This will be the first of many posts I’ll be doing about games that never came state side, both new and old. If it never made it stateside, but is still an awesome game, than it must be IMPORTant. Now, on with the show.

I am a huge fan of anything that has a giant robot, from Gundam to Big-O. One of my personal favorites happens to be Macross, though as a kid I knew it as Robotech. There were many sequels in the anime series, and just about as many games. The only issue is that none of said games made it over to the US which is unfortunate as it means that only the most avid fans have ever played any of them. Sure there were a few Robotech games, but none of them could compare to Macross VF-X 2. Finding a copy of VF-X 2 was pretty tricky and now is near impossible. Lucky for us, a new and better Macross game was just recently released for the PSP.

This game puts us in the pilot seat as a totally new character who the player gets to pick a face for, and a name. You get to do the same for your Partner and Support. After that it’s time to select an Operator and then which series you want to take on. The player can then change color schemes, pilots, mecha, distribute stat points, and configure special abilities while in the hangar. There is a shop where extras can be bought using points gained from playing the game such as mecha, art, and music. The amount of stuff here will definitely make anyone unable to read Japanese wish they could, though luckily none of this stuff will impact the enjoyment of the game too much.

Gameplay is broken up into various missions spread out between all the series, including the newest series Macross Frontier. Players will be piloting their mecha from a 3rd person perspective while locking on to targets and changing modes to best suit the given situation. There is also a simulator style mode called Real Flight which makes flying a lot more like Ace Combat while the other transformations still operate like the normal setting. While there is the option to pilot things other than the Valkyrie, why anyone would want to is beyond me. The ability to go from Jet to Mecha and also in between is more than enough to tackle any situation the game can throw at you. My only complaint would be that control for the Gerwalk and Battroid Modes prove to be a bit awkward and the fact that Fighter mode can’t be slowed down.

The game looks great and is the best looking Macross game I’ve played, which is saying something. All of the Valkyries from the VF-0 up to the VF-27 are all in the game and look great, even the smaller enemies that can be destroyed in a few hits look accurate and detailed. The level designs suffer a bit to make up for the quality in the models, and are generally pretty plain. This is totally acceptable though, given the fact that the game is on the PSP. Sound is great as well, with music from each series adding to the feel of the battles and character voices that either are very close or are the original voice actors.

Other than the fact that the whole thing is in Japanese, I see no reason at all why any fan of the series shouldn’t import this game. Fans of games like Ace Combat probably won’t like it as much as it’s not quite as tight in the controls, but still you might end up liking the game. Anyone else might as well pass on this one unless you just really need something to play on your PSP. -Ian