Also, a disclaimer: A review code for MACROSS -Shooting Insight- was provided by publisher Red Art Games. I am a professional that was a games journalist for more than 20 years so a free game doesn't impact my opinions in the slightest, but we have to disclose this regardless.
MACROSS: Shooting Insight is the first MACROSS game ever released in the West despite the franchise existing for more than four decades now. It tells a brand new original cross dimensional story where pilots, other characters, and the songstresses - singing their real songs from the franchise - from five different series - MACROSS Plus, MACROSS Zero, MACROSS 7, MACROSS Frontier & MACROSS Delta - are all transported to the same time and place with the fate of the galaxy in their hands.
That's all super duper really cool. I mean, it probably is, because confession time - I actually had very little experience with the franchise before playing this game. I've seen the MACROSS: Do You Remember Love movie and that's kinda it. And I know Jetfire from Transformers G1 is a recolor of the Macross VF-1S Valkyrie, so that's something, at least.
So my interest in MACROSS Shooting Insight was based mostly on its qualities as a shmup than any attachment to the license itself, but also because I have a general appreciation for the 80's anime aesthetic and genuine love of cool-ass transforming robot designs. I can happily say that I have been very satisfied with all of these aspects. It's a really solid shmup with some fresh ideas and I really love the presentation and can tell a lot of love and attention to detail went into it. All of this is 100% my jam even if I don't always really know what's going on.
I want to go off on a tangent now, though. Is there any genre where hardcore fans do more damage to its perception than shoot-em-ups? Shmups absolutely have this impenetrable aura where if you aren't playing on the hardest difficulty and getting no hit one credit clears you're playing them wrong, because that's mostly the only type of people you ever see talking about them. And then that definitely scares newcomers away that would enjoy the games if they gave them a chance, but they're too intimidated to even try.
Of course, then you have the other end of the spectrum where people that have no idea what they're talking about review them and slap on a 5/10 score because it only took them 20-minutes to beat and they think shmups are a bad value and too repetitive or something. Seriously, look at other shmup reviews. They're mostly extremely embarrassing.
The reality is that you don't have to be a super hardcore elite player to enjoy shmups. Modern shmups have multiple difficulty settings and other options to make them more accessible, and there is absolutely no shame in playing on easy mode with automatic healing and unlimited continues and other assists to make them more fun for yourself. The basic gameplay hook of shmups is that you play them over and over and get better and better at them as you learn to play properly. This steady improvement makes them incredibly satisfying to play and they have some of the best replay value in the industry. Even if you only ever play on easy, they're still tons of fun, you still definitely get your money's worth, and I think lots of players would love them if they gave them a chance.
My second tangent is that you always see in reviews of licensed games that they're "Good for fans of the franchise", which is actually a thinly veiled insult and not a useful criticism in the least. What they're really saying is that they think the game kinda sucks but fans of the franchise will force themselves to like it and normies won't really dig it so they slap a mediocre score on it. But that's stupid.
Not all games have to be for all people. Who is a licensed game even for if it isn't for fans first and foremost? It's obviously better if a licensed game appeals to folks outside of its target fanbase, but that doesn't mean it's inherently a bad thing if a game is only going to hit for a specific audience. It might be a 9/10 for that audience, but bad inexperienced reviewers don't think little Johnny Mainstream will like it so they give it a 6/10, which scares off not only the normies but also the fans that would actually enjoy it. Again, I say that's stupid. Kids, if a niche game is 9/10 for that niche, give it a 9/10 and don't care what the mainstream thinks. Back in my day, explaining all of this used to be what the text of reviews was for, but nowadays people only ever look at meta scores. "sigh"
Back to MACROSS Shooting Insight. I loved it. I played through it the first time and was incredibly impressed and decided to check out what other people thought and was stunned to find a sea of 5/10's which, obviously, is why I felt I needed to go off on those tangents.
What makes Shooting Insight so impressive to me is that it frequently shifts between basically every type of shmup as you play through the levels. There are vertical scrolling sections, horizontal scrolling sections, 360-degree sections where you can freely move around a large area, and even Space Harrier / After Burner-style sections where you're fighting bosses and such in a over the shoulder 3D view. Your mecha is also constantly transforming between ship, robot, and gerwalk modes in these sections. The gameplay doesn't actually change that much between all of these different sections, but it still keeps the game feeling incredibly fresh and dynamic compared to other shmups with just one style.
The core gameplay itself is relatively simple, however. You have a shoot button - depending on what pilot you pick at the beginning their shot type will be different - a screen clearing strike assist button where your allies launch a huge volley of missiles or something, and a dodge button which is pretty much essential on higher difficulties. You can also use the right analog stick to use a large targeting cone that automatically locks onto enemies and fires missiles.
That's definitely a lot simpler than most shmups these days. And you don't really pick up upgrades, either. Your shot power gradually increases as you play, and your ally strike attack refills by collecting shards enemies drop, but that's kinda it. The one main difference in Shooting Insight is that you destroy jammers in the levels which then allow the songstresses to sing their songs from the anime, which greatly enhance your ship's abilities. You're basically getting frequent little idol concerts to help motivate you during an intense combat mission, which is just freaking awesome.
All of these things come together to make MACROSS: Shooting Insight feel really unique and interesting to play. None of the mechanics by themselves are especially innovative or noteworthy, really, but when you put them all into the full package it's really a genuinely impressive overall experience.
I also have to shout out the presentation. Even though the characters are totally new to me, I definitely appreciate that distinctive 80's art style and ultra corny dialogue delivered with era-appropriate over the top (kinda bad) voice acting. And I'm not saying it's bad and corny as a criticism, either. Just like the UFO Robot Grendizer game, it's all clearly intentional to make the game feel like a genuine episode of an anime from its original era. And I love that.
All in all, I had a great time with MACROSS -Shooting Insight-. The presentation is on point. The gameplay is innovative and interesting and fun. And it has a solid amount of content, too. The $40 asking price is maybe a tad on the high side, and I would actually recommend waiting on a price drop if I'm being honest, and I am (sorry, publisher and developer), but I do absolutely recommend giving MACROSS -Shooting Insight- a shot when it hits a price you're comfortable with.
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