Quoth the VFX Raven “Nevermore.”: Retro Review of Macross VFX2

First off, what prompted me to do is was a realization that a a lot of the younger generation getting into video games today weren't around for some of the real gems and not so gems of the 32-bit era. While I don't condone piracy (don't go illegally downloading stuff that you don't own) the prevalence of smart phone emulators means there is now a larger potential audience for these older games.

I'm going to try to break things down into segments and score things along a 5 pt scale then average it all at the end. 

5 pts - A

4 pts - B

3 pts - C

2 pts - D

1 pts - F

0 pts - Epic Fail

That said let's get started. 

Overall score: 3.5/5

C+

This is a game for the PS1 that was released only in Japan. A Western release was planned, but was ultimately cock-blocked by Harmony Gold due to licencing issues regarding Super Dimentional Fortress Macross, the universe in which the games takes place. But that's a rant for another day. Harmony Gold? More like Harmony Crap! 

Gameplay: 3.5

You can see the HUD here is all in English, making the game very import friendly. 

Lets start off with what matters most, the gameplay. This game has a little bit of a love it or hate it reputation. Given the restrictions that the developers were under, I think they managed to pull off a fun and unique 3D shooter. This game was developed in '99 for the PS1. What was going on with Sony at this time was that into the PS1's life span they introduced the original Dual Shock. The OG PS1 controller lacked the dual analogue sticks of the Dual Shock and was more like the SNES's controller (no surprise there given that the PS1 is something of the bastard child of the SNES that was later adopted by another family). The policy Sony had at the time was that developers HAD to have  an OG compatible controller scheme. When you play SDF Macross for the PS2 (I'll review that as well at some point) or Robotech Battlecry you can see what kind of handicap the developers were working under for VFX2. Namely, the developers were boxed into having to use the D-pad for movement rather than options or other functions with the left stick controlling movement. 

So lets get into the actual gameplay. The game consists of you flying around your transformable Variable Fighter and putting the hurt on anyone who gets in your way. 

YF-19/VF-19A Excalibur

You can switch between modes at will and each mode has it's own handling characteristics. In fighter mode, the game plays as an arcade style flight game. In GERWALK Mode you're hovering in places, and pushing the throttle up or throttle down button will give you a boost forward or a boost backward. In Battroid you're either floating in mid-air/space where you have forward-back movement and left and right rotate you. 

You can switch cameras where you can set the camera set to keep looking the direction your VF is facing. Or switch it to focus on your target (which makes it feel like you're watching the anime). Or switch it to focus on incoming missiles. 

To dish out the pain you have your primary weapon, the machine gun, and your sub-weapon, typically your missiles. Holding down the sub-weapon button lets you target multiple enemies and releasing the button fires off a barrage of missiles. Along with standard missile each plane has it's own set of sub-weapons from micro missiles with faster lock on, High Maneuver Missiles, to high explosive grenades to nuclear missiles that if you're not careful will kill you too. 

Your other attack consists of a machine gun. The machine gun functions differently in each mode.In Fighter Mode, the machine gun just fires straight. It's your straight line, spray in front of you weapon. In GERWALK Mode,  holding down the machine gun button will lock you in the direction you were facing and allow you strafe left and right as opposed to rotating left of right. This comes in handy in shooting down incoming missiles in some instances. In the Gundam-like Battroid mode, the machine gun locks on to your target while you are shooting. 

Notice how there is no actual lock-on button? That the machine gun largely doubles as the lock on? That is because the developers literally ran out of buttons on the OG PS1 controller. The Dual Shock and all subsequent PS controllers have 14 buttons including the D-pad. By contrast the OG controller only has 8 buttons, since the D-pad must be used for movement. The button functions are, which are fully customizeable are.

D-pad - movement

Thrust +

Thrust -

Main weapon

Sub-weapon

Sub-weapon selection

Mode up

Mode down

Change View

There's literally no button left to assign a target lock function. But given the limitations that were worked within, once you get used to the controls it does work pretty well controlling a complicated machine like a Variable Fighter. For better or for worse there is little variation in how each VF handles, though some seem faster and make tighter turns than others. While on one hand this seems kind of bland, on the other, if you're a VF-1 fanatic, you won't get toast taking the classic Valkyrie out on the last mission. 

On an interesting note, this forced simplification of controls translates pretty well to a touch screen interfaced smart phone. 

Graphics and visuals: 3.5

Crusin' for a brusin

For it's time period, the detail on the vehicles like VFs and ships is very good. While the animation could be smoother when running in Battroid mode it still remains detailed. Not only are the VFs detailed, but they're also accurate to their anime counterparts.

Who wants some?!

The ground textures are par for the course for the PS1, they don't really stand out as anything good or bad. Where the graphics do take a hit, is in the graphical pop ups. The game has a bad habit of displaying an enemy off in the distance, then as you get closer a wall suddenly pops up in front of him. Visually it's just bad to begin with, but where it becomes problematic is when you try to attack a ground target from the ground. You'll see a target in the distance, and engage him with your gun, only to start wondering if you're even hitting him, even though it certainly looks like you're hitting him. So you move closer only to have a wall pop up, and you have your answer of why you couldn't hit him. There was an invisible (from your distance) wall he was hiding from. 

Gameplay stability: 2

Whee wacky shack!

For the most part the game runs pretty stable. By that I mean there are few crashes or freezes or anything that stops you from breaking the game, "show stoppers" as we called them when I used to work in the video game industry. 

So why the score of 2?

This depends on different variables, and not one has really done a proper QA style bug test on this, but the game does have a tendency to freeze at the very end. This depends on if you're playing the game on an emulator, or a modded PS1, on a PSP or on a Japanese PS1. I have a copy running on the PSP that had this glitch until Sony released their 5.00 update some time ago. So post FW 5.00 it will work fine. 

When the glitch happens, you can't see the ending and you can't same your "new game plus" with all your VFs unlocked from the start, plus several other units that are only unlocked after completing the game and saving at the end.

Fortunately, if you're savvy with several PlayStation related tools you can work your way around this, by downloading saved game data and inserting it into a memory card file. 

Plot: 5 

Meet the crew
Syun Tohma, Gilliam Angreat, Aegis Focker and Suzie Newlet

Granted if you don't speak Japanese you'll have to research the plot online, but that's beside the point. The plot is a bit of a deviation from the typical Macross formula in that there isn't any idol singers taking center stage. Instead the plot is more along the lines of MS Gundam: The 08th MS Team in that the plot centers around a group of grunts

The plot takes place in 2050AD, Five years after the events of Macross 7, thirty-eight years after SDF Macross and nine years before Macross Frontier. Robotech is not a part of the Macross timeline, so don't expect "Rick Hunter" to be mentioned. 

The main protagonist is Captain Aegis Focker (Shoji Kawamori has yet to expound on any relation to Roy Focker.) a pilot in the United Nations Space Force, and new member of the special operations squadron VFX Ravens. Though the course of the story, Focker faces off against anti-government terrorists attacking UN colonies, shady corporations developing new technologies and corrupt government and military officials looking to mount a coup. 

As part of a special operations squadron, Focker has access to a variety of fighters ranging from the modern update of the legendary VF-1 Valkyrie, to the VF-19A Excalibur to the massive VB-6 variable bomber.  

In Macross Frontier the United Nations Government has been reorganized into the New United Nations Government. There has been some speculation that the reorganization was related to the events at the end of the good ending of VFX2. 

The plot itself is pretty good, it's a shame it was never animated into an OAV. 

Final Verdict: For fans of the franchise and fans of the genre. 

All in all, the game is a fun 3D arcade shooter once you get used to the controls. The game isn't very long, and it allows you save in-between missions. Letting you play in small bursts if you like. If you're a fan of the series, or just a fan of arcade style shooters, this is worth checking out if it comes your way.