The Macross franchise is one of the main pillars of anime “space opera,” along with Mobile Suit Gundam and Battleship Yamato. Its influences run deep, and it stood apart from its contemporaries by embracing a hopeful theme, where love and understanding conquer all.
Like most long-running anime franchises, it became a multi-media juggernaut. Everything from comics, toys, movies, and of course video games. In the West, Macross is better known as Robotech, and regretfully, out of the dozens of games made, only a handful left Japan. It’s too bad because the signature mech, the Valkyrie variable fighter, is a flexible design that shifts between a fighter jet and a bi-pedal giant robot.
Macross/Robotech fans can sigh relief knowing that a new game has come to the West. What can fans expect? How does it fare as a shoot-em-up? Find out in our MACROSS -Shooting Insight- review!
MACROSS -Shooting Insight-
Developer: Kaminari Games
Publisher: Red Art Games, Bushiroad Inc.
Platforms: Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (reviewed)
Release Date: February 7, 2025
Price: $39.99
MACROSS -Shooting Insight- is a multi-dimensional shoot-em-up with some Macross paint on it. The big space battles make sense as a shoot-em-up, but the other aspect of the franchise is its human element. Shooting Insight comes off more like a cynical cash grab that exploits fans, rather than an earnest story.
Every playable character/Valkyrie is from one of the many Macross series and the story is one big crossover. At first, this seems like an interesting premise that would pique fans’ interest, but it doesn’t take long before the cold reality sets in that the plot is an excuse to fill out a roster for replaying levels with different Valkyries.
The presentation won’t impress anyone. Story scenes are lengthy gauntlets of text with a very bare visual novel presentation. The background art is lifeless and there is no energy in the dialogue. It won’t take long before gamers lose interest and skip all of the text to get to the shooting.
Insight Shooting is basic, but challenging enough to be interesting. Valkyries can dodge, regain energy, and unleash a massive assist attack that wipes most threats off the screen. It’s nothing special, but it gets the jobs done and feels good to play.
Mobility varies between each Valkyrie, but all of them move slower than most enemies, which makes it hard to consistently kill every target. The trade-off is the secondary attack which is aimed with a short vision cone that locks onto targets and releases Macross’ signature missile flurry.
Launching tons of rockets with chaotic trajectories is by far the closest the game gets to capturing the feel of the anime. It looks and feels great as the action ramps up and when the POV shifts and the Valkyrie alternates between its different forms.
The shifting POV is a nice touch and helps give Shooting Insight some much-needed variety since its boring spacey backgrounds don’t do much to inspire. Sometimes the perspective is overhead in bipedal mode. Other times the view is aimed at a profile. Every stage has different sequences which is welcomed because there is not much else to the game.
For almost forty dollars, players won’t be getting enough bang for their buck. Gamers who do eventually get it on a sale still won’t find much to write home about because the overall package feels low budgety and resembles a mobile game.
CYGNI is ten dollars cheaper and you see money burning on screen every second with how it melts your eyes with the absurd amount of enemies and explosive visuals. Shooting Insight looks utterly ghetto next to it and if it weren’t for the Macross connection, it would be devoid of any personality.
The esoteric combo system and buffs feel invisible during the entire experience. The only way you’d know they existed is when the catchy pop idol music kicks in when the Valkyrie is fully powered. Impressively, there are several pieces of music and they fit the tone of the elaborate bullet hell patterns that paint the screen. It’s kind of like being in a rave.
MACROSS -Shooting Insight- is a milquetoast shooter that wouldn’t be so offensive if it was priced more appropriately. For the same price, you can get NieR: Automata, an epic action RPG with equally fleshed-out shoot-em-up sequences but teeming with more style and creativity. Regretfully, this Macross bullet hell action game lacks insight completely and comes off as hopelessly boring.
MACROSS -Shooting Insight- was reviewed on a PlayStation 5 using a code provided by Red Art Games. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. MACROSS -Shooting Insight- is now available for PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
