Published by Red Art Games and Bushiroad Games alongside developer KAMINARI GAMES Inc, MACROSS -Shooting Insight- is a brand-new title set in the iconic world of MACROSS. This anime has captivated the Japanese market since the late 80s. Until now, there have been many MACROSS video games on various platforms, but none have made it to the Western Markets. With MACROSS -Shooting Insight-, Red Art Games has stepped up to introduce this iconic franchise to the West with a digital and physical release. MACROSS -Shooting Insight- is the ultimate representation of the franchise because it not only features a brand-new story but also brings characters, music, and more from previous titles. This is our review of MACROSS -Shooting Insight- on the PS4, in which we try to rescue songstresses while flying around in amazing mechs called Valkyries.
MACROSS -Shooting Insight- is a perspective heaven because during its missions, you will fight the enemies in three unique perspectives. You have the classic top-down view, a side-scroller view, as well as 360-degree scrolling shooting. It may sound confusing, but the controls remain the same for each of these perspectives, which makes getting used to each mode pretty easy. The story takes place aboard Battle 7, which is your main battle cruiser, and you, when not on a mission, will find yourself here. The cast comprises a lot of different characters, some of which are returning from previous MACROSS titles, so if you have played any of the previous Japanese-only releases, it will surely kick up some nostalgia for you.
The game features five different Valkyries in the Story Mode, and each Valkyrie offers a different perspective of the same campaign. These Valkyries are your main weapon during the missions as you will get to fly around in these Valkyries in their Jet mode. During space battles, your Valkyrie will transform into either a complete mech or a part-mech, part-jet hybrid. Each of these transformations is automatic, and your Valkyrie will change according to the upcoming section of the battle. Each mission has multiple phases, and your Valkyrie will auto-change to cater to that particular phase. The controls remain the same throughout these phases, so it gets easier after a few missions.
The missions are scattered over different zones, and each zone brings a new enemy faction for you to tackle. Each faction has unique-looking units, and similarly, they have their own attack patterns as well. Thrown in the mix are powerful Ace pilots, which act like smaller bosses. The main bosses are separate, and you will encounter one at the end of every mission. Unlike the bosses, the Ace pilots move around the entire arena and are tougher to defeat because they have different buffs as well, such as increased movement, greater bullets per attack, and such. Most of the battles are fought in side-scroller or top-down view, but these ace pilots are mostly fought in 3D side-scrolling as they can move all around you.
At specific locations during these missions, a randomly selected songstress song will begin playing, which grants a random buff to you. These range from decreased enemy bullets to you getting increased firepower. During this phase, you can take out enemies by using the increased power you gain. MACROSS -Shooting Insight- features classic songs from previous titles as well. To take full advantage of these songstress songs, you can try to synchronize your gameplay with the songs, which makes the effect even better.
The gameplay controls of MACROSS -Shooting Insight- are fairly straightforward. You can move around using the left joystick and shoot by pressing the R2 key. Depending on your chosen Valkyrie, your primary shot and bonus will be different as well. Each Valkyrie also has unique stats, such as attack power, movement speed, and more. You can choose the one that suits your gameplay. Apart from the primary shot, you also have a lock-on attack mode, which can be controlled using the right joystick. Using the right joystick opens up a cone-shaped targeting area that locks on to any enemy that comes inside it. After locking on, you can shoot missiles at the enemies, which builds up your Rate meter, which is basically a multiplier for your score.
One particular mechanic that we are not fond of is how the game treats the primary shot and the lock-on shot. For using lock-on shots, you have to stop shooting because the fire key is the same for both primary and lock-on shots. The only difference between the two is that for lock-on, you will stop shooting and then make the lock-on cone appear on the screen with the right joystick. It is not very feasible during fights when you are surrounded by enemies, and you need to stop shooting in order to lock onto these enemies. This certainly increases the difficulty a bit because having to stop shooting in the middle of a fight in order to lock onto enemies makes no sense.
Killing enemies in rapid succession also retains your shot level, which can be increased by collecting resources dropped by destroyed enemies. Increasing your shot level is vital because it helps you get stronger and kill advanced enemies. If you find yourself in a pickle, you can ask your main battle cruiser for a powerful screen attack called Support Strike. It is represented by a bar that fills over time, and you can call the attack as long as the bar is filled. It fills faster in easier difficulties but takes a lot more time in harder difficulties. The game also offers a separate option for regenerative health, but you cannot use other features like Online Leaderboards if you are using this for gameplay.
MACROSS -Shooting Insight- offers five unique game modes, and each game mode comes with its own unique Online Leaderboard. These game modes include the Story Mode, where you can pick a Valkyrie and play through their story. Arcade Mode skips the story elements, while Area Survey allows you to pick a level and play it without any story elements. Two game modes, Ace Battle and Boss Rush, allow you to engage the more powerful bunch of enemies in quick succession. Boss Rush features all in-game bosses, while Ace Battle features all Ace pilots from the main stories.
MACROSS -Shooting Insight- also features some of the coolest soundtracks from the entire franchise. The soundtrack keeps the tempo high in each mission. Between story missions, you will also get to view visual novel-style cutscenes. While there is only Japanese audio and dialogues in the game, the subtitles are in English. During the missions, you will get to hear the story characters speaking with each other in Japanese, which is not very convenient because the English dubbing appears in the bottom right side of the screen, and you cannot read them if you are in an intense fight with enemies. A proper English dialogue would have been great because sometimes we missed some story elements because we could not read and shoot at the same time.
If you want to take a break from all the action, you can head into the Gallery and explore the vast collection of media from the previous MACROSS titles. You can inspect all the Valkyries here in their different forms, and you can also view the unlocked Artwork. Macross Memories and Akashic Collection feature different in-game collectibles that you can collect during missions and view here later, along with their descriptions. The Gallery also tells you which title that particular collectible is from. You can also save and view gameplay Replays in the Gallery.
While the new MACROSS -Shooting Insight- does change its shooting mechanics from a shoot ‘em up to bullet-hell a little bit, it is still pretty fun to play once you have adjusted to the controls. It is a little on the higher spectrum of difficulty, and if you are good at bullet-hell titles, you will not have much trouble getting used to MACROSS’s controls as well. There are different accessibility features that you can use to help you play it, and you can adjust the game controls according to your own liking. If you find the game a little hard, you can use auto-healing options and reduce the difficulty of the game altogether. Once you have adjusted the gameplay, you can continue increasing the difficulty to experience the intense action it offers. Nonetheless, it is a great addition to the growing list of iconic Japanese shoot ‘em up, bullet-hell titles making their appearance in the West.
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Final Verdict:
MACROSS’s unique approach to strategic shooting rather than spamming attacks pays off in the end because it is more satisfying in the long run. The kills feel satisfying, and having to engage multiple factions in the same campaign keeps things unique between missions. Excellent enemy design, solid shooting mechanics, multiple combat perspectives, cool soundtrack, and intense boss battles really make MACROSS an excellent shoot ‘em up. Whether you are a fan of the franchise or you are just getting into it, the new MACROSS -Shooting Insight- is the perfect title to experience the iconic anime in video game format. Highly recommended for fans of the anime in the West who were looking forward to getting their hands on this action-packed franchise.
Final Score: 8.5/10
