START-AIRPORT

You start in New York City after arriving at JFK airport in the introductory video. You are planning that this is only a stopover on your way to your next destination but your plane is delayed. You are approached by Raul, a friendly (but looks can be deceiving) cab driver who offers to show you the sights of the Big Apple.

Walk up to the ATM. Click on your bag. Click on your EVLCard. Click on the card to place it in the ATM. This will set up an account name and number.

No matter how much money you withdraw from your account, you are short when it comes time to pay the fare. I recommend withdrawing $100 every time you can. You can only withdraw $100 from each ATM per day and as this occurs in the one day, you need to withdraw maximum funds. Collect your ATM card and back away from the machine.

Head out the doors and wait for Raul’s cab to arrive. Click on the handle to get in. Turn to face Raul and he will tell you he plans to take you on a sightseeing tour. Sit back and wait to arrive at…

THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

Raul asks you to square your fare but you are short. Engage in a short conversation. The choices don’t matter. Either way, he cuts you some slack if you’ll sign a document essentially selling your soul to the Devil. Answer a series of questions-I don’t think your responses matter-and sign the document. For the record, the “desired” responses are the first choice in each case. Raul tells you to climb to the observation deck to see Baltimore. Get out by turning and clicking on the handle.

Walk up to the doors. You are accustomed by a bum requesting a quarter. Unfortunately, you don’t have anything to give him. Go in and walk forward twice and turn left. Walk forward and turn left. Withdraw $100. Turn right. Walk forward. Turn right and walk forward three times. Turn right and walk forward twice. You are in front of some elevators. Click on the button to call the elevator. Go in and turn to select your floor. Go to the 86th floor.

Hop out of the elevator. Turn right. Go forward twice and turn right. Go up the stairs. Turn left and follow the passage out to the observation deck. Approach all of the binoculars in turn. Click on your inventory and then on the quarter. Get a close up of the binoculars and drag the quarter to the coin slot. Click on the handle to activate the binoculars. When finished, go back downstairs and into the cab.

Hold another inane conversation with the taxi driver and then he drives you to…

THE COLOSSEUM 59 AD

Walk up to Emperor Nero and talk with him. (Don’t try to leave-if you do, you will die and be sent to Hell’s waiting room. There you are told you still have another two lives, so all is not lost). No matter how you reply, you are put in a cell.

Turn left and talk with the woman in the next cell. Turn back and talk with the guard outside your cell. A gladiator turns up in front of your cell. Talk with him. Talk again with the guard. The Emperor arrives. He offers you three possible challenges: fighting as a gladiator (this results in death and being sent to Hell’s waiting room), throwing ladies to lions (this gets you sent to Hell), and running the gauntlet.

-FIGHTING THE GLADIATOR a.k.a. “The Maximus Decimus Meridius way”

Go out of the cell, now unlocked. Turn right and take the short sword and trident. Turn left and approach the cell. The bum from the Empire State Building is there. He asks for spare change. Give him your quarter. Turn left and approach the gladiator. Basically, you just click like crazy and eventually, if you are lucky, the gladiator dies. Moving side to side seems to help your chances. It takes seven strikes to the gladiator to defeat him. The trident can be used to knock the sword out of his hand too. If this happens, he is immediately defeated.

After you defeat the gladiator, Nero gives you the thumb down-he wants you to kill your opponent. Despite this, spare him. Nero, in his fury, sends you back to your cell.

In the cell, watch the guard pace by. Grab the keys when you can see them. Get them out of your inventory and click on the cell to get out. Give the bum in the other cell a quarter if you want to. Free the woman in the cell diagonal to yours and you are returned to the Empire State Building. Get cash out (I got another $100 out). Go outside, get in the cab, and talk with Raul again. Pay the fare. Now he takes you to France 1917…

-RUNNING THE GAUNTLET a.k.a. “The Lara Croft way”

Go out of the cell and turn left. Approach a deadly contraption. Click on one of the symbols to bypass the first puzzle. This seems to be random though I found that the circle was most commonly correct. You can’t save until you have completed all past of the Gauntlet.

Next, you must get by hammers that threaten to crush you. Wait until they are fully apart and then click forward. Repeat this with the axes. You have to do all three things again and then the Gauntlet has been defeated.

After you run the gauntlet, Nero, in his fury, sends you back to your cell.

In the cell, watch the guard pace by. Grab the keys when you can see them. Get them out of your inventory and click on the cell to get out. Give the bum in the other cell a quarter if you want to. Free the woman in the cell diagonal to yours and you are returned to the Empire State Building. Get cash out (I got another $100 out). Go outside, get in the cab, and talk with Raul again. Pay the fare. Now he takes you to France 1917…

FRANCE 1917

On arrival in the trenches in 1917, you meet an injured and dying French soldier. Side with him in your conversation. Turn right and click forward repeatedly to avoid being attacked by German soldiers. Just keep going straight until you find the Command Bunker, located just past the second pillbox on the left. Turn left when you come across the wooden "X" across the top of the trench. Go inside to the table located at right. Click on the table to get the gun and the gas mask. Read the journal on the table and look at the cigarettes if interested. The journal mentions the sirens that sound when gas masks need to be worn.

Turn around and light the lamp. Examine the map to find the location of the hospital. Back away, turn right and look through the binoculars to see action on the front. Turn around and exit the Command Bunker.

Turn right, put the gas mask on (you actually don’t need to put it on until after you reach the hospital turn and a green flash appears in front of you), and walk forward quickly again until you reach a signpost. You will notice that the left pathway leads to the hospital. Head this way. Stop when you can see the hospital sign directly above you. Turn left. Approach the ghostly female figure. Click on her and you are saved from the trenches. You return to the Empire State Building entrance.

You can also use your gun to shoot the German soldiers you come across. Not sure if this impacts negatively on your Soul-o-meter, though.

There are apparently other ways out according to FAQs online. One involves going back past the soldier who you saw initially. This ends up in a bunker at one end. The bum turns up again. If you give him paper money when he asks for a quarter, you return to the Empire State Building. The other way out is to go to the opposite end of the trenches to a machine gun and shoot down ten planes. After this, turning left at the fork, you come upon another soldier. He has a letter, which he asks you to mail for him at his left. When you go to do this, you return to the Empire State Building again.

Go outside and get in the cab again. Talk with Raul. Come time to pay the fare you’re still short. He waives immediate payment and takes you to a neighborhood where there is another ATM…

JURASSIC PERIOD

You are in a Jurassic jungle. Go forward twice. Turn left. Click at the left passage through the jungle to an ATM. Withdraw $100. Turn left. Click on the right passage through the jungle. You meet the bum yet again. This time give him $20 (a bill) when he asks. You return to…

(APOCALYPTIC) NEW YORK

You will only enter the apocalyptic New York if you have enough money to pay the fare. If you don’t you are now stuck in a dead end in the game.

Otherwise, the first thing to do is to find the elevator. Be careful. Click fast because you will be attacked from all the possible antagonists from all the worlds you’ve visited in time. Go to the roof. Look through the binoculars to find a message telling you to examine the plaques (one of them tells you to look for a red button to find a place where you will find the contract so you can tear it up).

Push the red button in the elevator. Welcome to Hell’s Waiting Room. Turn right after going forward twice. Push another button to Hell’s garage. Raul’s cab is here. Open the trunk to get your weapons out if you want. Get in the cab. Open the glove box. Burn the contract. Get out and get back in the elevator. Return to the lobby and find your way to the front entrance.

Get in the cab. Talk with Raul. Pay him the remaining fare and he tells you your soul is OK. With that, his cab changes into a futuristic flying vehicle a la Back to the Future and returns you to the airport by way of a dinosaur in Times Square. You are told not to miss the next ride. I am thankful there wasn’t another…