Not without its issues, but a very good game regardless. And if you like Macross it is a no-brainer.
Macross Ace Frontier (MAF) is a game that is meant to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Macross franchise, and it does so admirably. It is essentially an arcade style shooter, in which you assume the role of one of four original UN Spacy pilots and fight your way through the stories of the included Macross series. The series included are the original Macross/Do You Remember Love?, Macross Plus, Macross 7, and Macross Frontier. Macross Zero is included as a bonus, but there are no story missions for that series. The units included are a good representation of their respective series, and while they are numerous and varied, they do not include all of the units from the anime (there is a sequel in the works, Macross Ultimate Frontier, that will include many of the omitted units and more Macross series). The player is also able to pilot enemy mecha in specific enemy missions and in the free play mode, in which any mission can be played with any unit. You can even take commmand of the Macross class battleships!
The gameplay of MAF follows very closely to that of some of the most recent PSP Gundam games, upon which MAF's engine is built. However since Macross is centered around aerial combat, this aspect of the Gundam engine has seen great improvements. The control scheme is resonably intuitive, with the only gripe being that the most comfortable control scheme has the flight controls mapped to the D-pad and the mode transformation to the analog stick. It is kind of strange to have to take your thumb off the flight controls to transform, but this is more a limitation of the PSP having only one analog and not a real fault with the game. The combat is fluid and very pleasing. Missile trails follow their targets, tracer rounds arc appropriately, and boosters give a real sense of speed. And the pacing and animation make MAF feel very close to the anime source material. One gripe that I have encountered from players is that the gameplay is repetitive. In that it boils down to dodging incoming missiles and loosing your own. My response to this gripe is, WHAT DO YOU THINK AERIAL COMBAT CONSISTS OF?! HAVE YOU WATCHED MACROSS?! Of course most of the combat will consist of missile engagements, and if that is not your cup of whatever, then each mecha is equipped with a number of other weapons that can be effective in conjunction with smart use of the mode transformations, and melee attacks if that suits you better. The combat can be as fast or as slow as you make it. Of course getting in close comes with the added risk of more enemy fire, and there is a lot of it. So backing off and engaging with missiles is attractive to those who do not have true ace level skills, or are not willing to endure being splashed. And you will get splashed. The difficulty in MAF can be brutal. There are certain missions that no matter how much of a Maximilian Jenius you are you seem to get slaughtered. This is one of the legitimate gripes that significantly reduces the overall score, and should definitely be addressed in the sequel. Rounding out the gameplay is the intermission options, where you can save your game and upgrade your mecha. This is similar to other mecha games. During combat you earn Ace Points which can be spent on upgrading the stats of your units. Having a fully upgraded mecha REALLY helps out on those harder missions. One nice touch is that there are four different paint schemes available for each mecha, three of which are fully editable. So, if you want to recreate your favorite paint scheme from the anime, or create one of your own, the tools are available.
The graphics in MAF are stunning for the PSP. The environments are a little sparse, but this is true for any flight combat, or mecha action game, and is more a function of having to make the environments of a large enough size to accommodate the scale of the units and battles. The unit models themselves are beautiful, the level of detail is great and they are appropriately animated, including their transformation sequences. The effects all also look great, with nice explosions and weapon effects. One graphical plus is the semi-accurate scale of some of the units. The larger units are scaled to a degree that your fighter looks like a tiny fly. It may not be exactly anime accurate, but it is convincing enough. There are some glitches, pop in, slow down, etc. These issues drag down the score slightly, but none of these interfere with the game enough to make a big issue over it. Overall MAF gets good marks for visuals.
As any Macross fan knows, the music and sound are of paramount importance if you want to re-create the feeling of the anime, and MAF does a good job of doing just that. The player will be battling with the appropriate enemies in the appropriate unit making all the appropriate sounds with the appropriate direct from the anime songs playing in the background. Having the appropriate effects and particularly music does just as much to give the player the feeling of playing a Macross game as the best graphical presentation ever could. The anime accurate sound is fantastic. And the original music tracks are also very good.
For value MAF is kind of a mixed bag. There is a substantial campaign, a free mission mode, an encyclopedia of Macross information (if you can read Japanese), and a large number of units to unlock. So, if the player is a Macross fan and so is interested in unlocking every unit, extra, and completing every mission with the best ranking, then it is a great value. But, if the player is a casual Macross fan and will play through only once, they may prefer to wait until the price comes down a bit.
Overall MAF is a good mecha combat game, and one of the best if not the best Macross game. The main thing that drags the score down is its punishing difficulty. So, if you are a Macross fan, get it. If you are a mecha fan, I would still recommend it, but do your research on what else is available for the PSP. And if you are not a Macross or a mecha fan, why are you reading this review in the first place?