A couple of months ago, Astraware—one of the best developers of games for mobile devices—rolled out Astraware Boardgames, its first title for handsets running on the world's most popular smartphone platform, the Symbian OS. Today, it introduced its second, called Hidden Expedition: Titanic.

Developed in partnership with Big Fish Games, Hidden Expedition: Titanic offers players the opportunity to explore the wreckage of the once-majestic ship and collect antique artifacts for the Titanic Museum. RMS Titanic sank close to a hundred years ago, in 1912.

Players hunt for hidden objects within the wreckage during 14 diving missions, ultimately leading to the final prize: The Crown Jewels. They have the choice of using their smartphone's five-way controller or stylus to play.

 

Like Boardgames, Hidden Expedition: Titanic is compatible with Symbian S60 3rd Edition devices, including the Nokia N95 and E61, and with UIQ 3-run Symbian devices, such as the Sony Ericsson P1i and Motorola RIZR Z8. It is also already available for the Palm OS and Windows Mobile.

Both titles sell for $19.95.

 

As for Boardgames, it bundles eight titles in one package. These include —Chess, Backgammon, Ludo, Checkers, Reversi, Nine Men's Morris, Snakes and Ladders, and Tic Tac Toe&151;three levels of difficulty and support for multiple languages.

You can play the games by yourself, against the computer, or alongside other players. According to Astraware, gameplay and graphics are designed to evoke the feel of classic board games, played on wooden boards, with traditional playing pieces and believable piece movement.

Astraware's got another Symbian game, called Platypus, up its sleeve. Introduced for the Palm OS and Windows Mobile in March, Astraware refers to this title as the "squishiest shoot-em-up ever." Because the side-scrolling arcade game's graphics are entirely made out of modeling clay.