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5 /5

Chō Jikū Yōsai Macross for PlayStation 2 is an arcade flight/shooting game based on the Macross anime franchise. It allows players to play through the events of both the original 1982 TV series as well the 1984 theatrical film Do You Remember Love? in two distinct campaigns.

The TV campaign consists of 12 missions while the movie campaign has only 8, but with a higher difficulty. The levels follow the original events closely, allowing the player to experience them from the point of view of a Valkyrie pilot of Skull Squadron. In addition to many of the TV characters making an appearance via voice communication, the game introduces new characters in the player's wing mates Eddie Juutilainen and Bruce Rudel and their tactical officer liaison on the Macross, Emma Granger.

The mission goals vary from "destroy all enemies" to defend and escort missions, and often change mid-mission. The action is seen from a third-person perspective behind the player's Valkyrie. Like in the anime, the Valkyrie can change from the default Fighter mode to Gerwalk and Battroid modes. All three differ greatly in control and armament and have unique control schemes. In Fighter and Gerwalk modes, targeted missiles can be used to lock on to the numerous enemies, with the Valkyrie armed with hundreds of light but only a few heavy missiles at the start of a mission. A standard gun is also available, but it can't be locked onto enemies in Fighter and Gerwalk modes. That is only possible in Battroid mode, for which the gun is the primary weapon, along with head-mounted lasers for point defense. In Fighter mode the Valkyrie is fastest, but has a low turning rate. The Gerwalk Valkyrie can strafe left and right and move backwards and forwards. The Battroid can walk on ground and employ jump jets, useful for missions on the surface of planets or inside Zentradi ships. All three modes can dodge enemy missiles, but the Gerwalk must be airborne to do so.

Completing missions with a good rating by shooting down many enemies with a high hit rate and taking few to no hits awards the player trading cards which unlock additional Valkyrie models not appearing in the campaign that differ in capabilities and armament. These can be used in Free Mode to replay any of the campaign missions. A tutorial mode that explains the game's controls is also available.