I would like to thank Bushiroad Inc for the review key to this title.

Some series are timeless classics. Macross is an anime series themed around transformable jets, music, and the idea that culture can be just as powerful a weapon as any military machine. Macross -Shooting Insight- is an attempt to show why it earned this status, with generally positive results.

The plot of Shooting Insight is rather simple. A mysterious party has initiated several warps (or Folds as they call it) in time and space, bringing together Macross protagonists across history. They find that while they have joined forces with the Battle 7 flagship from Macross 7, they are all missing their songstresses or those who turned the tide of various conflicts with their music. They also find various enemies from across time have also made the jump to this jumbled-up period of time and space gone awry. The heroes must stop the ringleader, find their way back to their own times, and unite for a common goal.

The basic gameplay is an arcade shoot-'em-up with a story. Taking control of one of the main characters of either Macross Zero, Plus, 7, Frontier, or Delta, you advance through the same basic levels fighting various foes across the Macross canon. The story varies depending on who you pick, so it can be worth doing a playthrough of each protagonist to get all the aspects of the plot glossed over in the other routes.

That said, all characters are distinct in terms of play. While they all use Valkyries, or jets that can transform into robotic forms (the half jet/robot Gerwalk and all robot Battloid forms), they all play differently. Shin Kubo from Macross Zero has a very powerful basic attack but with a very small hitbox. Isamu Dyson from Macross Plus has a wide arc but low damage. Alto Saotome from Frontier has a powerful if slow laser, and so on.

There are various ways to make the most of your characters. Collecting parts taken from defeating foes, their basic weapons can be powered up. Isamu's basic attacks gain an even wider arc and Alto's laser gains homing functions. All characters also have limited use of both firable multi-missiles and on some levels can call in support from the Battle 7 to help turn the tide. There are also destroyable jammers that allow the various song maidens of the franchise to provide stage buffs like faster fire rate or lower enemy endurance while their signature music plays to cheer you on.

The basic combat covers various forms of arcade shooters. This includes levels shooting horizontally, vertically, and some in a first-person style rail shooter. All have the same basic controls despite the perspective changes. The playable Valkyries will also change form as appropriate without the need for player intervention, which will require small changes for mobility on the part of the player to meet new challenges when this occurs.

Once the main campaign for each character is beaten, several new modes are unlocked. One is Arcade mode, a plotless rehash of the game where the player can simply go for best time and score. Ace mode allows for fights against various series aces like Guld Goa Bowman from Plus. There are also lots of unlockable bonuses like character art and various pieces of information about series lore during various stages. In essence, these last features are basically for the Macross fans who want to keep track of the lore across the series.

It's worth noting this game has several difficulty modes and an option for regenerating health (either slowly or rapidly) for newcomers to arcade shooters, though this will not allow certain scores to be tallied. Veterans will likely default to the non-regenerating health for the challenge, though either option does not bar any playable game content from access by the player.

I'm generally familiar with the Macross franchise, though given how most of the series has been confined to Japan until recently due to legal issues, the mass amount of series references (since it defaults in all cases to Japanese canon and discounts the Americanized Robotech entirely) may confuse those unfamiliar with Macross.

Graphically, this a modernized arcade game, so while it uses anime-style modernized graphics, complete with lots of light and particle effects mixed with hand-drawn anime visuals, it's got a lot of 3D backdrops. I played on a Nintendo Switch, and the framerate and graphical effects were quite smooth most of the time. There is a momentary bit of slowdown during particularly intense explosions, but this usually occurs at the end of levels during the defeat of stage bosses and thus does not inhibit actual play.

Music and sounds are generally good, with excellent Japanese voice acting by many returning Japanese voice actors. The music is particularly good per the Macross series' love of music as a theme, complete with many of the vocalized songs from across the series that can be heard during play. This last part is particularly notable because licensing issues prevented many from being heard except in brief vocalized versions during instrumental remixes even in Japanese adaptations of Macross such as done in the Super Robot Wars games.

I played on a handheld Nintendo Switch and found the basic controls worked just fine. This game is also available on Steam for PC, and while technically playable with a keyboard, the developers heavily recommend a controller.

This title I found to be very stable and load reasonably fast on the Switch. It's got modest requirements on Windows, though it's unknown how well it will work via Steam Proton on Linux or the Steam Deck.

The only things I have to fault this title for is twofold. One, it's a bit short, and two, this is clearly aimed at Macross fans, with it being a bit hard to understand all the references if you are not acquainted with the series. This title does not feature anyone from the original Macross (but does feature their younger and older selves from Macross Zero and Plus). Finally, there is something of an unspoken agreement for the characters to not reveal any details that could change their canon histories too much. They do hint at some of it in conversations though.

Morally, this has some concerning elements.

Violence is in the form of an arcade shooter, using military machines against space creatures and other manned and unmanned enemy machines. There is no gore or blood displayed and the machines and monsters disappear in stylized explosions.

Language is mildly earthy at times, with occasional use of b**t**d and s***, but that's generally it. While the story does not lend itself to a lot of sexual content, some of the ladies are wearing some revealing outfits (and some are in-universe pop stars so this is something of a given).

This is set firmly in a science fiction setting. They do have the Protodeviln race drop the term Spiritua, but this is a stylized term for how they must survive draining life from other beings. Morally, all playable characters defer to the military command of Captain Maximilian "Max" Jenius, commander of the Battle 7 flagship, and conduct their operations according to the laws and customs of war.

Overall, this was short but very sweet. Technically, it's generally sound and worth getting on those grounds. Morally, it certainly earns its Teen rating and is only recommended for that age group on up. If you are an arcade shooter fan and definitely if you are a Macross fan this title is highly recommended.