Review for Starlink: Battle for Atlas. Game for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 16/10/2018
We are all accustomed to that particular genre of video games that "forces" the user to buy puppets or objects in the real world to obtain the effects in-game. Skylanders was the pioneer, followed closely by Disney Infinity and Lego Dimensions. All these games relied on the playful and physical aspect that would certainly have conquered the little ones, but also on the collecting side of the older ones. And there is no denying it: all these brands have hit jackpots, conquering millions of users and selling an exorbitant amount of models, a bit like what happened to Nintendo with its Amiibo, albeit in extremely different ways.
The Amiibo, in fact, are mainly collector's items to be kept in plain sight on a shelf and which allow you to unlock some features in the games in which the respective characters appear, but nothing essential. The three aforementioned games, on the other hand, are entirely based on the continuous purchase of puppets to obtain effects that, more often than not, are required to reach certain areas or to complete the title 100%. After a long time, in any case, the wonder effect seems to have vanished, and these puppets have ended not only out of production, but also to burden the warehouses of the shops that no longer know how to discard them.
In this period of complete emptiness, where all three brands have ceased to exist, Ubisoft makes its move by slipping undisturbed into a now free market, proposing Starlink: Battle for Atlas.
Let's save space!
Starlink puts us in the shoes of the crew of the space ship Equinox, made up of interesting characters, well defined, and with very funny interactions. They are terrestrial whose mission is not, as one might think, to explore space or conquer some planet. On the contrary: the Equinox arrives in the Atlas solar system with the sole purpose of investigating the origins of Judge, the only alien of the crew who suffers enormously in not remembering anything of his past. Our friends, however, could not have known that the invasion of an alien race that calls itself “The Legion” is currently underway in the Atlas system. In search of power, in the form of the planetary energy called Nova, the leader of the Drax Legion will not wait even a minute to give us a hard time by sending us against enemy ships. At this point the members of Equinox decide to expand their goal by trying to free the seven planets of the Atlas system from the yoke of the Legion.
In the Nintendo Switch version, exclusively, Fox McCloud and his mercenary friends will also join the Starlink Alliance, which had come upon Atlas in pursuit of their archenemy Wolf. On the Nintendo console, therefore, in addition to being able to use Fox and his ship, there will be some history sections dedicated to him, which makes the Switch version the most complete despite an undoubted inferiority in the graphics sector.
Weapons to assemble
Starlink: Battle for Atlas it is summed up in the word "personalization". During our raids in this open space world, in fact, we will be able to insert the toys bought at the shop on the pad owner of the game, which will read them to understand which pilot, which spaceship, which wings and which weapons we have mounted, then taking all life within the game itself.
The pilots are all very different from each other: they have skills and perks to unlock to give a unique feeling to each character. Ships have different stats of speed, attack and defense, and it is possible to mount different types of wings on them to increase their aerodynamics or to favor a battle attitude. Interchangeable weapons, on the other hand, have different elemental attacks that can give a certain advantage against certain types of enemies, or necessary to access some special areas. The customization is so interesting that it is even possible to mount the weapons in reverse, so that they shoot from behind us (and for much of the first level, having incorrectly mounted the weapon by mistake, we continued to be stupidly perplexed to see the flamethrower shoot behind us without hitting the enemies in front). Fortunately, for those who do not intend to buy a multitude of models and spend a ton of money, the digital version of the game in deluxe version is present on the stores, which inside has directly unlocked all the characters, all the ships and all. the weapons. Extremely clever idea from Ubisoft, which therefore allows you to enjoy the game even to those who do not intend to collect accessories.
In Starlink we will travel exclusively on our space shuttle, never directly commanding the characters. The controls are intuitive and very smooth, but we won't be forced to just visit space and randomly encounter asteroids or raiders. The interesting phase will begin when we descend to one of the seven available planets, all extremely characterized and full of personality, and above all completely explorable. Between missions we will be able to search for collectibles, extract DNA from indigenous creatures to identify them, hack probes, destroy monster nests or Nova extractors, and much more. The results will often give us access to treasures and materials that we can spend at the various outposts to further upgrade our ships and weapons.
Fox or realism?
The longevity of Starlink is much wider than one might think: it is in fact of a story lasting at least fifteen hours also trying to go straight for the main missions, reaching over 30 hours in case we also want to carry out the secondary missions and strengthen ourselves to have a simpler life during the final stages of the game. The voice acting is well-made and features well-known actors in the anime scene, and the soundtrack is catchy and catchy. However, the Shakespearean choice comes when we need to talk about the graphics sector: the Switch version is extremely limited, with poorly maintained textures and fairly bare planets surfaces. On the contrary, the Playstation 4 and Xbox One versions are a joy to behold, with lush flower fields, crystalline textures, and beautifully crafted water effects. Choosing whether to give up Fox McCloud to get better graphics, however, is certainly not an easy choice.
Starlink: Battle for Atlas was an unexpected surprise. A game that left us definitely undaunted during the announcement proved to be fun, varied, and objectively high quality. A production not to be underestimated therefore, which allows you to choose whether to buy the puppets for collection or to simply unlock the parts of the ships and the pilots digitally. Starlink is a mature and interesting title, with the only flaw of being a little too repetitive once you discover all the things you can do during the game. Apart from that, it is a title that we recommend hands down to all owners of Nintendo Switch, while for those who own other consoles it is necessary to evaluate whether it is worth buying a game "castrated" of the Star Fox component.
► Starlink: Battle for Atlas is an Adventure-RTS-Shooter-Strategy game developed and published by Ubisoft for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 16/10/2018
Our latest game news: Starlink: Battle for Atlas - Tips for Beginners
