Is Macross: Shooting Insight the game fans have been waiting for?

Macross, which many in the West will recognise as the first part of Robotech, has been a huge franchise in Japan. Multiple sequels have been released in recent years but due to rights issues have been withheld from us until very recently.

This also means that the multiple games that have spawned from Macross have also been unable to leave Japan. But now with rights issues somewhat resolved, we have access to not only the anime but also this most recent game, Macross: Shooting Insight.

So let’s check out how this new bullet hell game stacks up to the legacy of this long-running franchise.

First things first, there is no representation of the original Macross series in this game aside from the odd reference to Minmei and a Japan-exclusive DLC for the Do You Remember Love film. Sadly this DLC will likely never come to us since the rights to the original series are still held up with Harmony Gold. Do not let that be a deterrent for you though!

The sequel series introduces a wide cast of loveable characters that you’ll get to see and hear. Shooting Insight is also fully voice-acted in Japanese and even includes a selection of songs from the different series that play during combat to really hype you up.

The story is fairly simple. During the era of Macross 7, songstresses are abducted across time to research song energy and its impact on the human psyche, a huge part of the overarching Macross plot. Both the protagonists of each series as well as their rivals are also transported through time and must join together to save their loved ones.

It’s a simple story but it does the job of establishing why all these characters and enemies would be together. Each protagonist has their own story but aside from little bits of unique dialogue between missions, there’s no branching story and everything moves through the same eleven stages for every run. This gets old very quickly.

In terms of gameplay, each of the fighters are unique and feel very different to play even though they utilise the same basic controls; a dodge, a laser, and lock-on rockets. I wasn’t a huge fan of the button mapping for the two inputs we have, but sadly there is no way to remap the controls in-game.

The difficulty is also very high, with me attempting to get past stage 2 over 30 times before I eventually gave in and dropped from normal to easy. There are further modifiers you can use in the settings to increase your max health and the gauge for assistance, as well as selecting your difficulty and health regen level before starting a story run. Utilising any of these modifiers does lock you out of the global leaderboards, however.

You will also find crates in each run. You have to shoot them open to collect what’s inside, unlocking memorabilia from the different series. Completing each character’s story also allows you to challenge their rival in the Ace Battle section. I’d hoped doing this would unlock that character to play but sadly, it just gives you screenshots from their respective series each time you beat them. There is also an Arcade Mode and a Boss Battle Mode which are fine, but not the most interesting to play.

Collecting energy from defeated enemies will charge your shot level and fire rate, so aggressive play with careful movement is incentivised. This is a bullet hell though and it very much lives up to the name so there is an extremely high skill ceiling for those who want to put in the practice.

As you progress through each stage, the various songstresses will manage to reach out and play a song for you. Not only is this a lot of fun to give you a boost while playing, but each song also adds a different buff for you or debuff for your enemies. This was great in concept but the overlay when everything starts does tend to get in the way and distract a little.

There’s also a lot of plot-relevant dialogue that happens during combat but in order to not get in the way of gameplay, the character portraits and dialogue are confined to a tiny box at the bottom of the screen, making it nigh impossible to follow what’s going on unless you happen to understand Japanese.

As well as unlocking a rival in Ace Battle mode, completing each story, you also unlock a special piece of key art at the end of the credits. I won’t lie to you, this art is atrocious, as is much of the art throughout the whole game. It’s flat, lifeless, and so low effort it hurts to see.

Character portraits seem to be the only 2D assets with any time put into them. Music outside of the special songs is also severely lacking, going from boring to annoying eventually.

In conclusion, Macross: Shooting Insight is a welcome time for fans of the franchise who can finally play a game in their native language. It’s just a shame that so much of the experience feels so low effort and lifeless.

It may hold replay value for some if you want to improve your skill or if you absolutely have to unlock everything. Unless you’re a die-hard Macross fan, there’s really nothing here for you and even if you are already a Macross fan, I think, like me, you’ll come away disappointed.

I’m glad Macross: Shooting Insight has been released and what it means for the franchise, particularly here in the West, but I only hope that the next Macross game is more worth the fans’ time.