR for the PlayStation VR.
Back in April 2003, there was a documentary called Ghosts of the Abyss that was directed by James Cameron and starred the late Bill Paxton go to view the Titanic where it is currently and with the help of two small ROV’s (Remotely Operated Vehicles) allowed for us at the time to get up and close while exploring the different decks and areas of the Titanic and able to experience it like nothing before. But I will talk about this a little later on.
But what is Titanic VR and why should you take the time to visit? Titanic VR is part story, part tour, and part exploration of the Titanic from being there moments before it sank to actually getting to explore the inside and out of the Titanic. When you first start, you are given a menu. I decided to go with the Experience portion first as I wanted to get a sense of what it might have been like.
With the April 15, 1912 experience, you are on the deck right before everything happens. Seeing Captain Smith come onto the scene with such importance all while trying to keep everything under control and explain the urgency does give you a sense that something major is going on while trying to not have chaos break out. Then having a family come on as you keep hearing women and children as they were the only ones allowed on the lifeboats.
But think about the situation for a moment. If you didn’t know what was going on or have a sense of how dangerous the situation was, to have to be separated from your family only to realize that you would never see them again. Being able to witness everything on this level is pretty amazing.
Before I go any further, I have to say that experiencing the Title of Titanic VR starts to make it seem like you are the one sinking added this chill like I was one of the souls that died on the Titanic descending to my eternity below. It was something that made me stop and for some reason, this hit in a way that I wasn’t expecting. So great job Immersive VR Education…great job. In the Play Game mode, you take on the role of Dr. Ethan Lynch as you have taken a contractor job to explore the Titanic.
Throughout your explorations, while inside a one-person submersible, your Ph.D. candidate Jean Robinson will give you direction on where on the Titanic you need to go and what you need to do for that specific exploration. The first exploration missions were to set the commemorative plaque and then take a picture. But being inside the submersible and given that sense that it can only fit one person and how immersive the controls were was really well done. But, moving near the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean and seeing how dark was amazing, but coming into view where you see Titanic for the first time is truly breathtaking.
Other missions will have you go in and recover certain items. This is where you need to send out your ROV and let me say this, if the view from the submersible was breathtaking, being able to explore the Titanic in such a way through the view of the ROV is truly impressive.
After the mission, you will need to head back to the lab which I thought was not only interesting but gave the recoverable items more rewarding as you get to learn more about them, who had them, and trying to figure out the mystery of who they belonged to and what were they were trying to do with the items. Here you will need to sometimes desalinate, wash, fungicide, use acetone, and freeze-dry the items to help preserve them.
You will also be in contact with Julian who is writing a book and these items are helping in her research. Hearing her side of this and how the book is about a relative who was aboard the Titanic really makes everything come together and I just wanted to keep learning more. But before you head out for the next dive, your ROV needs to be upgraded for those longer recovery missions. This could be by adding new items to help replace the ones that couldn’t get the job completed, no matter how hard they worked. But it’s pretty cool to see all the upgrades you can do to the ROV.
If you want to get into the heart of Titanic VR and understand not only the history and the importance of Titanic, then take on the Tour Experience. You have two choices when it comes to this, short and long. When you pick the Long Tour, be prepared to spend some time, like hours, going through each of the rooms, hearing the history, and knowing the details of the little things such as the design of the front of the elevators. Titanic VR really is the most immersive Titanic experience you can ask for.
Sound-wise being able to hear the sounds, and the music, and being told the history as you move through the Titanic, really sets the mood. Nothing is too loud nor is there anything that really distracts you. Visually, like I mentioned seeing Titanic for the first time and then being able to explore in ways that unless you have the money or equipment to actually make the dive yourself, this is the ultimate immersive Titanic experience.
Earlier I mentioned Ghosts of the Abyss. To really compliment this already amazing experience of Titanic VR, you should give this a view and there is a reason why I did mention it. Remember on the cover how it states Blu-ray 3D? For those that may have not been aware, the PlayStation is able to play 3D movies and the PlayStation VR headset is able to view the 3D movies. So watching Ghosts of the Abyss in 3D compliments the immersive experience of Titanic VR truly is remarkable.
Immersive VR Education did a wonderful and amazing job of painting a scene of how it must have been like as a passenger witnessing history as it unfolded in ways that would have never been thought of or made possible to be able to visit and explore the history in such a way that we can only really appreciate it by learning through the experience.
Titanic VR is out now on PlayStation VR and is also available on the Oculus Store and Steam. A review code was provided.
To learn more about Immersive VR Education, please visit the site, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.
In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I have another exploration to take.
