Shogo: Mobile Armor Division

Let me get straight to the point; Shogo is one of the most difficult, frustrating utter bastard of a game I've ever played. Firstly, your health counts for nothing; three shots and your out. The AI has supremely quick reaction times, and there's a hell of a lot of them, and health and armour pick ups are few and far between. "So why the 4 star review?" I hear you all ask. Well, put simply it's one of the most rewarding FPS games I've played in a long time. Sure, it's hard as nails, and the temptation to smash the keyboard into the screen after being killed for the 32nd time is oh so strong, but if you stick with it, you really do get to like it. Firstly, the kills feel very satisfying(which is something a lot of modern FPS developers seem to forget about), the enemy AI acts brilliantly to be being shot, and there is a hell of a lot of blood. The guns look and feel great also, supremely powerful, and the duel weilding pistols have do havea certain cool factor. As far as graphics are concerned, it has aged really well. Dont get me wrong, it isn't stunning, but not once did I think "oh I wish the graphics were better. It sounds great too, some really natty voice acting, cheesy jap-pop music for the intro, and the guns certainly sound satisfying. Also, a round of appluase is in order for GOG too, as it installed and plays without drama in my vista64 rig. So, in short, if you're looking for a mercilessly hard sci-fi FPS with badass weapons and an alright plot, it's $6 well spent. Hell, that's less then a pint.

I call anything that you haven't played before or don't know much about a "blind buy." I just used the info supplied by GOG to decide it was worth a try. Shogo feels like a mash-up of Robotech, Xenogears, Deus Ex, and Unreal. Fortunately for us the story and characters are original so there's fresh material there. On the negative side, there's a few shortcomings. The graphics (even for an old game) look kinda weird, at least with some of the characters. The Mechs are a bit too close to feeling like you are not piloting them and you are just a giant human with a gun. This last point isn't bad, it's just something that the game design in me would have tweaked before release. Honestly both of these major flaws can be overlooked though. On the plus side, there's some awesome and goofy humor in certain parts of the game. It's not always in your face stand up comedy, but if you're looking you'll get a kick out of it. So far this game has been rocking on fun factor. That's why I wish I could honestly give it a 5/5, but already mentioned flaws will prevent me from that. Bottom Line: If you like mech games, shooters, robotech, or anything along those lines you ought to have a great time playing this game. I highly recommend it!

First of all, getting this to run at all is a challenge in and of itself: 1) Download the "ShogoFix" from moddb. This establishes basic functionality. 2) Search for a modified dinput.dll from Github, which hides the mouse cursor. 3) Lower mouse polling rate to 125 Hz. With these fixes in place, Shogo becomes playable, though you'll likely experience fairly regular crashes regardless. Furthermore, the last couple of levels will run poorly regardless of what you do. Whether suffering through these technical issues is "worth it" is debatable. The most unique thing about Shogo is its anime/manga aesthetic (from a Western developer no less), coupled with an interesting, albeit fairly convoluted narrative with branching endings. Furthermore, you have the ability to not only run around on foot, but pilot a mecha as well. These sections are fairly well done, and the levels are connected in such a way that you need to walk to your mecha before you can pilot it. For the most part, however, you'll be on foot, which controls and plays like a regular FPS, with one exception: There is a critical hit system, which not only applies to enemies but yourself, too. As a result, it's not uncommon to enter a room with full health and armor just to die instantly, since two or more enemies happened to get a critical hit on you. The only way to get past these situations is by generous savescumming and using angles to your advantages. You'll also be using the assault rifle 90% of the time, since it is the only weapon capable of reliably deleting enemies in time. In my book, this kind of design isn't so much challenging as it is tedious, save for the few moments where fast reactions enable you that no enemy on the screen will be able to get a shot off. It's a shame really, as between the memorable soundtrack, moody 90s sci-fi environments, and neat level design, all the ingredients for a great FPS are in place, yet needlessly brought down by trial and error game design.

GOG normally improves game to run on modern PC's, but they didn't do it here. The screen border flickers every second, and there are sound issues. If anyone can fix this, tell me, and I might change the review, but unless GOG fixes this, don't buy it.

I had never heard of this game before I bought it here on gog.com, but I certainly wasn't disappointed when I played this game. It's a pretty straightforward shooter, but with some interesting features. First, you play as either a soldier on foot or piloting a giant mech. The game mechanics don't change much between the two but the weapons and enemies are different enough to make each little different from the other. The graphics are pretty old school (it really reminds me of an N64 game) but the wonderful folks at gog.com seem to have added some hi-res support, the game even runs in widescreen! I have to say the main thing that keeps me playing this game is the story and presentation. It has a very anime feel to it, which is rare among shooters. And the game is hilarious. You'll look forward to hearing the smart comments your character will make. I literally stopped in the middle of a firefight when I read an in-game billboard that said "Do you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome?". The characters and dialog (as well as in-game advertising) will keep you entertained throughout the game even if the old-school shooting mechanics don't. This game isn't perfect, but most flaws you can just blame on it's age. First, the game isn't pretty, and second, the AI in the game is pretty poor. The enemies don't do anything besides shoot straight at you and your teammates are rarely any help. In one level, my teammates stopped at a point (they weren't even stuck behind an obstacle) and didn't catch up until I got to the next loading screen. Also, the weapon selection is slightly bland. The level design is very good, but when you combine dumb enemies with dull weapons the combat can get a little on the boring side. That said, the game's old school special effects and gore make killing very satisfying, especially when you shoot foot soldiers in your giant mech and the explode in a fountain of blood. All in all I would recommend this game to any fan of shooters or anime, or especially someone who's into both. The game is a solid, fun shooter with a ton of anime flair and a hilarious story and atmosphere. A great way to spend six bucks