It’s 2032. The World Coalition Government has taken control of the earth and has annexed eighty percent of the countries on the planet. The remaining countries were rapidly drawn into the WCG. Although their stated mission was to improve people’s lives everywhere, their true motivation was financial gain. Poorer countries went bankrupt due to massive spending, and soon after, there was no sign of individual governments left. Those who were already poor saw no improvement in their circumstances. In contrast, those already wealthy saw their status maintained at the expense of their ability to keep their privacy and personal freedoms. To make matters even worse, it is practically difficult to live outside of the big cities, far away from the environment processors, because the so-called “Wilderness Preserves” have been poisoned, and those who wander into them face a slow and excruciating death.
Konoko, who has just graduated from the TCTF (Technology Crimes Task Force) academy, is placed under the command of Terrance Griffin and Dr. Kerr and linked to an SLD (a type of android) named Shinatama, who is neurally linked to her. Shinatama is also related to taking cyber drugs and weapons off the street and investigating the induced technophobia to operate and study on blank check permission. Konoko knows very little about her background other than that she was orphaned when she was three years old and felt “different” from others while TCTF raised her. She has spent many years in training and finally has the opportunity to prove herself to Griffin and the TCTF. She does so by heading for a warehouse rumored to be under the control of the Syndicate. This criminal organization flourished after a young man known as “Boss Muro” rose to the organization’s top.
The gameplay combines a standard third-person shooter and an old-school beat ’em-up. Shirow Masamune’s Ghost, an old-school anime series, inspired it in the Shell. Although Konoko has several hand-to-hand acrobatic abilities (with more becoming known as the player progresses through the game), she can also locate weapons throughout the stages. It is entirely up to the player to decide whether she will fight armed or unarmed. The number of rounds obtained from a single ballistic or energy cell clip varies depending on the weapon. For example, a Black Adder, a short, one-hand machine gun similar to an Uzi, can obtain 30 rounds from a ballistic clip, yet a Mercury Bow, a sniper railgun without a scope, can only get two rounds from a hook. The fact that the player can only carry one weapon at a time adds a strategic element to the game when combined with the limited availability of ammo clips. Since the player can only have one weapon at a time, if a powerful gun runs out of ammo, the player must decide whether to keep the weapon and fight hand-to-hand with the enemies until Konoko finds fresh ammo clips or to discard the gun down in favor of a less powerful rifle that utilizes a different type of ammo. However, suppose the player uses up all of their ammo while taking on a difficult challenge. In that case, Konoko can “overdose” on hypo sprays (used to cure damage) by spraying them over her natural health meter. This grants her the ability to move more quickly and deal more damage.
