Grand Daddy of GTA

[D'arteest]

Quarantine and Road Warrior

released 1994

(Creator GAMETEK which was later purchased by TAKE2 interactive)

 

I'm sure that when Grand Theft Auto first hit the shelves in the late 90's, old-schoolers everywhere (including myself) were cursing the unenlightened who were exclaiming that such an explorative and wantonly destructive driving game had never been made before: indeed it had, and it went by the name of Quarantine.

 

Lockdown

 

In the not-so-distant future, the definition of 'criminal' is somewhat lax, and, as such, jails are filled to overflowing. Not having enough space to accommodate all of these offenders, the government decides to throw them all into a heavily guarded city-state to fend for themselves as they will. As you might imagine, this city is not the most hospitable place in the northern hemisphere. How does one eke out a living in such an unforgiving environment? The character that you portray opts not to attract a lot of attention to himself, and decides to become... a cabby?!

 

Admittedly, the story is pretty weak. Thankfully, the atmosphere of the game itself is an excellent fusion of the post-apocalyptic and cyberpunk genres; the city streets are illuminated by flickering neon billboards and cracked street lights, and the high-tech gadgetry that you're exposed to sometimes feels like it was ripped straight out of Blade Runner. Fans of science fiction and its derivatives will feel right at home in Quarantine.

 

Spinning Your Wheels...

 

Quarantine is one of those games in which you have the option of playing to win the game, or playing to experience the game. Playing to win entails completing a whole bunch of missions and scenarios(much like GTA), many of which are repetitive and seem largely arbitrary. On the other hand, playing to experience the game is done by cruisin' around the massive play area, picking up the odd passenger that catches your attention, and generally living the life of the overworked, underpaid, heavily-armed cab driver. Both methods of play are satisfying, although aimlessly squealing through the streets can get somewhat boring, especially after watching the spectacle of a pedestrian splattering across your windshield for the fiftieth time. Thankfully, getting around the city is made painless by the precision controls and the excellent map interface provided by the developers.

 

Of course, travelling in a penal colony is not quite as simple as going from point A to point B. There are plenty of hostile citizens out there who are itching to reduce your cab to scrap metal, and they go to great lengths to scratch that itch. Roadblocks, land mines, heavy artillery, and the comparatively boring gunman are among the obstacles that you will quickly become familiar with in Quarantine. While this resistance is certainly expected, it is occasionally frustrating to have to deal with these 'nuisances' when you're nearing the end of a particularly difficult mission.

 

... and Letting Off Steam

 

Given that you are going to be facing some heavy resistance, you obviously need some means of holding your own. What is an enterprising fellow like yourself to do?

 

Accessorize!

 

That's right -- nothing tells those thugs that you mean business like a hood-mounted flame thrower and spiked fenders. While there is a large range of offensive and defensive equipment that you can equip your cab with, all of it is quite expensive, and a large chunk of your budget is usually devoted to repairs. However, penny-pinchers will feel well-rewarded for their efforts when they bear witness to the sight of the crackly and flamey death of their opponents in high-res VGA.

 

Indeed, considering the age of this title, the graphics and sound are quite good. Significant detailing has been done on all of the street signs and buildings (although it is sometimes too grainy to make out), and the MIDI music and digitized sound is about as good as can be expected. Unfortunately, you never get to see what the interiors of any of the buildings look like because you're confined to your car. This was my major beef with the game, and I think it's what made GTA so much more appealing to so many people -- your experience in the big city would be more immersive if you could actually leave your vehicle.

 

Know Your History

 

Quarantine is a spectacular game that, unfortunately, never really got much credit. If you desire a high-quality abandonware title to kill some time, or you'd like to play a precursor to one of the most controversial franchises of the past decade, you'll find that Quarantine will fit the bill. This isn't just a great game: it's a lesson in videogame history.

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I finally got my XP machine to play MS-DOS based games. I'll try to get so pics and video clips up and running for you guys.

 

 

[Bryce.]

you have alot of time on ur hands, but uh have a

[Dalpura]

See, this forum is specifically for GTA San Andreas; so I'll move this one to Gaming Chat for you.

[nitvsnggls]

pretty crappy

[Vanzant]

pretty crappy

Don't spam a topic up because you can't read.

 

I've heard of this game before is it shareware on a website now? It's not the most interesting plot but a cabbie with flame throwers on it sounds like a good idea.

[SIP YEK NOD]

they are considered abandonware right now, which is still technically illegal, but i am sure google can help you aquire them

 

 

as for the game, it seems more like carmageddon than GTA

[_-playero-_]

they are considered abandonware right now, which is still technically illegal, but i am sure google can help you aquire them

 

 

as for the game, it seems more like carmageddon than GTA

Illegal? Really, I never knew... are you sure??

[Colotomy Headwind]

The two games were nearly nothing alike from my recollection. À la "The Escape from New York", the entire state is caged off and used as a massive prison. The objective of the game was to upgrade your hover taxi to jump the wall and escape. To avoid media persecution (so it seems), the plot implied that a drug was released into the water supply to turn inmates into zombies, thus "justifying" mass slaughter.

 

It seems people are so quick to link anything involving driving and killing to Grand Theft Auto.

 

If you had so much trouble running MS-DOS games on XP, why didn't you pick up a free copy of DOSBox? I've played countless hours of MS-DOS games when I was supposed to be working with that little gem.

[reticulatingsplines]

Quarantine was a bit 'meh' in my opinion.

 

You know, just not that exciting. Doom had me by the balls at that stage.

[Wolf68k]

 

they are considered abandonware right now, which is still technically illegal, but i am sure google can help you aquire them

 

 

as for the game, it seems more like carmageddon than GTA

Illegal? Really, I never knew... are you sure??

Just because the company may have folded or they abandoned the software doesn't make it legal to share copyrighted material

 

 

Why abandonware is technically software piracy

According to U.S. Law and International Treaties, a copyright belongs to the author of a software product for 70 years beyond the life of the author or 95 years after the copyright date if the work is done by a corporation or anonymous source. Before that time expires, nobody (except the author) has the right to copy that piece of software.

http://www.abandonwarering.com/?Page=FAQ

[D'arteest]

they are considered abandonware right now, which is still technically illegal, but i am sure google can help you aquire them

 

 

as for the game, it seems more like carmageddon than GTA

Illegal? Really, I never knew... are you sure??

Just because the company may have folded or they abandoned the software doesn't make it legal to share copyrighted material

 

 

Why abandonware is technically software piracy

According to U.S. Law and International Treaties, a copyright belongs to the author of a software product for 70 years beyond the life of the author or 95 years after the copyright date if the work is done by a corporation or anonymous source. Before that time expires, nobody (except the author) has the right to copy that piece of software.

http://www.abandonwarering.com/?Page=FAQ

No. What I am saying is that is seems obvious at least to me that Take2 (the makers of the GTA serious) have purchased the rights and software including GAMETEK itself (the makers of "QUARENTINE and ROAD WARRIOR"). And just took this software to a new level. Take 2 has now set the bar so high that I don't think anyone will ever compete with a game(that ish is sold to the general public) with such variety, sexual content, and choices within gameplay such as Grand Theft Auto.

 

P.S. I do own stock in this company

T-HQ INC THQI

TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE TTWO

ELECTRONIC ARTS ERTS

 

[reticulatingsplines]

I'm missing the point of this topic.

[Kazenji]

I remember Quarrantine and Road warrior i loved driving around picking up the passengers and stuff, It was like doing the taxi missions in GTA