PCQuarantine II: Road Warrior is a 1995 vehicular combat first-person shooter developed by Imagexcel and published by GameTek. Released for PC (MS-DOS), it is the direct sequel to the 1994 cult classic Quarantine. Heavily inspired by Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and the gritty, punk-infused comics of the 90s, the game puts players back behind the wheel of a heavily armed hovercab in a violent, post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Core Story
Following the climactic events of the first game, cynical hovercab driver Drake Edgewater has finally managed to escape the walled-in, disease-ridden prison city of Kemo. Unfortunately, his triumph is short-lived. He quickly discovers that the outside world is just as messed up as the city he left behind. The megalomaniacal Omnicorp Empire has turned the surrounding wastelands into a post-apocalyptic nightmare.
The game opens with Drake being captured and forced to fight for his life in a gladiatorial destruction derby. After surviving, he is approached by a voluptuous revolutionary named Tracy, who recruits him into the local resistance. Using his heavily modified ’52 Checker hovercab, Drake must wage a one-man war across desert wastelands, mutant-infested farmlands, and urban war zones to completely dismantle Omnicorp’s operations.
Gameplay and Features
While the original Quarantine pioneered an open-world, “Crazy Taxi with guns” gameplay loop, Road Warrior radically changed the formula, opting for a more directed, action-heavy approach:
- Mission-Based Structure: The original game’s core mechanic of picking up civilian fares to earn cash for upgrades was completely removed. Instead, the sequel features a linear string of back-to-back, objective-based missions (such as destroying Omnicorp bases, escorting rebels, or taking down boss vehicles).
- The Hovercab Arsenal: Drake is no longer responsible for buying his own weapons. At the start of each mission, the cab is outfitted with a pre-selected, devastating loadout that includes 50-mm Gatling guns, flamethrowers, heat-seeking missiles, and buzz saws.
- Comic-Book Cutscenes: To replace the FMV sequences of the previous game, Road Warrior delivers its narrative through stylish, hand-drawn comic book panels. The art style heavily channels the gritty, counter-culture aesthetic of 90s comics like Tank Girl.
- New Camera Perspectives: While the first game locked you entirely into a first-person dashboard view, the sequel added new camera options, including external chase-cam perspectives, to help navigate the chaotic vehicular combat.
- Environmental Variety: Escaping Kemo City allowed the developers to design a wider variety of levels, moving away from claustrophobic dark streets to sprawling, sun-baked deserts, agricultural zones, and abandoned theme parks.
PC Version
Released for MS-DOS, the game took advantage of SVGA graphics to deliver higher-resolution textures and smoother scaling than its predecessor. It also notably featured an eclectic, high-energy CD-audio soundtrack that bounced between heavy metal, hard rock, and bluegrass, perfectly complementing the bizarre vehicular carnage. Today, the game is considered abandonware by many, though it can easily be played on modern systems using DOSBox emulators.
Console Versions
Unlike the original Quarantine—which saw official ports to the 3DO, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn—Quarantine II: Road Warrior was strictly a PC exclusive. It never received a console port, cementing it as a pure 90s DOS experience.
Quick Note
Quarantine II: Road Warrior is a bizarre, fascinating artifact of mid-90s PC gaming. While some fans missed the open-ended taxi mechanics of the first game, the sequel doubled down on pure, chaotic vehicular destruction.
In short: If you are looking for a retro, Doom-style engine game that trades walking down space corridors for drifting a flying taxi through a post-apocalyptic desert while firing a minigun, Drake Edgewater’s second outing delivers the explosive goods.
