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is a first person shooter video game released by Monolith Productions in 1998. It was the first game to use Monolith's flagship Lithtech engine. It has heavy influences from Japanese anime, particularly Patlabor, Appleseed, and the various Gundam series.[1] The game allows the player to pilot a large mech, as well as perform missions on foot.
Players take the role of Sanjuro, a commander in the United Corporate Authority
(UCA) army, during a brutal war for the planet Cronus and its precious
liquid reactant, kato. Prior to the game's first level, Sanjuro had lost
his brother, Toshiro; his best friend, Baku; and his girlfriend, Kura,
during the war. He is now driven by revenge and his romantic
relationship with Kathryn, Kura's sister; in Sanjuro's words, "It's
kinda complicated."[3]
At two pivotal points in the game, the player also has the
opportunity to make a crucial decision, which can alter the game's
ending. While the first decision is almost purely a narrative decision,
the second decision actually determines who the player will be facing
the rest of the game and how the game will end.[4]
The game begins with Sanjuro being extracted from a reconnaissance
mission two years after the mission against Ivan Isarevich that resulted
in Kura, Toshiro, and Baku's supposed deaths. He is brought to the Leviathan,
a UCA command ship, and receives his mission from Admiral Akkaraju, who
is Kura and Kathryn's father. Sanjuro then is dropped onto the planet
to enter the city of Avernus and kill Gabriel, leader of the Fallen.[4]
Once Sanjuro reaches Avernus, a mysterious man called Hank Johnson, a
"friend of a friend," warns him about reinforcements coming in. Sanjuro
attempts to reach Gabriel's headquarters but runs into a trap.
Communications with the Leviathan are jammed by an interference
array, and Uziel, Gabriel's right-hand man, blocks Sanjuro's way after
claiming that he knows him. Sanjuro, assisted by Hank, reaches the base
with the interference array, and assists a UCA unit, Strike Force
Carnivore, against the enemy. He deactivates the array and establishes
contact, but hears Kura instead of Kathryn. It is revealed that Kura was
not dead, and she asks to meet with Sanjuro in Maritropa, a nearby city
on Cronus to explain everything. Admiral Akkaraju, however, dodges the
question of why he didn't tell Sanjuro about this, and orders Sanjuro to
withdraw. Sanjuro then exits through the sewer to avoid the
reinforcements; in the process of doing so, he learns that the soldiers
have overwhelmed Strike Force Carnivore, and have secured his MCA.
Reaching a parking garage he passed through earlier, Sanjuro kills some
soldiers and destroys a tank, allowing Hank to help him escape in the
back of his truck.
Hank takes Sanjuro to a pumping station, and with his help,
dispatches the guards and helps Sanjuro get another MCA. Despite
Kathryn's insistence that Toshiro and Baku are dead, Sanjuro suspects
that both are alive, and decides to meet Kura at a nightclub called "The
Mecca." With two friends of Hank's, he proceeds through the city and
reaches a train station, but is too late to catch the train. Sanjuro
then passes through the slums of Maritropa, but an electric gate bars
his way, and only a woman whose cat is missing is able to deactivate it.
The player can either kill the woman and her husband and open the gate,
or do an optional level which depicts Sanjuro's attempts to rescue the
cat from some "stragglers" who have been severely affected by working
with kato, leading to a humorous exchange between Sanjuro and Kura, and
Sanjuro receiving a health powerup as well as the cat's "toy" - a doll
of Captain Nathaniel Joseph Claw from Monolith's own platformer Claw,
that, when squeezed, says "Magic Claw" (Sanjuro actually gets to keep
this item for the rest of the game). Sanjuro reaches the Mecca too late;
Kura has been captured by the CMC, Cronus's relatively weak yet
troublesome military authority,[3] but not before she says that Toshiro is
Gabriel, and vaguely mentions "Cothineal." Sanjuro reaches the club,
and a businessman from Shogo named Ryo Ishikawa agrees to help Sanjuro
save Kura in exchange for a favor. Sanjuro reluctantly agrees, and makes
his way to the station, before moving crosstown in his MCA, and
catching another train to the detention center. At the station, Hank
tells him that Cothineal "is the reason the Fallen exist," but says that
Kura can elaborate.
At the detention center, Ryo asks Sanjuro to deactivate a firewall.
The player has another choice here; if he helps Ryo, Ryo will leave him
stranded by deactivating an energy walkway, forcing Hank to help him
escape. If he does not, Ryo triggers the alarms. In either situation,
Sanjuro is forced to shoot his way through the CMC, rescuing Kura, who
reveals that she was working undercover, which is why she was listed as
dead. Kathryn then informs Sanjuro that the Admiral wants to fire the
kato cannon at Avernus despite High Command's insistence, but doesn't
know why. Sanjuro, who knows that the blast could affect Maritropa and
Constantine, asks Kathryn to delay the admiral until he returns. After
defeating the Fallen assassins who are trying to kill Kura, Kura tells
Sanjuro that Cothineal is the source of kato, and that Toshiro is acting
as a pawn. Baku, meanwhile, has become insane, and as Kura notes, "I
don't know what he's become, but he's dangerous." Kura expresses her
concern that Admiral Akkaraju considers Toshiro a traitor. Kura then
asks Sanjuro to come to the Oshii Research Station in Avernus, which
supposedly has proof of Cothineal's existence and role. She then asks
Sanjuro about his relationship with Kathryn, but the choice the player
makes doesn't have any clear effect other than dialogue.
On the train ride back, an upset Kathryn shares her displeasure with
Sanjuro. Ryo Ishikawa then contacts him, and reveals some of his more
sinister dealings. He states that he played at least some role in Ivan
Isarevich's rise to power, and implies that he has a stake in the
current crisis when he says "Two years ago, when you and your squad went
into Avernus and killed Ivan Isarevich, you did a lot more than
liquidate an up and coming tyrant- you wrecked a scheme that I'd
nurtured for years. It's taken me a long time to recover from the mess
you've made, and now you're trying to ruin me again. Who do you think
tipped off the CMC about your little lovebird, anyway?" Ryo then sends
the train out of control, and has the Shogo troops on board attack
Sanjuro. Sanjuro saves the train, but when he gets back to the pumping
station, it is overrun by Shogo troops. He is forced to watch as Ryo
shoots Hank in the head with a shotgun blast, killing him. Ryo escapes
before Sanjuro can reach him. Kathryn expresses condolences, and
convinces Sanjuro to go to the airship dock to reach the Oshii Research
Station. He finds Uziel's MCA there, and forces him to retreat after a
brief skirmish. He then contacts Toshiro, and arranges a meeting in the
History of Warfare museum in Avernus. Sanjuro's efforts are nearly
stymied when Admiral Akkaraju announces that the Kato cannon is charging
and will fire in two hours; he cites evidence by Ryo Ishikawa, whom he
sees as an ally, as proof of Toshiro's treachery. He also will not hear
anything of Sanjuro's claims that if he fires the kato cannon and
disobeys High Command, "The UCA will be thrown into chaos and the Fallen
will be out of the way. The CMC is already in tatters- Shogo will
inherit Cronus."
Sanjuro reaches the Oshii research station, and he and Kura find the
necessary information despite a raid by Shogo troops. The Admiral
reluctantly agrees, and gives Sanjuro one last chance to save Toshiro.
Sanjuro reaches the History of Warfare museum, and sees Gabriel, who
gives the player a choice of joining him or facing his armies.
