The Collection Chamber: HELL CAB

THE CAB RIDE FROM HELL...

Everyone has a cab horror story, right? But you're going to have the worst one yet. See, this isn't just another New York cabby. This guy's trying to earn his horns. (Yeah horns, as in The Devil, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Satan...)

All he has to do to get them, is take you to the hottest hell-holes in history and get you to sell your soul. But maybe you are special. Maybe you can get out alive - your soul intact. Hah! Maybe...
When in Rome...
Hit the Coliseum. Meet the mysterious, nefarious Nero who invites you to lunch - with his lions!
If this isn't hell...
The trenches of Verdun steep in the stench of mustard gas and rotting bodies. Is one of them yours?
If you can make it here...
Tour the Empire State Building - all the way to the top. From here, it's all downhill...
You're history...
It's a Jurassic jungle out there - and this is one incredible prehistoric nightmare.

~ from the back of the box

In the early 90s, when "multimedia" was still a futuristic buzzword, Hell Cab promised to make use of the CD-ROM storage to take you on a morally charged trip through time. Developed by comic artist Pepe Moreno, it was one of the earliest attempts to show what those shiny new discs could do - high-resolution images, digitized actors, and a soundtrack that didn't sound like it was playing through a tin can. The concept is an interesting one. You're a stranded traveler who hops into a New York taxi, only to discover your driver is a devil in disguise. To escape with your soul intact, you'll have to pay his fare - or pay the ultimate price.

On paper, it sounds like the kind of high-concept, visually driven adventure that could've redefined the genre. In practice, however, Hell Cab spends more time stalling. Even in its heyday, this game was somewhat notorious for its loading times, so much so that Germany's PC Player magazine "honoured" it in 1994 with the award for Longest Loading Times from CD-ROM. Sure, single-speed drives were a slog back then, but even with the emulation magic of DOSBox, the slow input and poor loading times are seemingly baked into its code. So much so that booting it up today feels like time travel in itself, except you're visiting the prehistoric era of multimedia gaming instead of actual prehistory. Every click feels like waiting for the afterlife's bureaucracy to process your paperwork.

Enter you name and pin number to use your card. Make sure to remember it, you will be using it again (left).
Sell your soul to the cabbie for the crime of being a dollar short (right).

That's not to say Hell Cab doesn't have charm. The art direction is striking, showcasing the talents of Moreno's art style which gives the whole affair a surreal, comic-book feel that still holds up surprisingly well. From the neon-lit streets of early 90s Manhattan to the fiery depths of Hell itself, every screen oozes atmosphere. Even the anachronistic trips through ancient Rome and World War I have a weird, pulpy energy. The cutscenes, powered by Apple's early QuickTime technology, were jaw-dropping in 1993 - assuming you were patient enough to watch them stutter into existence.

The gameplay, though, is where the meter really starts ticking against Hell Cab. Calling it an "adventure game" is generous. You'll spend most of your time clicking through still images, occasionally solving simple puzzles or making moral choices that affect your so-called Soul-O-Meter. The choices sound deep - save the gladiator or kill him, spare your fellow soldier or let him fall - but in reality, they boil down to simple binary paths, both leading back to the same slow-moving highway. Even the game's few bursts of action, like shooting your way through the trenches, are more clunky than exciting.

Click on your touristy tote bag to access your inventory (left).
No matter where in time you go, this scrounger will always be begging for money (right).

Some puzzles are inventory based, with that I Heart NY tote bag on the bottom left giving you access to your items. Your first use of it highlights the poor design, and its an action that will be repeated several times - drawing money from an ATM machine. From your inventory, click on your credit card to add it to the black bar at the bottom of the screen next to your tote. If on the right screen, clicking on the card's icon will let you use it. Sometimes it's a simple click, other times it's a drag and a drop and neither are obvious. Once the card is inserted and your password is entered (remember it, you'll need it), you can withdraw cash, view the game credits or read some brief instructions on how to play the game. These machines are everywhere - even in the Jurassic period - and they are slow and clunky to use. so you'd think they'd function as save points too. Instead, saving and loading is tied to a standard drop-down menu that appears when you move the cursor to the top of the screen.

Unfortunately, the game is also full of bugs. The game's original readme file reads like an apology note from the developers, warning players not to click too fast (lest Windows "store your mouse clicks" and unleash chaos) and offering helpful tips like "try 16-color mode if everything crashes". Emulating via DOSBox eliminates some of these issues but not all. I found it difficult to register whether the game recognised a click at all, steering me down an alternative (and wrong) route when my first instinct was correct. Good luck making any progress when timing is required.

Most item interactions use a single click. Sometimes, you will need to drag and drop (left).
If you die, you will go to hell. You can go back up to two times, but on the third you're here for good (right).

The voice acting and sound design do their best to keep the experience afloat. The jazzy, devilish soundtrack fits the tone perfectly, and Raoul, your demonic driver, delivers his lines with just the right mix of sleaze and charm. Unfortunately, the rest of the voice work feels phoned in - literally, given the audio compression. The opening narration is particularly rough.

Still, it's hard not to appreciate Hell Cab as a ambitious title for its time. I certainly appreciated it more as a historical curiosity than a rewarding adventure. It's beautiful to look at, interesting to talk about, and practically impossible to play without frustration. A good idea unfortunately driven straight into Hell.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the DOSBox-X build of DOSBox running Microsoft Windows 3.1 to get the game working on modern systems. Manual included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 240 Mb. Install Size: 545 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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