Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a Game that Deserves Your Attention

On the surface, Starlink: Battle for Atlas looks like nothing more than a spaceship shooter with a toys-to-life gimmick slapped on to it. With the Nintendo Switch version taking the extra step by having what most people expected to be a shallow inclusion of the Star Fox crew. While there is a bit of truth to all that, I wouldn't recommend dismissing the game outright as it offers so much more than what was made out to be.

The Toys-to-Life subgenre of video games was a neat idea that, while sounded amazing, sadly didn't last as long as expected. An innovation that sounded it came straight out of old 90's science fiction media. Let's be honest, despite the waning interest, the novelty of taking a physical item and scanning it into a video game still sounds very cool and everyone is just waiting for the day where the technology won't be restricted to proprietary accessories tied within their respective games. While most of them did work as advertised, many followed the formula set by the Skylanders series. Starlink isn't exempt from this trend but does well enough differently both with its game genre and interaction that makes itself stand out.

Starlink is an open-world action-adventure game where you take control of a starship to protect the galaxy of Atlas from the evil Legion army. The entire game is played with a 3rd-person perspective view of your ship and the main gimmick is swapping out physical parts of your ship using the toys included and those sold separately. You have the ability to swap out multiple parts of your ship which have universal connection points that can be mixed and matched to fit your needs.

The ship parts are divided into 4 key pieces and connect to your controller via the included mount. The pilot figure, the ship's hull, wings, and weapons. Each pilot will have their own level progression, dialogue, and most importantly, a unique combat skill that can be activated. Different ships hulls will have different stats values such as health, speed, weight, handling, etc, as well as of course offering a visual difference. If your ship gets destroyed, replacing the hull acts as having an extra life. The wings themselves do not add any additional health values but will offer some form of stability, weight, and additional handling to your ship itself can be controlled fully with simply the hull and a pilot. Lastly are the weapons. You'll be swapping these out the most as each weapon will have their own type and element, the latter of which is more important as elements will have resistance to themselves and some will have a weakness to another. Certain elements can also complement each other by dealing extra damage when combined. Such as combining and ice and fire to trigger a Thermal Shock. Gravity weapons can cause interesting effects such as infusing an enemy with an increased gravitational force which will attract projectile fire towards them, including their own.

Much like Skylanders, certain item chests and puzzles will be locked by a corresponding element and requires that you have the correct one equipped in order to access them. Luckily, the main story can be completed with just the starting ship and weapons.

If the idea of having to buy more toys to enjoy the game doesn't sit well with you or if the toys just aren't accessible say if they aren't at your local stores, there is an option to buy Digital Editions of the game which gives you ships, pilots, and weapons without the need of having to connect the toys. This bypasses the novelty of the toys-to-life gimmick but makes the game completely playable for those who wish to simply play the game.

Starlink also does what most people thought was revolutionary back in 2016 before No Man's Sky released. And that was the seamless transition between breaking the planet's atmosphere heading into space and vice versa. Starlink may not have the vast universe of No Man's Sky but lets you explore the Atlas galaxy along with its 7 planets which are still pretty sizable in their own right and have unique topographies, vegetation, and wildlife. The space section while traveling between planets is its own open zone with asteroid fields, space debris, and abandoned spaceships which might contain some goodies to loot. Outlaws and remnant fleets of the Legion army might try ambush you in space which can lead to some pretty fun dogfights. There’s a great sense of wonder when exploring the planets for the first time. And while I admit that what you do between planet to planet doesn’t vary all the much, it is rewarding to get lost in a new zone.

I played the Nintendo Switch version of Starlink which includes a cameo from the Star Fox crew. What caught me by surprise was how involved they are in the story. Instead of just having your run of the mill shallow extra cutscenes inserted in the game, Ubisoft took the extra step and rendered quite a few of the major story cutscenes but with the Star Fox crew present in them and sometimes interacting with the main cast. If you have the Fox McCloud pilot on, Fox is included in conversations and is acknowledged by the Starlink crew. Plus, Fox and the gang do have their own set of quests and story-line in this. Both parties have justifiable reasons to help each other out and the crossover works better than I ever expected it to.

To finish the main story, most of the side quests plus general playing around clocked me in at about 30+ hours which I'm happy to say was all pure fun. The only real negative I can say about the game is that I wish that there were more enemy types. You kind of see everything that the game can throw at you around halfway through and there isn't much variation past that. Given how they play up the villain army in the story, I was expecting more. Like some sort of secret weapon that they'd bust out near the end. Still, my overall experience with Starlink has been very positive and it's an easy recommend from me. Especially if you own a Switch.

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