1993

Time Warner Interactive Group
Time Warner Interactive Group

First Person

"Hell Cab was created by the legendary Pepe Moreno known for his beautifully drawn and written comics and graphic novels...It is a bit of a stretch to call this an adventure game but it does have some adventure elements.

"This game is impossible to get working right, in my opinion because of the problems with compatibility of old QuickTime with modern systems. Even in Windows 98, I could never get this game to work right. Anyhow, I bit the bullet and decided to play it disregarding the “cannot find GDI” errors. These errors are commented upon in the Readme file:

"'A common message if there is a compatibility problem is a "General Protection Fault Error in GDI.EXE" when Hell Cab is loaded. If you encounter problems and are not certain whether or not your graphics driver is at fault...you can switch to 16-color mode and run Hell Cab. You will encounter a few error messages when in 16-color mode which you can bypass and the graphics will not display correctly, but you will still be able to play the game.'

"Other warnings in the Readme include:

"'Be VERY careful when clicking repeatedly, as Windows will store your mouse clicks. Windows will execute them one by one, often causing unwanted results. When watching a video sequence...you should let it play through without interrupting it by clicking the mouse. If it is stopped before it completes, the video sequence may cause the bag, Soul-O-Meter and inventory window to not respond until the player allows a video to play through completely or moves to another part of the game...'

"And now for a special feature:

"'As an added feature there is a quick way to quit Hell Cab without saving your current position. This can be done by pressing the "ESC" key. Warning! You will not be prompted to save your current game if you exit the program this way.'

"What a great idea-a way to quit without saving your game!

"All in all, the game can be completed in about thirty minutes once you know what you are doing-it will take you much longer with the freezing and trial and errors to lengthen your gameplay. I don’t blame you if you give up. It has taken me more than ten years of intermittent attempts to get to the end..."

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D+

• FAQs
• Hell Cab Quiz - Mac (added 09/15/2007)

• According to a 2004 Game Developers Conference page, Hell Cab is the second CD-ROM game ever released.
• According to a 1993 article in Wired Magazine online, the retail price of the MAC version of the game was $99.95. (Those were the days...Ouch.)

A motion picture by the name of Hell Cab (a.k.a. Chicago Cab) was released in 1998. Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) is in it, along with a bunch of other people whose names you might recognize. As far as I can tell, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the game.

• In the Brazillian version, the cover from the jewel case only says "New York Tour Guide" (it didn't come with the box) and I actually bought it thinking that the CD-ROM was about a NYC tour. Only when I read the manual inside the case did I discover what it was really about
• In the ATM, you can visualize videos from the historic periods you visit, plus, there's also an advertising image promoting "Hellcab 2", this time at the Statue of Liberty instead of Empire State Building - of course, it was never released
• I went throughout the Jurassic era without spotting a SINGLE dinosaur! I just saw trees, went to a cave and I was at the Empire State again
• Depending on your actions, in the end you may never encounter the gladiator, the soldier or the dinosaur trying to get you. I just got back from the Jurassic level to the Empire State and calmly went to the elevator
• Also, when I got into the hell, I didn't destroy the contract and I got back home anyway with Raul and his flying car

There's actually a walkthrough, thanks to Alexander Tait!

PC REQUIREMENTS:

• MS-DOS 5.0 or higher
• 386DX-25 or higher processor
• Windows 3.1 or higher
• Mouse
• 8 MB RAM
• 1X (150kb/sec) CD-ROM drive
• SVGA graphics card
• Sound card

MAC REQUIREMENTS:

• MAC II with a 13" or larger monitor
• 3 MB available RAM
• CD-ROM drive
• System 6.07 or later