

Quarantine, by Gametek
3DO version, 1 player.
It's not that I don't like the onslaught of Doom and Doom style games. Far from it, I love them. I throughly enjoyed EA's Immercenary, love PO'ed and can hardly wait for the 3DO versions of Doom and Doom 2. But, a game on a standard (and crowded) theme should have something innovative and cutting edge to make it worth while. Gametek's second 3DO release is Quarantine--otherwise known as "Doom in a cab." And the idea is certainly appealing enough.
	You, as cabbie Drake Edgewater, drive a modified '52 Checker hovercab through the streets of KEMO, the city-prison gone insane, in search of fares in order to earn enough money and information to make your way out of this hell on earth of a city. Of course, blowing things up plays a huge role in the game and Quarantine provides plenty of methods of engagement--there are flamethrowers, buzz saws, missiles, uzis and other fun and destructive weapons to use.
	Quarantine is a first person perspective shooter that tries hard to mix in equal helpings of demolition derby racing with it's heavy diet of Doom. Unfortunately, it's not a particularly successful venture from either genre standpoint. The city itself, with all the various buildings, minimalls, parks, tunnels and slums, is the game's bright point. True urban gaming environments are far and few between and give Quarantine a much needed nudge in the right direction. KEMO city is a pretty cool place to just drive around in. 
	Unfortunately, Quarantine's graphics are quite disappointing. The graphics are very utilitarian, with a tendency to be blocky and unrefined. Overall, the game's graphics are just good enough to get the job done, but nothing more. The road itself looks utterly lifeless and monotone--nothing like the asphalt perfect look of Road Rash's and Need for Speed's highways. Fortunately, the game's competent scrolling makes for quick and involving driving overall, though not without some jerkiness at times.
	 Upgrades and repairs to your cab are handled by driving up to any of the appropriate automatic vendors that are scattered throughout the city (though pulling up to the drivethrough window is sometimes trying). Populating KEMO are plenty of fellow roadhog drivers and pedestrians that all seem to want to kill you and everyone else on the streets as well. Quarantine does have a pretty large variety of inhabitants for your blasting pleasure and the cars generally tended to act with some degree of intelligence, giving the city a more realistic, "lived-in" quality.
	Controlling the cab is simple enough with one glaring, extremely damaging exception--no brakes. In Quarantine, you have to press back on the controller to stop, which also puts you in reverse. There is no separate breaking button. It sounds like a minor problem, but it isn't and proved enormously annoying. You only have a certain amount of time to deliver your fare to the specified location and having to bother with the unresponsive, overly sensitive braking/ reverse controls is very frustrating and time consuming. On top of that, steering is a touch on the overly sensitive side.
	 Quarantine is also obnoxious to control when cornering at higher speeds and when in a pile up battle against various other road warriors. The hovercab tends to respond more like a bumper car than a real road machine and when precious seconds count the last thing you want to experience is the automotive equivalent of a superball. Also be warned that Quarantine requires a sizable chunk of the 3DO's precious SRAM (something like 8000+, which could be a record).
	Another aspect of the game that was perhaps overemphasized was the over the top pedestrian violence. There are people all over the road in Quarantine--despite the fact that all the cars are armed to the teeth and tend to shoot at anything that moves. These pedestrians either roam around aimlessly, or just stand in the middle of the road and shoot at you. Now, admittedly, the game's storyline explains that most of KEMO's inhabitants are insane because of a virus in the water supply, so rational behavior has just been thrown out the window. On top of that, whenever you run someone over--even if you barely nudge them--they just explode into a bloody, gratuitous pulp. Unfortunately, the shock factor of these seemingly combustible, exploding pedestrians wears off very quickly and it just becomes annoying.
	Though the main emphasis is on mindless, explosive action, there is definitely strategy involved in Quarantine. Collecting fares and getting them to the right place on time is the core of the game. It's not always easy, either. You have to find the fastest route through KEMO's crazy streets and avoid getting turned into roadkill in the process. To say the least, Quarantine is definitely challenging.
	Quarantine also has an excellent soundtrack. The music was done by a pretty motley bunch of Australian rockers and some of the tunes are excellent--if you like the music of Road Rash and Way of the Warrior, you'll like Quarantine's rockin' soundtrack as well. Unlike Road Rash, Quarantine's musical tracks are played during the actual game instead of just on the menu screens. Strangely and extremely ungraciously, Gametek gave virtually no credit to these unknown rockers (not even in the manual). During the game, you can switch musical tracks at anytime as well. The rest of the game's sound effects are adequate, though not particularly stunning.
	The sometimes obnoxious control of Quarantine really pulled down the playability factor--the lack of responsive braking in particular. The game's unimpressive look was disappointing, but Quarantine's fascinating scummy urban environment goes a long way in making up for the lack of visual panache. While I definitely prefer Immercenary and, most especially, PO'ed for 1st person Doomish action, Quarantine still delivers plenty of spills, thrills and originality. The game tended to be frustrating at times, but is fun overall and at least mildly recommendable for fans of the genre. Quarantine is not a great game by any means, though, and doesn't come close to being one of the best Doomers available for the 3DO. If this is the kind of game you like, however, then you'll probably find much to like in Quarantine as well--especially with its lower than usual retail price (about $40).
