Quarantine

Quarantine (also known as Death Throttle or Hard Rock Cab in Japan) is a 1994 cyberpunk vehicular combat/racing hybrid developed by Imagexcel and published by GameTek. Released in 1994 for MS-DOS (PC), it later appeared on 3DO (1995) and received Japanese console ports in 1996: PlayStation (Hard Rock Cab) and Sega Saturn (Death Throttle: Kakuzetsu Toshi kara no Dasshutsu). It is a cult classic that mixes Crazy Taxi-style fare delivery with Carmageddon-style violence in a dystopian future city overrun by a mind-altering virus.

Core Story

In the year 2047, the city of Kemo (a stand-in for a quarantined Detroit-like metropolis) has been sealed off after a mysterious virus turned most of the population into psychotic killers. You play as Drake Edgewater, an immune cab driver desperate to earn enough money to upgrade his armored hovercab and escape the hellish quarantine. You ferry passengers and packages across the violent streets while dodging (or destroying) rival cabs, armed pedestrians, mines, and corporate threats from the shady Omnicorp. The story is light and serves mainly as an excuse for the chaotic gameplay, delivered through brief cutscenes and radio chatter.

Gameplay and Features

Quarantine blends open-world driving with first-person shooter action inside your cab:

• Hovercab Combat: Pilot a heavily armed ’52 Checker hovercab equipped with a front-mounted machine gun (later upgrades include missiles, oil slicks, and more). Run over pedestrians, blast enemy vehicles, and cause mayhem while delivering fares on time.
• Open City Exploration: Freely roam a large, gritty futuristic city with day/night cycles, destructible environments, and hidden secrets. Pick up passengers (who appear with hovering signs) and deliver them before the timer runs out.
• Progression & Upgrades: Earn cash from successful deliveries to buy vehicle upgrades, better weapons, and armor at garages. Undercover missions add variety and story progression.
• Violent Fun: Pure, unfiltered chaos — one of the first games to let you gleefully mow down civilians and cause massive destruction in a living city.

It’s strictly single-player with no multiplayer or co-op. The campaign is relatively short (4–8 hours) but highly replayable for score-chasing, upgrades, and exploration. Reviews at the time praised its irreverent violence, immersive cyberpunk atmosphere, and addictive loop, though some noted repetitive missions and technical quirks on original hardware.

PC Version (MS-DOS, 1994)

The original MS-DOS/PC version is the most authentic and widely played today. It runs perfectly via DOSBox or modern source ports/emulators on any current Windows machine (extremely low system requirements). The game is abandonware and freely available on Archive.org, MyAbandonware, and similar sites—no official digital re-release exists on Steam or GOG as of 2026. Keyboard controls handle driving and shooting smoothly; mouse support was limited in the original.

Console Versions

• 3DO (1995): The first console port with improved graphics and controller support, but slightly altered gameplay and lower frame rates.
• PlayStation (1996, Japan – Hard Rock Cab) and Sega Saturn (1996, Japan – Death Throttle): Japanese exclusives with minor localization changes, but essentially the same core experience.

No official modern ports (including Nintendo Switch or Switch 2) or remasters exist. The game is best experienced today via DOS emulation on PC.

Quick Note

Quarantine is a hyper-violent, unapologetically chaotic cult classic that predates Grand Theft Auto and Carmageddon in its open-world taxi murder-sim formula. It’s short, gritty, and endlessly replayable for fans of 90s cyberpunk or vehicular combat. If you enjoy irreverent dystopian fun and don’t mind retro graphics, fire up the DOS version in DOSBox—it still delivers pure, unfiltered mayhem: “Drive fast, shoot everything, and get the hell out of Kemo City.”