 So, is this yet another first person shooter or does it bring action games a welcome twist?
SHOGO: MAD brings together serveral gaming genres. Fans of games like Marathon will love the often gloomy and cramped indoor levels, and those of you that loved MechWarrior will love the giant 10 metre tall MCA's or Mobile Combat Armor Units (MCA's) packed with amazing weaponry. If all this seems a bit sedate for you, you can always convert your MCA into a hovering high speed tank type of thing, which makes for an even faster pace in the game.
 But its not all about running about and firing at will, you can't (well not always) just run into a room fire a few shots and continue. You will often find yourself sneaking around walls, staying in shadows and firing as little as possible, even in multiplayer! Its not an easy game with over 20 different enemy types that appear to think and react to their surroundings, and a dynamic branching storyline that changes depending on what happens to you during a level or the route you choose down a dark sewer. You may find SHOGO: MAD keeps you playing into the early hours if you're not careful!
 So what's it look like? Well SHOGO: MAD as you are probably already aware it was originally released a year or two ago for the PC, and so its graphics may at first appear a little dated, but you soon forget about that. The LithTech 3D engine is every bit as advanced (if not more so) as the Quake II engine from ID. You will immediately notice the difference: the explosions, the gore and the particle and lighting effects are like nothing else out there. The LithTech engine will let you enjoy convincing indoor and outdoor scenery as you do battle in your MCA with enemy tanks or traverse an abandoned city on foot, SHOGO: MAD has enough neat touches and weaponary effects to appease even the hardened gamer.
 The sound effects in SHOGO: MAD are pretty important, I've played it during my lunch hour with the volume down and it becomes a whole different animal. Little creaks and shuffling noises make for an atmosphere you could cut with a very large knife, which, speaking of knives is one of the other weapons available to you, well it's more of a Samurai sword actually, and compliments the other 19 possible weapons.
 On the down side it does require a hefty amount of RAM if you do not have a factory standard iMac or G4. We've played it on an iMac Revision B and although it ran pretty well, it does really require at least an ATI Rage 128 or higher for the full in your face experience, but, at £24.99 you're saving money that you can put towards more RAM or a faster graphics card anyway.
- James Delaney
Purchase SHOGO: MAD at MacGold
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