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Macross Shooting Insight Review (PlayStation 5)

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Macross Shooting Insight Review, Introducing an all-new Macross game, the latest entry in the landmark science fiction franchise!
Embark upon a galaxy-spanning mission to rescue the missing songstresses! Pilots, songstresses, and characters from throughout Macross’ history take center stage in a completely original story. When multiple-dimensional folds suddenly occur across space-time, pilots and songstresses alike find themselves inexplicably transported to Battle 7! From there, six stories unfold with the fate of the galaxy at stake.

Macross Shooting Insight Review Pros:

  • Beautiful graphics.
  • 3.68GB Download size.
  • Platinum trophy.
  • You get the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 5 versions of the game.
  • Shmup gameplay.
  • Five game modes – Story, Arcade, Ace Battle, Boss Rush, and Area Survey.
  • Online leaderboards for each game mode.
  • The gallery houses – Valkyries, Artwork, Macross memories, Akashic collection, and replay files.
  • Game settings – HP amount slider, support strike slider, vibration, illustrations (songstress animations when singing), and replays.
  • Three-button controls – shoot, support strike, and evade.
  • You can remap the controls.
  • Japanese voice with English subtitles.
  • Sound settings – BGM, sound effects, voice, and song.
  • Five playable characters – each has unique shooting patterns and lock-on along with stats for HP, Atk, speed, lock range, lock-on, missile dmg, and evasion.
  • Five game difficulties – Very easy to very hard.
  • Story settings let you change – difficulties, auto recovery, cutscenes, and replay.
  • Every option has a brief description and tells you if changing settings invalidates your leaderboard score.
  • Enemies and canisters can drop items that go into your Akashic collection, its items, and lore from the different shows with an overall collection completion bar.
  • Covers five shows – Macross Zero, Macross Plus, Macross 7, Macross Frontier, and Macross Delta.
  • During gameplay, the view and play field can change from portrait to landscape, and to different speeds of autoscrolling.
  • Full 3D animated backgrounds.
  • You play on a 2D field but your ship and the enemies are all 3D.
  • Go into a frenzy-like sequence where enemy bullets do less damage, the Hud changes as does the music and it’s all very mental.
  • Massive boss fights at the end of a stage.
  • When you die you can save your replay which can act as a save point and you can reload the replay.
  • Health bar system and you can earn health back.
  • End of la evel breakdown showing a rank, score, and bonus HP earned.
  • A fun frantic shooter that is visually stunning.
  • Anime character portrait encounters and interactions that are integrated into the gameplay.
  • Fast loading times.
  • Unlock new Valkyrie (ships) to use and view in the 3D character viewer.
  • Tons of replay value.

Macross Shooting Insight Review Cons:

  • The game doesn’t do a dedicated tutorial and it’s very confusing as to what is going on and what to do.
  • You only have the story mode unlocked and you have to earn the others.
  • Steep learning curve.
  •  I never found the story that engaging and despite always popping up text and cutscenes I found it to just slow the game pace down and break you out of the excellent shooting.
  • Characters for me came down to the shooting style as I have no real history with the franchise.
  • Despite finishing the game I never fully felt like I knew how the game mechanics all worked and it felt like I was missing out on what could be a real game changer.

Related Post: Tap Wizard 2 Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

Macross Shooting Insight:

Official website.

Developer: Red Art Games

Publisher: Red Art Games

Store Links – 

PlayStation

  • 8/10
    Graphics - 8/10
  • 7/10
    Sound - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Accessibility - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Length - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Fun Factor - 7/10
7.2/10

Summary

Macross Shooting Insight is a visually stunning game with beautiful graphics and a manageable download size of 3.68GB. It offers a platinum trophy and includes both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions. The game features shmup gameplay with five modes: Story, Arcade, Ace Battle, Boss Rush, and Area Survey. Each mode has online leaderboards, adding a competitive edge. The gallery houses Valkyries, artwork, Macross memories, Akashic collection, and replay files, providing a rich visual and historical experience.

The game settings are highly customizable, with options for HP amount, support strike, vibration, illustrations, and replays. The three-button controls (shoot, support strike, and evade) can be remapped, and the game features Japanese voice with English subtitles. Sound settings include BGM, sound effects, voice, and song. There are five playable characters, each with unique shooting patterns and stats, and five difficulty levels ranging from very easy to very hard. Story settings allow changes to difficulties, auto recovery, cutscenes, and replays, with brief descriptions for each option and notifications if changes invalidate leaderboard scores.

Enemies and canisters drop items for the Akashic collection, which includes lore from five Macross shows: Macross Zero, Macross Plus, Macross 7, Macross Frontier, and Macross Delta. The gameplay can switch between portrait and landscape views and different autoscrolling speeds. The game features full 3D animated backgrounds, with 2D gameplay and 3D ships and enemies. Frenzy-like sequences reduce enemy bullet damage, change the HUD and music, and create a chaotic atmosphere. Massive boss fights conclude each stage, and players can save replays as save points. The health bar system allows health recovery, and end-of-level breakdowns show rank, score, and bonus HP earned.

The game is a fun, frantic shooter with fast loading times and anime character portrait encounters integrated into the gameplay. Players can unlock new Valkyrie ships and view them in the 3D character viewer, adding replay value. However, the game lacks a dedicated tutorial, making it confusing for new players. Only the story mode is initially unlocked, requiring players to earn access to other modes. The steep learning curve and disengaging story, which slows down the game pace, are notable drawbacks. Despite finishing the game, I never fully grasped all the mechanics, leaving me feeling like I missed out on potential game-changing elements or I didn’t quite get it but going in and playing it a shmup it is a visual delight full of action.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!