The "Mecha" genre is a type of genre that has been used in countless products, movies, anime, series and also video games. Films that use this type of genre we have the excellent Pacific Rim, in series we have the Power Rangers (although this series can also be catalogued in other types of genres), in anime/manga we have the famous Evangelion. And in videogames we have a lot of games of this genre, some months ago I did a review of a Mechas videogame called: Armored Warriors, but there is also another very famous one called TitanFall, being these two one of many games of this genre. Today I bring you a new review of a Mecha game which I think not many people know about, because besides being a Mecha game, it's also a first-person shooter.
Today's Retro Review is about: Shogo: Mobile Armor Division.
The story of this video game is quite interesting and as we progress in the game, the events that happen at the beginning of the story will have their explanation. Shogo: Mobile Armor Division takes us to a futuristic world, where an elite defense group piloting giant robots, the main protagonist: Sanjuro is part of this group and one day when he, his girlfriend and a group of friends are assigned to fulfill a mission in which they must stop a group of terrorists, mysteriously his friends and his girlfriend disappear after an enemy attack. When Sanjuro returns from the mission he is temporarily removed from his services, however he is soon requested once again for a new mission. At this time he begins the search for answers to the disappearance of his girlfriend, brother and friend. The story of this game is quite interesting, and as I said before many things become clearer as we go on our mission.
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division is an entirely 3D game and although it's a game that's been around for over 20 years, I think it hasn't aged that badly, although of course some textures do look a little old-fashioned, but when this game was released in 1998 it was quite impressive to watch, because as well as having quite good designs and fluid animations in most cases, it also has very acceptable light effects.
This game has anime aesthetics, so the characters maintain that kind of style, the character design is relatively good or at least it was in its time, because when you look at them with a current perspective, you can notice the passing of the years and maybe they don't look as good as we thought, although this can be seen more in the character designs than in the Mecha designs, since the design of these giant robots still maintain part of their charisma. The design of scenarios in most of them presents very good details and they are quite big, but in others they are very empty, although this defect is more noticeable when we find ourselves piloting with Meccas, since when we are on foot, the scenarios are more defined and very original, always maintaining this anime and futuristic aesthetics. The style of this game is very similar to Half-Life and it is because in terms of genre and plot these two video games have many similarities.
Even though it's clearly an anime style game, I was expecting a rather epic soundtrack, i.e. the Shogo soundtrack: Mobile Armor Division, is not bad, in fact it's quite decent and very much in line with the type of game it is, however, generally being a game of this style, I was certain that I would find a very good soundtrack, in this aspect I'm a little disappointed, although it's my fault for having high expectations, because in general terms the soundtrack of this game is quite decent, although it has very few tunes. The sound effects on the other hand, are very good, very appropriate and precise.
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Shogo: Mobile Armor Division is a first-person shooter (although we could also switch to 3rd person), but basically it's a game with similar mechanics to any other game in this genre. It's quite a fun game even though it doesn't add many new things from the ones already known in FPS games. As I said in the beginning we can use either the giant robot or we can also go on foot, these two game modes don't differ from each other, since the gameplay is the same, and this is a little disappointing, the only difference between these two game modes is that logically when we find ourselves piloting the Mecha, we have a greater number of arsenal, having this game a lot of destructive weapons.
We will also be able to use different types of Mecha that will serve us throughout this game, but they only vary in the amount of resistance and speed, so depending on the mission we are going to perform we will have to select the Mecha that suits us best. When attacking our enemies we can select certain places where our shots cause the most damage. There are also some puzzles, but they are not very difficult, rather it serves as a complement to the gameplay. In general terms, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division is an FPS with simple mechanics, but due to its style, setting and plot, it makes it a fun game.
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division is a fairly unknown title, so it has always been forgotten over the years, even though in terms of fun, it serves its purpose very well. Highly recommended.
