"The REAL story-driven FPS."

Without a doubt, one of the most innovative and fun games to come out of the PC as of late is Shogo: Mobile Armor Division from indie developer/publisher Monolith Games. Monolith claims that Shogo is the first legitimate anime inspired FPS. Is this true? I dunno, but for fans of anime, you'll recognize some definite influences.

First and most obvious, everything explodes. Everything. Computers, cars, soda machines, tanks, everything. Secondly, in the true japanese hero fashion, you pilot a 50 foot tall walking tank that moves like a cat. Third, the storyline is intelligent and mature enough for even the most hardened anime viewers to appreciate.

The story starts out with our hero, Sanjuro, talking about the war between the CMC and some rebel alliance. His girlfriend and best friend died in the war. You are now dating her sister, Katherine, who just happens to be the base commander's daughter. The reflection hardly lasts long, though, as you soon become involved in a battle of love, loyalty, and really really big tanks.

Sound interesting yet? Well, it is. The storyline never is distracting to the game, and the objectives for the missions play into the story very well. You really are interested in what happens to Sanjuro, and you want to beat the next mission just to find out.

So how does the game actually play? Like a dream. Sure, it's not particularly innovative, but it plays well as any FPS that was around when it was published, including Quake 2. Shogo is a grand showcase for the Monolith's new LithTech 3d engine. There are 18 weapons for you to blow things up with, and some of these bad boys pack a lot of power. Personally, I still like going with the John Woo style double pistols, though.

LithTech happens to have quite a bit of eyecandy as well. It's no Unreal, but it's certainly not ugly. Environmental effects are great, and the graphics are very smooth. Character models are a bit pointy, but that may be intentional for the game.

Sound is very good with the 3d sound patches. We're not talking Thief here, but still, it's pretty good. The music ranges from decent to great and the voice actors are very talented.

The total package sells Shogo as one of the most innovative games of all time. It may not be innovative in terms of gameplay, but as far as the story goes, we've never seen anything like this in an FPS before. And that includes Half-Life.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/13/00, Updated 06/12/03