A fine game, whether anime appeals to you or not.
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division is set in what I assume is the far future (No actual dates are given) in a very animeish setting. You assume the role of the resident smart ass Sanjuro Makabe who angsts at the beginning about how he has lost everything because of a war on the only planet featured in the game, Cronus. When Sanjuro's commanding officer gets a lead on the leader of "The Fallen", the terrorist group on Cronus that his military organization is combatting, he is dispatched to deal with the situation. The story is solid, and flows quite well; you can even make a decision near the end of the game that changes how the story plays out, along with what missions you'll perform.
Shogo doesn't really differ from most first person shooters. Essentially the game has two different modes, the on foot mode, and the "MCV" (giant kick ass robots) mode. Ultimately both of the modes play exactly the same, save for the MCV's "vehicle mode" which lets you go a little faster though you'll probably never use that function. Both modes involve you running around, and killing enemies usually with no help from other soldiers. Is this a problem? It is in my opinion. Other than the obvious scaling differences I found that more often than not even when piloting a giant badass robot I was playing the exact same way I was while on foot.
Despite the lack of differences, both of Shogo's game modes are a blast to play. You can mow down funky looking enemy soldiers on foot, and step on enemy soldiers when piloting an MCV. Shogo also gets brownie points for being the first (and probably only) shooter where you can use a squeaky toy as a weapon. I had quite the time running at enemies while I brandished my deadly "Magiclaw" shouting pirate cat doll.
Shogo's graphics are definitely nothing special. The character models are pretty bad, and the MCV models aren't much better. Despite this, the environments are very memorable, and the fact that Shogo has excellent level design aids in this.
Audio wise Shogo is pretty good. The voice acting isn't bad considering this is a shooter from 1998, and the music is very memorable. The game also has great sound effects, so in the end Shogo delivers a very immersive audio experience.
Shogo is a great game. Even if you don't like anime you may very well enjoy stepping on people in giant robots. Shogo has its fair share of problems, it would have been a lot better if there were actual gameplay differences between the on foot, and MCV missions, but regardless it's worth playing if you're looking for some old school shooter action with a solid storyline.