Review - Macross. A glorious sci-fi anime that has been ported to many gaming platforms with mixed results.

Macross fans often consider Macross Scramble Valkyrie (SFC), The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (SS) and Banpresto's coin-op Macross Plus and Macross II as being the more inspired games. You can easily add to the list Macross 2036.

Macross 2036 is a nicely crafted side-scrolling shooter that showcases some of the best audio-visuals you can hope to find on Duo.

Graphically, Masiya managed to re-create the atmosphere of the anime by providing us with a fast-paced and colorful shooter. The multiple parallax scrolling blazes at high speed while the color palette of the Pc Engine is used to great effect. The attention to detail is also surprising and is especially visible on the ice planet. Fly close enough to the surface and you'll see your ship beautifully reflected on it.

Moreover, Macross 2036 includes a lot of quality anime sequences that will sure make Macross fans very happy. These scenes are very well drawn and advance the story well (although dialogues are in Japanese).

But in this game, what really stands out is the music which features some of the best classic tunes of the series masterfully reproduced. It must be noted though that sound effects aren't of the same quality.

Gameplay isn't very complex as your ship has basically a limited arsenal, meaning that you can use a maximum of two weapons per level: the standard upgradeable shot and a special weapon that you have to choose and pick up at the beginning of each stage. There are a lot of special weapons so this adds some points to the replay value of the game.

Interestingly, when approaching end-of-level bosses, your ship transforms into a battledroid and the control scheme changes. Initially it will feel a bit awkward and will require some time to get adjusted to it. Now you might be wondering why I gave Macross 2036 such a score (which is by no means a bad score).

Well, I played this game through and I think that Masaya's shooter lacks memorable moments that make you want to play this game more than a couple of times. Levels are well done but they tend to be a bit too long and sometimes, not much seems to be happening. Levels tend to lazily stretch out for too long and no sense of real urge or threat is infused by the overall experience. Nothing is intrinsically wrong with Macross 2036 but something is missing to make it a real classic.

To conclude, if you are a Macross fan or just a shmup collector, you must grab this game. Just don't expect to find here the ultimate Macross shooter as Macross 2036 is a good game but not a masterpiece.

Bottom line: a generic 2d shooter based on the popular macross license. 6/10