Robotech: The Macross Saga

"Robotech done in old school style!"

People that liked games back from the SNES day are likeley to remember some of the side scrolling shooting games like Gradius. Games like this were all more or less the same. Style, they were popular, and fun. The idea mostly was fly from the left side of the screen while the screen scrolled too the right. You'd fight wave after wave of enemy's who fell too your barrage easily while collecting powerups and such. Robotech: The Macross Saga brings back all of this goodness in an easy and enjoyable way. Anyone who liked those kind of games is guaranteed to love this. Especially if you're a fan of the series like me. Even people who are more into just video games in general are likely too find this rather entertaining.

Gameplay: Gameplay is simple as well as straightforward. Like any side scroller you fly on the screen which moves too the right while enemies continusioly come at you. The basic idea is of course to take as many out as possible. Gameplay is rather high paced with enemy's coming at you in waves throwing lasers and some guys even use missals. As you continue to kill them you gain experience with which you can upgrade your character with. Making your missals do more damage, lasers do more damage, you have more life. Etc. Enemy's attack in interesting waves, though its nothing really surprising or anything.

Mainly you fight green enemy fighters along with there own Mechs of sorts. Some of them fire small lasers in different directions while others fire missals and the bigger guys fire strong lasers. On levels with Ships that you fly past their turrets will also fire at you. The variety of enemy's isn't big or anything, but it is enough to keep one entertained. Like I said things are high paced so you're moving and gunning a lot of time. Gameplay works well so you never really see any kind of slow down or anything. Of course like all good games you fight a few bosses as well though most of them aren't anything special. The experience idea is nice letting you upgrade what stats you see fit to upgrade.

In battle you of course also pick up stuff like health, missal refill, temporary laser power ups, and such. The games saves in between each level and most levels aren't long so there's no problem there. One interesting but mostly pointless feature is also the fact your Mech also know as a Valkyrie fighter has three different modes. Fighter mode which is like a ship mode. This is the mode you'll be using for probably ninety percent of the game. There's also Guradian mode which is like a cross between a Fighter and Batteloid Mode. Battloid just makes you a walking Mech pretty much. Each mode is suppose to have an up and down though really the Fighter is probably the best one as well as the one you'll use the most. Next too it you might use Guardian some while Battleloid is pretty much never used.

Despite this the variety is a nice touch allowing you to change modes when you like to try them out for whatever opponent and situation. For a little variety there are also two missions were you fight as Destroid's which are land versions of the main Mech you drive called a Veritech. There's a few different Destroid's to choose from for variety so that's nice as well. I mean the Destroid levels aren't any big but they are a nice change. You basically walk around except you can move in all directions. And just move around trying to find and eliminate all of the enemies. With so much fun it's hard to find any really bad points in this. So I'll give it an eight out of ten.

Difficulty: Like most games there's an easy, normal, and hard mode too it. Like most games the main difference for games of this type is the fact that enemy's simply take more damage on a higher difficulty. Really I think there's little difference between all of the modes. Playing through normal mode wasn't that much of a problem really. But if you can't handle the hard mode then simply turn it down. I think the game difficulty fits fairly well not being too hard or too easy. Honestly at the beginning and early stages is when the game is the hardest. Enemy's come in large numbers while you start out very weak making it easy to die. Though by the later levels it becomes a lot easier to take them out. Even hard mode will be a lot easier with you fully maxed out character. Still it stays good enough to be entertaining so I'll give a eight out of ten here.

Controls: Controls are simply easy quick and responsive. The A button is your main weapon firing lasers while B makes you use missals, L and R let you change too your different modes. Pretty much that's all there is to it. Nothing fancy or complicated but certainly lets you get the job down with little problems. Also has the feel of those good old games like Gradius and Galga so it works well. I'll put a nine out of ten here.

Story: The story is lacking but lets be honest it's a side scroller shooter so how much can you really expect. At the start of each mission you see some character dialogue and get a basic idea of what's going on. Quick and dirty as they put it explains this well. If you're a fan of the series knowing what's going on from one mission to the next probably wont be to hard. However, for anyone that's not into stuff like the Robotech anime, what exactly is going on is likely to seem a bit elusive. The rather good plot of Robotech (In my opinion) isn't exactly shown well or anything. But I honestly don't care because I mean you can and should only expect so much from certain types of games. For what it is it works fine enough. And for older games there was no plot really but they were just fun. So I'll give this a seven out of ten.

Graphics: Graphics are nice making good use of GBA ability. Your Veritech looks smooth and well done along with all other enemy's that you'll encounter. Things you fly over are all good everything being nicely colored as well as seemingly well detailed for a GBA game. I have to say these are some nice graphics. Backgrounds look simple, but still fit the mission looking nice and fitting into everything. All in all I think the graphics were done well. During the dialogue before each mission all you get are some pictures representing what's going on. Though simple the pictures look nice as well all looking fairly smooth. Graphics worked well and I've never noticed any kind of slow down as mentioned or blockiness or any other such problems. Even the way missals, lasers and your ship or enemy craft exploding look good. So I'd say a nine out of ten here.

Sound/music: I must say that these are all pretty good. Everything is crisp clear as well as realistic sounding. From the sound of lasers firing to missals flying through the air to home in on a target and ships exploding. Everything sounds like it should even though the sound of your Mech blasting over and over again and again can get a bit tiring. For music the game has original music from stuff in the anime. All of the music fits the different scenes pretty well. Your more upbeat music for quick paced battles or maybe seemingly lower slower, darker kind of music for a mission where things might be bad story wise. Either way it fits managing to be good. I think some might get tired of it but I never really do. So I'll say out of ten here.

Overall: Robotech: The Macross Saga isn't a perfect game or anything. It lacks anything like a plot as well as being a simple game. But really, that is what the idea is to this kind of game. You look at most of the older games and it pretty much makes sense. They were made more for just quick shooting killing fun then anything else. This is which something this game does not fail to deliver at all. High speed Gameplay, tight responsive controls, good music and nice graphics. The story is lacking but this isn't a big factor. You shouldn't be looking for story in a game of this type.

That and the fact this game does a better job with making and showering a story then most any others like it. So that's something right there. It is a short game but its fair enough being quit fun for most anyone to play. If you liked the side scroller shooters or Robotech you're likely to enjoy this. Even if your not and you might just be more of an average game player give this a try. You never know the mindless killing might be fun. Either way for most people I'd say they should buy this game it is probably worth it. So in the end my end score for Robotech: The Macross Saga will be nine out of ten.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/21/04