Sanjuro is a commander in the army of United Corporate Authority and a pilot of a Mobile Combat Armor (a giant mech) in the far future. The UCA is fighting the Fallen, a terrorist organization. This conflict has its victims: Sanjuro's brother, best friend and girlfriend all died while completing a mission years ago, and only recently he has been somewhat succeeding in putting the past behind him. Now Sanjuro is given a mission to find and kill Gabriel, a new leader of the Fallen. But during this assignment, ghosts of the past will come back to haunt him.
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division is a first-person shooter that incorporates ideas from anime and the MechWarrior concept. On some levels, the player controls Sanjuro while he is on foot, infiltrating enemy buildings and fighting with handheld firearms. Sanjuro can find health power-ups, more powerful weapons and ammo. Both Sanjuro and the enemies will randomly score critical his, which not only cause more damage, but also replenish a small portion of health.
On other levels, the player pilots one of the four available MCAs, which differ a little in characteristics. This giant mech can walk, jump and crouch just like a human being, and controlling it is very similar to controlling Sanjuro. The player guides this colossus through city districts swarming with enemy soldiers and mechs. It is also possible to transform the mech into a vehicle, though it can not defend itself in that state.
The story progression is linear for the most part. However, at one point, the player is prompted to make a choice that will affect the rest of the plot and the ending.
Besides having an anime theme and various bits of anime art scattered around, there are also quite a few anime references in the game as well. Most of the references are, fittingly enough, towards other giant robot shows. For example:
The CURV anime poster/billboard which shows up at various points in the game is a reference to the giant robot series Neon Genesis Evangelion, parodying the NERV emblem, the girl, and the catchphrase ("God's on my side") from that show.
On the starship Leviathan the names of the officers on the quarters next to yours are in fact the names of characters from other robot/sci-fi shows, namely Noa Izumi and Asuma Shinohara from Patlabor, Makoto Kushinaga from Ghost in the Shell, Isamu Dyson from Macross Plus, and of course Rick Hunter from the ol' eighties show Robotech.
There's even a few references to Monolith's Blood. In the game there's a magazine rack with one of the magazines having Caleb's picture. Also, when they're fighting you sometimes Fallen soldiers will scream out "mardamarks and fearhooks" (or something like that), which was a favorite combat saying of the Cabal cultists you fought in Blood.
(What, no references to "Johnny Socko and his Giant Robot"? --Ed.)
