Quarantine (video game)

Infobox VG
title = Quarantine


developer = Imagexcel
publisher = GameTek
distributor =
designer =
engine =
version =
released = 1994
genre = Racing, Cyberpunk, First-person shooter
modes = Single player
ratings =
platforms = PC (MS-DOS)
3DO
Playstation
media = CD-ROM
requirements = 286+, 4MB RAM, CD-ROM, Sound Blaster compatible sound
input = Keyboard, Joystick, Thrustmaster Steering wheel
preceded by =
followed by =

"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.

Background history

The success of "Doom" by id Software in 1993 led to many other companies attempting to follow "Doom"'s 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 Road Warrior, which largely kept the original gameplay, but introduced a more mission and story-driven gameplay.

Plot

Like today's Detroit, 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 hovercars, terrorising 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 behaviour 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.

Soundtrack

The CD version features tracks by Simon Day - not to be mistaken with the Australian garagebands - who also played the person you see in the intro. [1]

# You Am I - Berlin Chair (2:42)
# The Fauves - The Driver Is You (3:38)
# Custard - The Wahooti Fandango (3:00)
# Smudge – Ingrown (3:13)
# Godstar - Lie Down Forever (3:26)
# Screamfeeder - Snail Trail (2:49)
# The Daisygrinders - Uranium Watch (3:47)
# Underground Lovers - Weak Will (5:29)
# The Hellmenn – Whirlwind (4:17)
# Crow - Yellow Beam (5:00)
# Sidewinder - Now You Know (4:51)

Trivia

* Areas of KEMO bear names and locations similar to locations in southern Ontario. "Port Credit" for example, for Port Credit, now part of Mississauga.
* There are many storefronts whose logos resemble storefronts close to Gray Matter Games' Oakville office, include "Gifted Hands", "Rococo" and Tim Hortons.
* It is possible that the game has been partially inspired by the movie Escape from New York, which also features a closed-off city with a dark feel and a man driving a taxicab.
* The PlayStation version has been released in Japan exclusively, under the name "Hard Rock Cab". It is exactly the same as the original PC version, though it suffers a lot of slow-downs and is written in Japanese language only.

External links

* [http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/quarantine MobyGames]

References

[http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/quarantine MobyGames]