Macross -Shooting Insight- for PS5: A Detailed Review of Gameplay and Features

Fans of anime and shoot 'em ups REJOICE!!! Red Art Games brings to us a new shmup, and story centered around Macross, and it's many pilots. Through older, and newer characters the story comes to a head as they face off against a mysterious new foe looking to weaponize songs in order to reign undisputed. 

Through folds in the space time continuum this adversary and antagonist aims to gain the power of songstresses in order to fight the federation. As pilots from different timelines you join together in the battle against this dastardly evil scheme. Putting to use your Valkyrie as it soars through space shooting down targets in various perspectives and modes.

Through five modes of play, and a collective of fan favorite characters from the entire Macross series, 'Macross - Shooting Insight' aims to provide a comprehensive, and challenging shmup experience that foregoes the usual formula. Through twin thumbstick means, and the utilization of shots, support, and evasive maneuvers you'll need to tackle the stages, and missions on a per mode, and per stage basis. Clearing the screen of waves of enemy craft, and bosses as you loot the locales for currency made for unlocking gallery features. 

The five modes included in the mix are Story, Arcade, Ace Pilot, Boss Rush, and a Practice mode. The Story comes complete with voiced Japanese dialogue as well as English subtitles, and static art panels that gives the current backstory a proper fleshing out. 

It is through the unlikely meeting of older and newer Valkyrie pilots that we, the player, face off against the enemy. Each pilot comes complete with seven base stats including HP, ATK, DMG, Homing Energy, Homing DMG, and Evasion. Each stat playing into their unique playstyles and efficiencies or lack thereof. 

Moving the pilots in top-down, multi-directional, or side scrolling modes within the alternating stage environments is done using the left thumbstick while the right thumbstick allows for missile lock on, and release. These functions along with the support special that is reliant on a filled meter, and an evasive maneuver allows for fast paced combat amidst the bullet hell, and obstacle laden stages.

Alongside the basics come pilot support assists that act as screen clearing bombs, and can lead the way to songstress instances where a songstress sings her/his song while the action plays out. A feature with which the length can be set at the main menu. For a score multiplier the game counts up with each rapidly consecutive kill. Starting at 1.0, and maxing out at 10.0. 

Story mode, as it were, is the only mode initially available outside of the game's uniquely named practice mode. Unlocking access to the others requires a mandatory playthrough in full. Once unlocked you can play without the story elements in Arcade, face off against fellow Valkyrie pilots in Ace Pilot, or attempt to beat all the bosses in Boss Rush. Each mode comes complete with difficulty settings, ship stock options, respawn options, and other settings related to the shmup experience. The game was fine tuned for consoles with some updated features including the previously mentioned option to automatically respawn instead of having to restart from the main menu. The game is a challenge, mind you, and GAME OVERs come quickly. Thus making these quality of life additions a huge plus. 

In the way of bonuses there's plenty to unlock in the game's gallery. There's music, character art, videos, and Valkyrie 3D interactive models. This adds incentive to repeat playthroughs. That along with the unlocking of modes are good reasons to return to the game. On top of that the game has leaderboards for the modes in which you can battle against global players for that prestigious top ranking. This is a score based shmup, and as such leaderboards play a huge part in the game's replay value.

The Presentation ...

When it comes to the story elements, and overall dialogue the game does feel a bit lazy by design. There's minimal effort put into the art, and the character conversations, but it's good enough to get the point across. Where the game really stands out is with it's varied gameplay, and gameplay perspectives. The game features standard top-down stages, as well as side scrolling, and arenas that allow for 360 degree ship rotation. It is this constant changing mashup of points of view that adds some extra life to the somewhat basic formula that underlines the challenges at hand.

The Verdict ...

While I feel the story mode was a little forced, and bit lackluster in the presentation department the game still holds it's own as a unique addition to the shmup genre, mechanics-wise. Additionally fans of the Macross saga will no doubt find a character from the anime that they'll resonate with, and want to learn more about with this new plot twist. It's definitely directed more towards the Macross fanbase than the shmup genre enthusiasts, in that regard. The price for entry, supposing you are interested, is not budget based, but is instead a middle grounds monetary grab when it comes to cost. For the package deal you do get a lot of content for that money though, and a lot of reasons to replay the game. The leaderboard chasing being the most noteworthy reason. For me, I'll give it a recommendation, but mainly for those of the Macross and shmup fanbases!