Quarantine (video game)
Encyclopedia
Quarantine is a 1994
racing
/first-person shooter
computer game for MS-DOS
and 3DO
, created
by Imagexcel and published by GameTek
. In the game the player drives a taxicab
through a post-apocalyptic
city, picking up customers and killing enemies. Due to the gratuitous violence the game was controversial at the time of release.
in 1993
led to many other companies attempting to follow Dooms success. Most ended up making unsuccessful "doom clones". Quarantine was one of the few games that successfully exploited the features of Doom with its own texture mapped
stages and vehicular combat gameplay. The game was later continued with the sequel, Quarantine II: Road Warrior, which largely kept the original gameplay, but introduced a more mission and story-driven gameplay.
, KEMO city was known for the manufacture of hovercars, meeting the country's demands for transportation until 2022. Over time, however, KEMO's crime rate had risen so far that the economy collapsed and the city descended into disorder. Criminals roamed the streets in armored hovercar
s, terrorizing the citizens of KEMO without fear of retribution. In 2029, OmniCorp promised city officials that it could clean up KEMO and return it to normal. The offer was accepted, and the corporation began the construction of a massive wall around the city under the guise of a "defensive measure". The wall was completed three years later, and the only exit sealed shut, turning KEMO into a massive prison city for all inside, criminal or otherwise. The outraged population reacted violently, and the city degenerated.
Ten years later, in 2043, OmniCorp decided to test the behavior altering chemical Hydergine 344 on KEMO. This chemical was supposed to pacify the citizens of KEMO, and was distributed through the city's water supply. Unfortunately, OmniCorp failed to predict the chemical's reaction to the stagnant water, resulting in massive brain damage and insanity in the many of KEMO's citizens. More than half the population became crazed killers overnight.
Drake Edgewater, a 21st Century cab driver and one of the lucky few unaffected by the spreading virus
, is desperate to escape the city alive. Driving his '52 Checker "hovercab" armed with an assortment of headlight-mounted weaponry, he delivers passengers and packages for what money he can make to upgrade his vehicle and escape.
Quarantine, long before Grand Theft Auto III
and other similar games, popularized the drive-by shooting
tactic found in the game by using the Uzi to shoot out from the side windows. This is available when you purchase the machine gun upgrade from the Weapon King shop, which comes with an Uzi.
versions were released in Japan exclusively, under the names Hard Rock Cab and Death Throttle, respectively. They are mostly the same as the original PC version, but suffer from slowdown and use some Japanese text. Most text remains in English, however, and the live action video is neither dubbed nor subtitled.
1994 in video gaming
-Events:*Nintendo calls this year "1994: The Year of the Cartridge".*Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd, the Australian subsidiary of Nintendo Co., Ltd is established and opened by Hiroshi Yamauchi and effectively ends Mattel Australia's distribution of Nintendo's products throughout Australia.*"Project...
racing
Racing
A sport race is a competition of speed, against an objective criterion, usually a clock or to a specific point. The competitors in a race try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time...
/first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
computer game for MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
and 3DO
3DO Interactive Multiplayer
The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer is a video game console originally produced by Panasonic in 1993. Further renditions of the hardware were released in 1994 by Sanyo and Goldstar. The consoles were manufactured according to specifications created by The 3DO Company, and were originally designed by...
, created
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
by Imagexcel and published by GameTek
GameTek
GameTek was a video game publisher based in North Miami Beach, Florida well known for publishing video game adaptations of game shows in the early 1990s. GameTek was a trade name for IJE, the owner of electronic publishing rights to Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune...
. In the game the player drives a taxicab
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
through a post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
Apocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization due to a potentially existential catastrophe such as nuclear warfare, pandemic, extraterrestrial attack, impact event, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, supernatural...
city, picking up customers and killing enemies. Due to the gratuitous violence the game was controversial at the time of release.
Background history
The success of Doom by id SoftwareId Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
in 1993
1993 in video gaming
-Events:*March — In Sweden, the Swedish video game magazine Super PLAY starts. The original name is Super Power.*Midway Games embroiled in controversy for its game Mortal Kombat from 1992 when the game is launched for video game consoles in 1993....
led to many other companies attempting to follow Dooms success. Most ended up making unsuccessful "doom clones". Quarantine was one of the few games that successfully exploited the features of Doom with its own texture mapped
Texel (graphics)
A texel, or texture element is the fundamental unit of texture space, used in computer graphics. Textures are represented by arrays of texels, just as pictures are represented by arrays of pixels....
stages and vehicular combat gameplay. The game was later continued with the sequel, Quarantine II: Road Warrior, which largely kept the original gameplay, but introduced a more mission and story-driven gameplay.
Plot
Like today's DetroitDetroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, KEMO city was known for the manufacture of hovercars, meeting the country's demands for transportation until 2022. Over time, however, KEMO's crime rate had risen so far that the economy collapsed and the city descended into disorder. Criminals roamed the streets in armored hovercar
Hovercar
A hovercar is a transport vehicle appearing in works of fiction. It is used for personal transportation in the same way a modern automobile is employed. You must steer it, like you would a normal vehicle...
s, terrorizing the citizens of KEMO without fear of retribution. In 2029, OmniCorp promised city officials that it could clean up KEMO and return it to normal. The offer was accepted, and the corporation began the construction of a massive wall around the city under the guise of a "defensive measure". The wall was completed three years later, and the only exit sealed shut, turning KEMO into a massive prison city for all inside, criminal or otherwise. The outraged population reacted violently, and the city degenerated.
Ten years later, in 2043, OmniCorp decided to test the behavior altering chemical Hydergine 344 on KEMO. This chemical was supposed to pacify the citizens of KEMO, and was distributed through the city's water supply. Unfortunately, OmniCorp failed to predict the chemical's reaction to the stagnant water, resulting in massive brain damage and insanity in the many of KEMO's citizens. More than half the population became crazed killers overnight.
Drake Edgewater, a 21st Century cab driver and one of the lucky few unaffected by the spreading virus
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
, is desperate to escape the city alive. Driving his '52 Checker "hovercab" armed with an assortment of headlight-mounted weaponry, he delivers passengers and packages for what money he can make to upgrade his vehicle and escape.
Soundtrack
The CD version features tracks from Australian alternative bands.- You Am IYou Am IYou Am I are an Australian alternative rock band, fronted by vocalist/guitarist and main songwriter Tim Rogers. They were the first Australian band to have three albums successively debut at #1 on the ARIA Charts, and are renowned for their live performances.-History:Tim Rogers formed the first...
- Berlin ChairBerlin Chair"Berlin Chair" is the second single from the album Sound As Ever by Australian rock band You Am I. It was released in 1994 and reached #23 in that year's Hottest 100, while in the 1998 Hottest 100 of All Time it came in at #61 and #52 in the 2009 Hottest 100 of All Time. In a phone-in poll in 1999,...
(2:42) - The FauvesThe FauvesThe Fauves are an Australian rock band. Their album Future Spa was nominated for Best Alternative Album in the 1997 ARIA awards but lost to Spiderbait's Ivy and the Big Apples....
- The Driver Is You (3:38) - CustardCustard (band)-Overview:The band were originally known as Custard Gun and featured David McCormack on vocals and guitar, Paul Medew on bass, James Straker on guitar and Shane Brunn on drums. After a few shows and line up changes Custard Gun morphed into Custard...
- The Wahooti Fandango (3:00) - SmudgeSmudgeSmudge is an Australian rock band. Its frontman Tom Morgan is better known outside Australia as a songwriting collaborator of Evan Dando and his band The Lemonheads.-History:...
– Ingrown (3:13) - Godstar - Lie Down Forever (3:26)
- ScreamfeederScreamfeederScreamfeeder are a rock band from Brisbane, Australia.-Members and history:Screamfeeder began performing under that name in Brisbane, Australia in 1991. They formed out of the remains of Tim Steward and Tony Blade's band, The Madmen....
- Snail Trail (2:49) - The Daisygrinders - Uranium Watch (3:47)
- Underground LoversUnderground LoversUnderground Lovers are an Australian alternative rock band and one of the most lauded music acts in the country's alternative scene throughout the 1990s. While the band has experienced many lineup changes during its existence, the nucleus of the band since its inception has been Vincent M...
- Weak Will (5:29) - The Hellmenn – Whirlwind (4:17)
- CrowCrow (Australian band)Crow are an Australian rock band that is best known for three albums released in the 90s. Founded by songwriters Peter Fenton and Peter Archer in Sydney in 1986, Crow ceased all activity in 1999, only to begin playing again in 2007....
- Yellow Beam (5:00) - SidewinderSidewinder (band)Sidewinder was a rock band founded in 1991 by brothers Nick and Martin Craft in the Australian capital Canberra. They supported U2 on the Australian leg of their Popmart tour. In the same year. Sidewinder's second album Tangerine received much airplay on Australian radio, most notably on Triple J.-...
- Now You Know (4:51)
Gameplay
Quarantine required a rather powerful system when it was released. One of the original ads in magazines for the game used the slogan "If you've got the ram, we've got the pedestrians."Quarantine, long before Grand Theft Auto III
Grand Theft Auto III
Grand Theft Auto III is a 2001 open world action computer and video game developed by DMA Design in the United Kingdom, and published by Rockstar Games. It is the first 3D title in the Grand Theft Auto series. It was released in October 2001 for the PlayStation 2, May 2002 for Microsoft Windows,...
and other similar games, popularized the drive-by shooting
Drive-by shooting
A drive-by shooting is a form of hit-and-run tactic, a personal attack carried out by an individual or individuals from a moving or momentarily stopped vehicle without use of headlights to avoid being noticed. It often results in bystanders being shot instead of, or as well as, the intended target...
tactic found in the game by using the Uzi to shoot out from the side windows. This is available when you purchase the machine gun upgrade from the Weapon King shop, which comes with an Uzi.
Versions
The PlayStation and SaturnSega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
versions were released in Japan exclusively, under the names Hard Rock Cab and Death Throttle, respectively. They are mostly the same as the original PC version, but suffer from slowdown and use some Japanese text. Most text remains in English, however, and the live action video is neither dubbed nor subtitled.