The game takes place in a future where mankind has made great advances in interstellar travel and subsequently colonized the Solar System.

There are extrasolar settlements, research outposts, mines, commercial colonies, and spacecraft and space stations throughout the Solar System protected by an interstellar military conglomerate named the Planet Defense Corps.

A recording of Europa-1's last transmission shows that there was a lot of fire damage to the warship, that almost everyone on board died, and that strange creatures were looking for the few people who managed to escape the attack.

Additionally, the nuclear cooling system of Europa-1 has been damaged by a small arms fire, and a core breach caused by overheating will destroy the starship in a matter of hours.

For multiplayer mode, the game supported connecting two Genesis or Mega Drives using a special link cable and the second joypad port.

[2] GamePro gave the game a mostly positive review, commenting that "first-person games like Zero Tolerance put pressure on a system's processor, but Accolade has done a good job here: The anxiety caused by an adversary careening around a corner or the twitching body of a gunned-down spider is severe.

[1] The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly had varying reactions to Zero Tolerance but generally agreed that it was an effective substitute for Wolfenstein 3D and Doom on the Genesis.