Robotech: The Macross Saga

"Fans of the show Rejoice! Shooter fans, take a look."

Robotech, the popular anime compiling three series into one huge saga, Robotech was released to the American public in 1985. Now, in 2002, a game based off of the most popular saga in the series has been released.

So, just how does Robotech: The Macross Saga stack up?

Gameplay

At its basic core, Robotech is a shooter. If you just want a general overview of how the game basically plays, play Gradius.

For most of the game, you fly along the screen and try to destroy the hordes of enemies that are coming from the opposite direction. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, it is simple, but it’s also difficult to complete. It doesn’t take too much to send your fighter hurtling to the ground.

In Robotech, your ship has two weapons, a gunpod and a limited supply of missiles. You can collect power-ups to change the form of your two weapons. Power-ups such as three way shot and laser can improve your main cannon, and things such as Bombs and Reflex warheads improve your missiles. Well, ok, but that’s nothing new. These are just standard features on almost all shooters, but here’s where it become Robotech.

In most cases, you are able to change between three different forms of your Veritech. You can change between Fighter, your standard jet, Battloid, a giant robot, and Guardian, a cross between the two. Each form has its own advantages and disadvantages. You, as the pilot, must decide which form is right for each situation. Changing between these forms is a simple click of the L or R button away. This multi form fighter is Robotech’s signature and it just wouldn’t be a Robotech game without it. The whole experience is nicely packaged and plays smoothly

I say most of the time because there are some levels where you can’t. There are two boss levels where you are stuck in a special Super Battloid form and two Destroid levels. These Destroid levels are different from the entire rest of the game. Rather than fly straight along, you, in your chosen destroid, are placed on a map with full control over where you go. Since you use a Destroid instead of your normal veritech, you get to chose one of four unique Destroids, each with its own stats and secondary weapons.

Speaking of choices, Robotech: The Macross Saga gives you one very important choice before you even start the first level. Which character you want to use. Each character has there own stats and look. Some are better than others, but it’s possible to complete the game with all of them. Which is important, because each character progresses independently of all the others. If you get to level 7 with Rick, you’re still on level one with every other character. The Game saves your progress after each level for each character, so you can be on different levels with different characters at the same time. There are a total of 11 characters, five are available from the very beginning, and the other six can be unlocked by completing the game with the different characters.

Each character has his or her own starting stats, but these are not set in stone. By shooting down enemies in the various stages you gain EXP. Different enemies have different values of EXP. After each mission, you are allowed to use the EXP you have gathered to boost the stats of your character. Each stat can be boosted up three levels, and each level costs an increasing amount of EXP. This allows you to fill out the weak points in your characters and increase other stats to deal with new enemies.

Unfortunately, here’s where one of Robotech’s first problems comes in. While the first few levels are at quite a high level of difficulty, it doesn’t remain at that level. It turns out that it’s too easy to upgrade your stats! The later levels will seem too easy, because your character’s stats will be so high that destroying enemies becomes easy and you can normally survive until you get health.

That being said, the first few levels ARE quite difficult with some characters. It’ll probably take several tries in order to get past the first level if it’s your first time playing. Also, if you don’t upgrade your stats too much, you can make the last levels more of a challenge.

Story

Well, the game’s levels follow the progress of the TV show. However, in game, there’s not too much explained. People who haven’t seen the show will probably have trouble following the game’s storyline. People who HAVE seen the show will be able to follow and recognize what’s going on. If you don’t know what’s going on, don’t worry about it too much, just shoot things and you’ll be ok!

Graphics

The Graphics basically look like first-generation SNES. They aren’t too bad, but there nothing spectacular. It’s kind of disappointing considering that the GBA has been out for over a year and it seems the graphics should be getting much better. Ah well, you can’t have everything!

Sound

There’s not much to this in Robotech. It’s got all your standard blips and bleeps for shooting and a rocket sound for your missiles. I really did enjoy the background music to the game though, taken directly from the show, Robotech fans will be treated to tunes they’ll recognize almost instantly. My personal favorite was level 7 rendition of MinMei’s We Will Win. It sounds just like the song, only lacking the vocals.

Replay

Robotech has quite a bit of replay. While a single game is short, you can play through it one time with each character for a slightly different experience each time. It’ll take you quite some time to complete the game with all eleven characters. Then you can go a little farther to max out each character’s stats as the game allows your character’s to play through the 10 levels as many times as you want.

Summary

Robotech: The Macross Saga is a fun game. However, it is made mostly for fans of the Robotech series. Those that have seen the show and enjoy it will gain much more from playing the game then those that haven’t.

Gamers who haven’t seen the show can still enjoy the game with relative ease; they’ll just miss out on some of the references to the show, such as the briefings in between missions. It really is a good shooter, and they’ll be able to enjoy it for that.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/27/02, Updated 12/27/02