mikeszekely

From the game's pedigree. The engine for this game has already been used in four Gundam games on the PSP. Even if Macross isn't as popular as Gundam, I expect more of both Gundam AND Macross from them.

Weapons actually aren't the same. Well, yeah, Max's VF-22 has the same missiles that spam a single target if you hold the button down that the YF-21 has. Miria's VF-22 has the missiles that can lock on to a bunch of targets when you hold the button. But yeah, the big difference is that the YF-21 has a super move that can take out most enemies in a single hit when you hit Triangle+Circle. As powerful as that is, though, and as helpful in getting S-Ranks as it is, it's not as game-bustingly powerful as those of you who haven't played the Gundam games might think. Quebeley had a funnel attack special move that also took down most enemies with one barrage... the difference being that you can't really miss with it, and you can often hit more than one target.

Well, not all. The EX missions in the eras (as opposed to the missions in the Extra section... confusing, I know) are quite difficult, especially since no matter how much you tune your units, they're un-tuned for those missions. The EX missions are MACROSS: Longest Birthday Pine Salad MACROSS PLUS: Dogfight Whatever the last mission is called. MACROSS 7: Can't remember the names. First one is where you have to defend the Destroids in the city from Varauta fighters. Second is when you're taking out FZ-109s in the canyon, with Grabil at the end. MACROSS FRONTIER: Miss Macross Friendly Fire I finished Longest Birthday, Dogfight, and both the 7 missions. On Pine Salad, I can finish the first part, but Miria mops the floor with me seconds into the second part. The Ghost took me out in the Plus mission. Klan's Q-Rea doesn't last long in Miss Macross, and Brera took me out in Friendly Fire. The YF-21 trick works great for getting S ranks to open EX missions, as well as beat the Extra missions, though. Even if there isn't one particular ace that pops up to kamikaze, spamming missiles is good for a combo score.

Sadly, not at the moment. Yes. No. Two meals and six hours PSP's portable, y'know? You can keep playing on your potty breaks. As has been mentioned, it helps if you're not into TV. Basically, I played it most of the day while the wife was at work. I cooked dinner for the wife on Wednesday and Thursday, and she wanted to go out on Friday. I watched a little TV with her, then played some more when she wanted to study for the CPA exam. End result is that I put about 15 or 16 hours into it over three days. I'll probably play it more today and tomorrow between the usual weekend activities, use the advice posted for getting S ranks (at least on the missions to unlock the remaining mecha and EX missions), then go back to job hunting on Monday.

BioWare is so much better than SOE, I'm actually crossing my fingers and hoping that they've never played Galaxies. I don't want them to get any bad ideas.

I think a lot of us have either formed an opinion through playing the game, or reading others' opinions in this forum. But, if anyone cares, I've written a review which can be read here. (You don't have to register or sign up for anything to leave a comment, so please give me a shout if you do read it.)

I don't think it's in the game. Do you suppose picking weaker units will net you a better score? I've been flying the VF-25G, and I'm sick of all the B's I'm getting. The only SS I got so far was in a plain cannon fodder VF-1A.

Don't beat yourself up, Graham. I'm going back with Michel's VF-25G, almost maxed on tuning, and trying to improve my scores. I'm still getting B's on some missions. I'm killing enemies as fast as I can and taking little to no damage, too, so I don't know... Some missions (but not all) seem to have extra missions if you get an S-Rank. So far, the only one I've seen was, if you beat the mission "Longest Birthday" with an S, you unlock the same mission, but with an EX in front of it. If you play that one, a pilot and Valkyrie are selected for you (in this case, VF-1A and Kakizaki). When I beat that mission, I unlocked Hikaru's DYRL VF-1A with FAST packs.

According to some Japanese site, these are the mecha I'm missing. I haven't confirmed it, I don't read enough Japanese to know if this is a valid source or not, so take it with a grain of salt... VF-1A Super (Hikaru Ichijou) Queadluun-Rau (Max Jenius) Golgantz-Chartz Vritlwhai SDF-1 VF-22 (Max Jenius) Grabil Gepernitch VF-171EX Battle Frontier VF-0S SV-51γ (Nora Polanski) I have no idea how to get any of them. Some of them probably require S-ranks. If this is true, then, as far as I'm concerned, any and all of the following should be in the sequel: VF-1A Super (Max DYRL) VF-1S Super (Max Jenius) VEFR-1 Destroid Cheyenne VF-0A VF-0D VF-0S Armored VF-11C Armored VF-22 (Diamond Force) VF-25F Super VF-25S Armored VF-25G Super RVF-25 Super VB-6 VF-4 VF-3000 VF-5000B (Spacy version) VF-5000G (Zola Version) VF-19F VF-19S VF-9 VF-14 Variable Glaug Battle 7 Destroid Cheyenne II Macross Quarter Battle Galaxy Vajra Queen AZ-130 FBz-99

It was from some model magazine. You can check out the mecha here by clicking "Super Dimension Fortress Macross: VF Experiment" under variations. They're there. They just stuck them in the EX missions that open up after you finish all four campaigns. Can't be 100% sure. I'm still missing some mecha. Here's the list, with ???? where I'm still missing a mecha. Tomahawk Defender Phalanx Spartan Monster ???? VF-1D VF-1A VF-1A(Max Jenius) ???? VF-1J (Hikaru Ichijou) VF-1J (Max Jenius) VF-1J (Miria Farina Jenius) VF-1J Armored (Hikaru Ichijou) VF-1S (Roy Focker) VF-1S Super (Hikaru Ichijou) VF-1S Super (Roy Focker) Regult Glaug Nosjadeul-Ger Queadluun-Rau Queadluun-Rau (Miria Farina) ???? Zentradi Soldier ???? ???? VF-11B YF-19 YF-21 VF-11C VF-17D VF-17S VF-17S (Miria Farina Jenius) ???? VF-22S (Miria Farina Jenius) Mylene Valkyrie Fire Valkyrie FZ-109A FZ-109F ???? ???? VF-171 ???? VF-25F VF-25S VF-25G RVF-25 ???? Queadluun-Rea Queadluun-Rea (Klan Klan) ???? Vajra (Small) Vajra (Large) ???? SV-51α ???? SV-51γ (DD Ivanov) If they're grouped by series, I have no idea what the first one is, second one is probably VF-1A (Hayao Kakizaki), then a Queadluun-Rau (Max Jenius). Not sure about the next two before the VF-11B. In the Macross 7 bunch, you're looking at probably a VF-22S (Max Jenius), AZ-130, and an FBz-99. I'm guessing the rest are the VF-171EX, VF-27, VF-25S Armored, VF-0S, and SV-51γ (Nora Polansky). If I'm right, we're missing the VF-0A and VF-0D, Armored VF-11, Armored VF-0S, the VF-19F, VF-19S, the Jammingbirds' VF-11, Roy and Veffidas' VF-17, Gamlin's VF-22, the VF-5000, the VA-3, the VB-6, all three DYRL Skull Squadron VF-1As, Max's VF-1S, any and all VF-25 Supers just to cover the ones that were actually in an anime.

Okay, I finished every story (which, for three of the four stories, adds some extra missions where you can play for the other side... only able to finish the Vajra missions...), and the first two EX missions. I'm still missing some mecha, but I'm throwing in the towel for the night. One thing I'm starting to miss from the Gundam Battle games is those few really stand out mecha, like the Quebeley. It doesn't matter really which mecha you pick, a lot of the boss pilots get REALLY hard to hit. If I had to pick a favorite, though, maybe the VF-25G, runners up being the VF-22, VF-171, and VF-17S. Oddly, despite the VF-171EX's appearance in the game, the Frontier story seems to end about halfway through the series (around the episode after Grace used the Dimension Eater on that planet and Alto was trying to rescue Ranka from the Vajra ship). So, what I'd like to see for the next Macross Ace game: -More mecha. While it's true I'm missing some, I didn't see a couple of paints for the VF-1 family, no armored Thunderbolt, no armored VF-25, no FAST packs at all aside from the VF-1S and VF-11C, and while we're at it, how 'bout the VF-4, VF-9, VF-14, VF-3000, VF-5000, VA-3, VB-6, and VF-19? Macross II mecha? The Stealth Wing Experiments? Destroid Cheyenne or Cheyene II? -A more complete storyline for Macross Frontier. -A storyline for Macross Zero. -EX missions for Stealth Wing Experiment, Macross II and M3.

Did you finish the Mac+ storyline (I'm assuming that you chose the YF-19)? I chose the YF-21, and after finishing the Mac+ storyline, I got the YF-19. I've finished all the stories but Frontier, and I saw hide nor hair of the VF-19F of VF-19S.

I think that's normal. I remember it bugged me in the Gundams. Try the first regular mission and see. For the record, double-tapping the d-pad does a sort of side-step dodge. Honestly, I think it's best if you don't treat Ace Frontier as a flight game, and keep movement on the d-pad. The trim. For example, say you're using Hikaru's VF-1J. You can change the white part to black, and change the red stripe to green. On VF's, like Hikaru's VF-1J, that seem to only have those two colors, the third might change the visor.

The camera doesn't bother me. It reminds me of VF-X2. You could try holding L and hitting R... it should take the lock off. Also, do the tutorials. You'll get 500 tuning points for every mecha. You can also re-do levels to get more tuning points for the Valkyrie before you fight Hikaru. Another thing to do is save your special attacks until Hikaru comes out, then hold L and hit Triangle to do a special melee attack. For that fight, you're better off sticking to gerwalk and battroid.

I would actually prefer a repaint as Roadhauler than as Grapple or Artfire. I've always liked the Constructicon's green with purple color scheme; it stands out. And my collection could always use more Decepticons.

Yeah, I do. I don't think that the PS2 game offered up anything better in terms of overall gameplay, it just put more of the emphasis on the Ace Combat-style flight simmish aspects. I know a lot of board members here seem to prefer that in a Macross game, but none of them have quite lived up to Ace Combat, so I'd prefer it get the Battroid combat down. It could be deeper, sure, but I like the shoot this, shoot this, shoot this, mission complete gameplay. It's a good fit for the PSP. I also think that while the PS2 and VF-X games had some stages that emphasized fighter mode and some that emphasized gerwalk/battroid, I think that Ace Frontier does the best job of making all three modes work in the same stage. My thought basically that it's a pretty good game. If you were hoping for something more like the PS2 version or with better flight sim aspects, you might be disappointed, and if you're a fan of the Gundam Battle games, you'll probably like it more, but taken for what it is, it's a good game.

When you start a campaign, you pick your story, then you're taken to the hanger. You know it's the hanger because the word "HANGER" is splayed across the screen. You can either hit circle to go to the mission select, or press left or right to select another aspect of the game. The most important here will be player and partner, where you assign your characters mecha, tune the mecha, and color the mecha, as well as select pilot skills. If you already tapped circle when "HANGER" is on the screen, you can still move between the items with the L and R shoulder buttons. If you do go to mission select, pushing left or right will change the era to any you've unlocked, or bring up the tutorial missions. On the player screen (or the partner screen), you can push up or down on the d-pad to highlight either the Valkyrie head, the helmet, or the spray can. If you have the Valkyrie head highlighted, pushing left or right will scroll through the mecha you have unlocked. Press circle to assign one to your pilot. Press square to enter tuning mode. Press left or right to pick an aspect of tuning... basic stats, followed by your primary weapon, all your secondary weapons, then your melee. I don't have those translated yet, but I'll post them when I do. If you highlight the helmet, pressing left or right will let you select between the pilot you created, and any pilots you've unlocked. If you press square, you can pick your pilot's skill. Sorry, don't have those translated yet either. If you highlight the spray can, you can change your mecha's color. Scroll through them with left or right... there's one default, and three customs. Assign a color with circle. If you want to customize a color yourself, pick one of the custom colors (you can't change the defaults) and press square. Then you can highlight three colors and change them, but you can't change patters or anything.

Yeah, but you didn't like the Gundam Battle games either, so... As someone who did, I think this is probably the best Macross game to date. One thing I have noticed, though, is that the controls are a little sluggish compared to the Gundam Battle games.

So the 360 fanboys will gloat, and the Sony fanboys will petition the game to be a PS3 exclusive like they did with Devil May Cry 4 and Final Fantasy XIII. Those who only own a single next-gen console for other reasons (like cost) are simply happy to have another game. And those of us who own both, with no strong preference either way? We get options now... assuming we consider Tekken to be worth $60 (I don't).

Well, I'm only one mission into Macross 7 after you unlock the VF-17D, so I'm not even sure a choice is presented in the Macross 7 story. But in Macross Plus, after the third mission, when they're telling you everything you'll unlock, there's pictures of both, and you have to highlight the one you want to continue. I'm guessing if you didn't see anything like that, there was no choice.

Yeah, they give you a choice. Oh, and if you hold L and tap R, you'll unlock. Now go beat Geppernitch!

Yes, that's the last level of SDFM. Did you have to pick at some point? I started the Plus story after SDFM, and after mission 3 you're given a choice, YF-19 or YF-21. I went with the YF-21. I have no idea how/if I can get the YF-19 later. You can't get it by replaying the third mission.

Bah. There are better Targetmasters. Like TM Kup.

Aside from color, how is Artfire any better? A Japan-only character that barely rated an appearance in some manga, just to hawk another Inferno repaint?

That'd be nice, but don't count on it. Before this developer did Ace Frontier, they did four Gundam Battle games for the PSP that never saw a PS2 release.