Niche Spotlight - Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, Now on Steam

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Many longtime Monolith Productions fans will remember Shogo: Mobile Armor Divison, the first-person shooter hybrid that lets you battle in bipedal mechs or on foot. Heavily inspired by classic anime like Patlabor and Appleseed, the game has finally been re-released onto Steam, and even GOG.

Released back in 1998 for Windows PC, the game has ubiquitous controls between traversing on foot or in your mecha, and the combat even featured an interesting mechanic in which you could nail critical hits – something typically not found in shooters or mecha games at the time.

In the game, players take the role of Sanjuro Makabe, a Mobile Combat Armor (MCA) pilot and a commander in the United Corporate Authority (UCA) army. The story takes place during a brutal war for the planet Cronus, mostly over its coveted liquid resource, “kato.” You’re tasked with locating and assassinating the rebel leader “Gabriel.”

It’s worth mentioning the game apparently wasn’t optimized for modern displays properly, so you’ll want to grab this widescreen fix to make sure you’re getting the full experience without any visual distortion.

Here’s a rundown on the game:

You play Sanjuro Makabe, a Mobile Combat Armor (MCA) pilot and Commander in the UCA Security Force. The UCA was originally formed by three dominant megacorporations (Andra Biomechanics, Armacham Technology Corporation, and Shogo Industries). Originally intended as a joint venture that would ensure the continued profitability of the three organizations that founded it, the UCA is now independent, and the dominant military power in existence.

Your mission is to locate and assassinate a rebel leader known only as Gabriel. All of the action takes place either on the planet Cronus or on the spaceship Leviathan. The Leviathan is the flagship of the UCA and is commanded by Admiral Akkaraju. Cronus is the only known source of the biologically active material known as Kato, an incredibly powerful energy source essential to the process by which interstellar travel is possible.

Your deadly enemy is The Fallen, a fanatical terrorist group lead by the mysterious Gabriel, threatens the balance of power on Cronus, and ultimately, control of Kato. You will fight them on your feet or from within one of the different types of Mobile Combat Armor, a giant mech which can run, duck, strafe, swim or transform into an ultrafast hovertank.

You will know the true power of giant robots!