Shogo: Mobile Armor Division

Although Shogo's americanized style may grate against the sensibilities of the dedicated japanophile, it does possess quite a bit of japanesque charm and some satisfying pieces of weaponry; be warned that the action is fast, furious and unforgiving, with weapons dealing heavy damage (especially while you're on foot) and enemies attacking within a split-second of spotting you. What I remember most fondly, however, is Miho Nemoto's voice singing the game's beautiful theme song, Negai (wish).

A very good game by the same developer of F.E.A.R! Gameplay: Basic FPS Fun! But whats innovative about Shogo is that it has Mech missions! Graphics: Graphics doesn't matter for a retro gamer, but what makes the graphics so good is its Anime style! Music: The soundtrack is kind of disappointing because the soundtrack is only 6 Songs! But the amount of songs in the soundtrack doesn't mean that the Music is bad, my favorite songs are Negai (Wish) and Red Riot. Overall: Get the game if you like Anime and First Person Shooters!

I fisrt played Shogo maybe 8-9 years ago. When I saw it was on GOG, I dug out my copy, installed it, and completed it within a week (I think my overall playtime was 15 hours. Probably could have beaten it sooner, but I like exploring and finding all the easter eggs). I figured I'd review it here, despite me not having it on my account. Shogo: Mobile Armor Division is about giant robots and really corny dialog. The developers were huge anime nerds, and made their game as a parody of the bad (and sometimes really, really good) shows they watched. The only problem was that gaming and anime hadn't really come together that much in the western world at the time (the closest we had was Final Fantasy VII), so most players didn't get "the joke," making the game kind of a flop. Anyways, the game is pretty funny, as long as you can tolerate intentionally corny dialog and plot direction. There's plenty of old anime references (old even for when this game came out), and sometimes the game just outright says/does something so stupid or out of place that you just can't help but laugh. The gameplay is solid, although the controls take some time getting used to. There's nothing really amazing about the game, but it feels plenty fun to just blast away at baddies with pretty much any of the game's weapons. There are sections where you are in your giant robot, and sections where it's just you the pilot on foot using small arms. Both feel equally fun, as, like I stated before, all of the weapons feel powerful. The effects are bright, colorful, and are complimented by the anime sound effects. OVerall, I'd say that if your a fan of retro first-person-shooters or classic anime, you should pick this up for either it's base price or at a discount, because you'll not be disappointed.

SHOGO is kind of unique game in reasonably stale genre of first-person shooters. It combines fast action with big robots straight from anime, lots of explosions and blood with cheesy, but not-that straight storyline. It's the first game using LithTech engine, and it shows - gibs sticking from walls, hands peering through doors, occasional problems with elevators, levels are underdetailed and some problems on modern machines. Despite those technical flaws, MAD is a solid shooter - there's a lot of enemies, and weapons used by mechas are really destructive (most of the guns are explosive based - have fun blasting other robots and tanks using them!). There are 4 robots to choose from, and few times during the game you will have a chance to change. The levels on foot, on the other hand, are quite hard (hint: use assault rifle as often as possible) and tend to be maze-y, with looking for switches and new passages. Enemies are quite dumb, but shoot well and many times you will die after 2-3 shots, or just one in later levels, as the tend to carry shotguns. Speaking of weapons, there's quite a lot to choose from, in usual Monolith style. Sanjuro can use double pistols, shotgun, smg in vein of ingram, assault rifle (most of the game you will use it, thanks to it precise fire, large ammo count and sniper scope), two forms of grenade launcher and TOW, heavy rocket launcher. Mechas use pulse and laser guns, spider bomb launcher (those who've played Shadow Warrior, should instantly hear in their heads "Sticky bomb like you!" - spider bomb works virtually same way in Shogo!), Bullgut (multiple rockets launcher - real killer!), sniper rifle (one shot = one kill) and two super explosive cannons (shredder is my favourite, it turns battlefield into scrapyard in matter of seconds). And because there's plenty of enemies, virtually around every corner, you'll have plenty occasions to use them all. Graphics are quite dated, but look good in terms of late '90s design - some colour lightning is implemented, and levels are quite big. Action is very fluid and fast, which shows great in multiplayer action! Overall, Shogo: MAD is a good game - it's dated and flawed, but it's definitely more fun than it's sister game Blood 2, which is beyond awful. If you're thinking which one to choose - pick big robot action.

There is obviously some badly programmed timing delay, because everything moved and played WAY TOO FAST. I recommend looking for cpugrab.exe - it is a microsoft util that you can use to slow down the CPU(s). Once i did that gameplay was a lot more normal. Mouse support is somewhat shakey. Still, I have a lot of fond nostalgia for this old shooter - I love giant robots with BFGs.