Official Review PlayStation 5 Updated

Review cover Macross -Shooting Insight- GBAtemp review
PlayStation 5

Product Information:

  • Release Date (NA): February 7, 2025
  • Release Date (EU): February 7, 2025
  • Publisher: Red Art Games
  • Also For: Computer, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4

Game Features:

Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative
Will you use the power of songs to save the galaxy?

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Macross Shooting Insight marks the first Macross game to be released on Western shores, and it blends horizontal and vertical shoot 'em-ups with top-down 360° shooting and even third-person-style blasting modes.

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Blasts From the Pasts

The game combines characters from Macross Plus, Macross 7, Macross Zero, Macross Frontier and Macross Delta, with a mix of gameplay akin to Asteroids, R-Type and Ikaruga. This "Multi-Dimensional shooting game" combines the five series into one sprawling universe full of iconic pilots and songstresses.

As a Westerner, I am entirely unfamiliar with any of the cast or reference material. I vaguely remember seeing snap-together models of the vehicles in a Forbidden Planet store when I was younger. The mecha anime genre almost entirely evaded me growing up. I was only able to watch a few manga and animes at friends' houses; but if I'm brutally honest, neither ever clicked with me well enough to indulge in the genre in my own time.

Macross reminds me more of the cool plane-based battles in something like the original Transformers cartoons. The ships transform into mechs, they all blast everything, and they all save the day. This version of the game includes Japanese dubbing and English localization, so at least I could understand what was going on, even if I had no clue who was who or what was what.

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Great looking Planes but Gameplay's Plain

The game mixes its shooting styles at each level to include a bit of everything each time. It follows a formula of vertical then horizontal traditional pilot-based shooting, followed by a third-person mecha boss fight. During the later part of the stages, you hear from the songstresses, who have the power to soothe, hypnotize, and minimize conflict. The bizarre singing sections certainly hammer home the "Space Opera" genre of the game and movie series.

I like the graphic direction of the game. There are subtle nods to its arcade roots, with a CRT-looking curved monitor effect throughout the blasting sections. It's colourful, vibrant and attractive, but above all else, the game feels extremely sluggish and unexciting to play through.

As a newcomer to it all, I thought I might find some excellent gameplay, but sadly, I was taken aback by just how monotonous and ordinary the game felt to play. Don't get me wrong, I'm in no way a master of this genre, but I felt like it was a real chore to sit through.

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Review imageReview imageReview image

Fans Might Enjoy This

Macross Shooting Insight will be a blast for those into the lore and original series. While I found it very well-rounded in portraying the characters and the ensuing tales, when playing out the battles, I found it quite lacklustre and monotonous. 

The game doesn't lack variety, it just lacks the spontaneity and random encounters I have come to enjoy from most modern games.

In essence, it's a basic retro game with a blingy modern skin and cut scenes, and holding one button and avoiding bullets wasn't quite enough to keep me captivated for long.

Verdict

What We Liked ...
  • A varied mixture of styles
  • Brings all characters into one game
What We Didn't Like ...
  • Extremely repetitive
  • Sluggish mechanics
6
Gameplay
Arcade-feeling and action-packed, it's not quite bullet hell, more blasting and blasting and blasting... and blasting some more. Holding down one button, you can beat the whole thing.
8
Presentation
Beautifully presented and graphically strong, the game looks superb. The art style captures the mecha anime reference material perfectly.
6
Lasting Appeal
With 56 trophies, including the platinum, there is quite a lot to dive back in for, but overall, the game is very repetitious by its very nature. Fans might enjoy the online leaderboard aspect too.
6
out of 10

Overall

As gorgeous as the game is, I found it to be monotonous. Retro arcade shooter fans might get a kick out of this style of game, but for anyone looking for something with more depth and less repetition, this isn't for you.
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emigre
As a big macross fan, just give me a proper rhythm game where I rock to lion and ikenai borderline.
 
L
The biggest problem with this game is that there is content from this that is in the Japanese version that is not in the Western release because of Cacophony Pyrite (Harmony Gold). The Western Release is missing all the content for the original Macross and the Do You Remember Love movie.
 
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Reactions: KiiWii and zebrone
Phearoz
Thanks for reviewing the type of game interested in Gbatemp over 10 years ago. Nice Review!

(we need more titles like this in review ;)
 
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Review cover
Product Information:
  • Release Date (NA): February 7, 2025
  • Release Date (EU): February 7, 2025
  • Publisher: Red Art Games
  • Also For: Computer, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
Game Features:
Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative

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  • Minox @ Minox:
    And I'm so hungry but not allowed to eat for another 2 hours or so
     +1
  • NinStar @ NinStar:
    1080p actually has a huge problem
  • NinStar @ NinStar:
    you can't properly scale 240p games
  • NinStar @ NinStar:
    720, 1440 and 2160 can scale them just fine
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    huh. never realized that
  • NinStar @ NinStar:
    the only common low-res (which is not even that common in games) you can properly scale to 1080 is 360, but even that can also scale to 720
  • NinStar @ NinStar:
    when I'm playing emulators I just stick to 720, if I had a 1440p or 4k screen I would prefer those over 1080p
  • Sicklyboy @ Sicklyboy:
    My monitor is 1440p now after years upon years of using 1080p. I don't notice much of a difference except that it makes everything smaller and harder for me to read
  • Minox @ Minox:
    Sounds like a skill issue
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    😁
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    I have special eyes :blink:
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    How bout yourself?
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    Similar boat tbh
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    Could be better, but could be worse
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    Hoping for better times for the both of us buddy ❤️
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    Not complaining btw, all things considered I have a decent enough life
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    Minox I fractured a couple of vertibra lol still hurts lol
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    Ouff
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    Fractured? You ok?
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    Having one dislocated in the past was already painful enough, I can only imagine what fracturing one is like
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    i've fractured a few thoracic vertebrae, it suuuucckkss, hope you get better
    Subnetic @ Subnetic: i've fractured a few thoracic vertebrae, it suuuucckkss, hope you get better