Following on from Macross Last Frontier, Bandai decided to fund yet another mini-game for the suitably epic Macross Do You Remember Love BluRay release. Entitled My Boyfriend is a Pilot 2012, the game covers the events in the film and takes Artdink’s PS3 tech forward a bit further. What follows is our hands-on impressions with the new game.

For those that have played the last two BluRay Hybrid disc games, then much of what’s here won’t surprise you. In terms of the visuals, Artdink have managed to make some progress but it’s now becoming clear that having a solid PSP developer step up to PS3 levels of tech and art is not really all that feasible. Whilst the framerate is very solid now much of the texturing, shaders, effects and animation do look pretty dated. Admittedly the variable fighters are modeled almost flawlessly and the environments are pretty faithful too but the overall visual treatment does feel a bit lacking.

Functionally at least the game is decent and plays much like the PSP iterations (albeit a bit slower). Though we still prefer the overall pacing and speed of the PSP games, as they’re more immediate in terms of the combat mechanics, this is still compelling. The multiple control setups are still effect too and you can customise your variable fighter and pilot load-out before missions. The upgrading element is still entirely absent but considering the bite-size nature of the game that makes sense.

We love the film quite a bit, so much of what we wanted to see in terms of that has been done well but we do feel that Artdink are somewhat out of their depth on the PS3. Considering this is effectively a free game, much of our complaints are probably a bit unreasonable. However, if Artdink do eventually release a proper Macross game on the PS3 then they’ll have to considerably improve their tech and art. Cutting corners on the PSP is an obvious technical requisite due to the platform but that same mentality and skillset is not really transferable to something like the PS3.

As an aside, some have commented on the odd censorship in the film regarding decapitation. This is down to the fact that BluRay Hybrid game discs fall under the auspices of CERO certification, as they’re technically more games than just movies. In order to avoid a “Z Rating”, that massively restricts advertising in store (amongst many other things), it was obviously preferable to censor the offending sections. Fret not though, as a non-Hybrid BluRay release of the film will happen in the near future (returning the currently censored sections back to their original state).

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qDtB_WzYhw]