That happened everywhere in Mospeada, Macross, and almost every other anime around, so it's not too far out of whack for the game to be like that.
And the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a Cyclone in an FPS game. Yes, it'd be damned cool for it to be in 3rd person, I think it works better as an FPS in regards to the source material. In a VF-1, Alpha, and most other mecha, the pilot looks a screen that shows the outside world. In a Cyclone, the pilot looks through his own eyes.