MACROSS -Shooting Insight- Review: Jack of all Shmups, Master of Few. -

MACROSS -Shooting Insight- Review: Jack of all Shmups, Master of Few.

Mikey Yaden

February 25, 2025

Shoot ’em ups don’t release often anymore, so we fans get excited when they do.

You might recognize the anime’s name, Macross, or you might know it as Robotech in some regions. MACROSS -Shooting Insight—tries to bring in characters from all different timelines, but even fans of the series might not be swayed by the genre. The game tries to do too much and skips out on focusing on the little details that could’ve made it better all around.

I’m not going to pretend the game doesn’t have any flaws, but I actually enjoyed my time with the game. As a fan of the genre and the property, I feel the need to give some constructive criticism because I want the sequel to be an incredible game.

MACROSS -Shooting Insight-‘s Gameplay is Hit or Miss

The gameplay can be solid, and the game tries to change things up, which I appreciate, but it doesn’t always work that well. You will play four different styles of shoot ’em ups. Sometimes, a level will change into different phases.

In the first mission, you are piloting your ship like a standard shoot ’em up, but then your ship transforms into a mech, which changes the game to a twin-stick shooter. You can have a horizontal section in ship or mech form. There is also a 360 shooter similar to a third-person shooter. I think it would’ve been more beneficial to pick and perfect two styles. You have regular weapons and lock-on rockets in your arsenal. While playing, you build up a bar for a Support Strike. Support Strikes fill your screen with missiles to help wipe it clean of enemies. You have a dodge button that grants you some invincibility frames and is your best friend.

If you have played this style of game, you know what to expect gameplay-wise. It doesn’t try to do anything wildly new or innovative. I won’t count that against the game; I’m just stating what is in the gameplay.

If the dev team hadn’t added some settings to lessen the difficulty, I wouldn’t have passed the second level on normal mode. I had to take my health to 200% and turn on auto recovery. The first level has three phases, and you only get one health bar and no heals. You have four difficulty settings, ranging from very easy to very hard. The dev team put a lot of work into accessibility options, so even casual players can jump in without the game being overly complicated. The flexibility of difficulty through settings should be an industry standard. Fine-tuning a difficulty just for you can only increase the player’s enjoyment of the game.

MARCROSS -Shooting Insight-‘s Can be Messy at Times.

Visually, the graphics are pretty good. The problem is that sometimes, it is difficult to tell what is in the foreground and what is in the background. Everything is bright-colored lights, making it too easy to look at the wrong things and lose track of enemy projectiles. The enemy variety is lacking.

You will shoot the same ship and object types through ten levels. While dodging everything, you can’t see what the characters say for story bits because the game is in Japanese with English subtitles. For the story in between missions, it’s fine, but you can’t help but feel you are missing story information during the high-octane action.

The good news is the music is very good. Getting the speed-up mode plays an anime-style song to get you hyped.

MACROSS -Shooting Insight-‘s Stories Are Interesting, Especially to Long Time Fans

Playing five characters allows for different cutscenes and story elements. Your five characters have come from different time periods, and you get to see them interact. This is why the story could be more interesting to long-term fans, more so than new players with little knowledge of the series.

The main goal is to rescue the missing songstresses, and the ride of how you get there is full of difficult battles with non-stop action. After completing story mode for the first time, you unlock four other modes. Arcade Mode, Boss Rush, Ace Battles, and Area Survey add more ways to shmup it up.

Conclusion

While it seems like I’m being hard on the game, it is more out of love because the game is fun. I’m an old-school anime fan who loves Macross, and I want there to be more games in the future.

With a few tweaks, the sequel could be almost perfect as a shoot ’em up title could be. The game is enjoyable, but the frustration of taking hits due to a messy presentation can add up. Not being able to decipher the foreground from the background is a pretty big flaw, and the light show makes you lose some projectiles in confusion. The horizontal and twin-stick sections were top-notch. The vertical and over-the-shoulder parts could’ve used more time to make improvements. The story for a non-fan is serviceable, but longtime fans will be excited to see so many main characters from the series getting to meet and interact.

Is MACROSS -Shooting Insight- the best shoot ’em up on the market? No, but I think it is worth a spin for fans of the anime or of the shoot ’em up genre. With a few tweaks, the follow-up title could be one of the best shmups on the market.