If you were a kid, teen, or generally cool during the 80's, the chances are you watched Robotech, or at least knew what it was. It was one of the first Japanese animations to find wide success in Western markets, and even then it was modified quite a bit to suit our tastes. Apparently 'Super Dimension Fortress Macross' was a bit too much for anime-virgin America at the time, so the friendlier Robotech: Macross Saga was used. Robotech branched out into pen & paper RPGs, toys, models, and of course loudly-coloured lunchboxes. It's no strangers to videogames either, and Robotech Invasion is the second such game to make its way to Xbox.

Robotech Invasion is set during the third Robotech miniseries most commonly known as the New Generation. The beleaguered forces of Earth's army (the Army of the Southern Cross, in a nod to Australian superiority no doubt!) have been unable to repel the new alien menace- the Invid- and the invaders have settled in comfortably on our planet, content to farm protoculture and terrorise humanity into submission. Luckily for mankind, the Robotech Expeditionary Force, originally sent out to find the homeworld of an entirely different alien threat, have finally made their way back home and are ready to reclaim our homeworld from grubby alien hands/paws/claws/etc.

If the above paragraph is about as confusing to you as international diplomacy is to George W. Bush, then don't worry too much. Robotech Invasion is a stand-alone title, and while it offers a timeline and some backstory via the manual, previous experience with Robotech isn't really necessary. That being said, this doesn't mean Robotech Invasion's storyline is actually that coherent, because it isn't. The narrative plays out via in-game cutscenes or dialogue exchanges, and neither does a particularly good job of explaining what is going on.

Another thing that is worth mentioning right off the bat is that unlike Robotech Battlecry, you don't get a chance to pilot the kickass Veritech mechas that turn into jets and armoured suits. Instead, you play a common soldier who has access to a Cyclone, which is a futuristic motorbike that conveniently folds up into a stylish jacket when you're done with it. The Cyclone is a fun addition to the game, but poor implementation holds it back from being a truly useful alternative. For starters you can't use it indoors, which may sound logical, until you realise you can't even drive it on the road going through a tunnel. It's weak too, both in terms of armour and armament, possessing no shields and only slow-firing rockets to defend itself. There are a couple of cool levels that implement the Cyclone well, but for the most part it is simply used to move your character from point A to Point L, which is a shame because it is great to hoon around in.

Robotech Invasion can be played in first or third person, and while most people will opt for the default first-person perspective, the over-the-shoulder view is a viable alternative for those who prefer it. Regardless of the perspective, you will be lumped with one of the ugliest looking HUD's in the history of gaming. A giant circle slap-bang in the middle of the screen with all the information attached to the sides, this monstrosity is as distracting as it is unhelpful. Ammo, health and shields are all displayed as bars along the side, but for some reason they never quite look like they are full, and some drain from the top down while others are reversed. A HUD transparency option is included which can slightly offset the hideousness of it all, but doing so puts you at a disadvantage as all your relevant and already hard-to-read status bars become dimmer as well. Yuck.

Breathe a sigh of relief though, because Robotech Invasion uses an intuitive, well-designed lock-on system to make battling the baddies that much easier. It's entirely optional to use too; all you need to do is pull the left-trigger and you will be locked onto the enemy. Your targeting reticule will be trapped within the lock-on rectangle until you release the left-trigger, so you can line up precision shots without having to worry about actually tracking your opponent. This is of the utmost importance, as the Invid are particularly vulnerable to damage in the ocular-area. Just as much fun can be hard aiming for extremities, which allow you to blow off the Invid's shoulder-mounted weapons, or you can aim for the hands/paws/claws/etc to disarm them- literally.

The levels aren't terribly varied, though there is a decent range of terrain: snow, desert, swamp, forest and a few others, but they all seem to be canyons or paths through impenetrable woods. There are a few indoor levels set in cities, caves, derelict spacecraft and even Invid hives, but none of them are particularly remarkable. The main problem here is that all the indoor areas are very, very dark, which require you to play using the monochromatic night-vision mode. Any visual flair here is lost in the stark green & black contrast, made more irritating by the constant hum the light-amplification visor seems to make.

Which brings us to the graphics in Robotech Invasion, that are, for the most part, unremarkable. This isn't to say they're bad, but they lack the unique charm of Battlecry's cel-shaded look, and compared to Riddick's and Halo 2's of the Xbox, they pale into mediocrity. Still, all the Robotech and Invid units and gear look great, although the models can be a little blocky and stiff in terms of animation. Kudos should still be given to Vicious Cycle for daring to be different and take Robotech out of the cartoon realm and into real-world graphics. Also, the upside to average graphics is a slick framerate and stable gameplay experience which is a big plus in itself, but hardly enough to win Robotech Invasion any accolades.

Speaking of accolades, Jesper Kyd must be married to one of the developers or else owe someone on the team a lot of money'there can be no other reason why he would score this game. Kyd, notable for his standout work on Freedom Fighters and the Hitman games for Io Interactive, phones in his performance for Robotech Invasion, and even then it's fantastic. The music is a delectable blend of 80's cartoon homage with modern techno-pop that manages to have a smattering of strong, Russian sounding vocalizations. Some of the tunes seem out of place in the game, but you'll enjoy them anyway.

The rest of the sound effects feel quite secondary to the soundtrack, but the use of Dolby Digital sound is good and the sounds never feel too repetitive. The voice-acting is a whole other kettle of protoculture, and you'll either love it or hate it. It sounds just like you would expect from a badly dubbed 80's cartoon: it's hokey, ham-fisted and over-acted, but the dialogue itself is woeful, so you can't expect much from the outset. It's either authentic homage or bargain-bin dross, and you'll have to decide which for yourself.

Robotech Invasion is not a difficult game, thanks in part to the lock-on system being too useful, but also because the enemies are so repetitive. You will slog your way through the game fighting essentially 3 Invid archetypes: little Invid, bipedal Invid, and hulking Invid. There are variants on each, but the method of execution doesn't alter between incarnations. This can make Robotech Invasion feel a little monotonous, but it helps to remember these are aliens tailor-made to fit a certain role in the Invid invasion. At any rate, the campaign will take around 10 hours to beat on normal difficulty.

Hidden throughout the singleplayer levels are unlockable skins for multiplayer, which are a nice touch but hardly exciting enough to warrant a replay if you've missed a few. Speaking of multiplayer, there is no Splitscreen mode included, so only those with access to System Link or Xbox Live can make use of the group games. Over the course of a week, we tried several times a day to find an actual server to play on Xbox Live and came up dry, which is truly pathetic for a new release game, and this is a strong case for why games should be released at the same time worldwide. The bottom line is that if Xbox Live support is leaning you in the direction of buying this game, think again.