STARLINK: BATTLE FOR ATLAS

This year is quite strong for Ubisoft, but of all the titles he has brought us so far, he has just received the least attention. And now I'm not talking about the attention of the players and the media, but about the attention of the publisher himself who, like Starlink: Battle for Atlas, puts on the side rail. But for the publisher, this is a great thing, for the first time, he has been going into the toy-to-life titles of untold water for him. This is the sphere popularized by Skylanders and combining physical toys with traditional video games. This is the only reason why this game definitely deserves attention.

There's also a lot more to do, not only in the game itself, but around it. For example, it's a Switch version that we review and offers a really unexpectedly well-managed crossover with the legendary Star Fox. But it is also the quality of the toys themselves, which greatly influence the success of these titles. But this is more complicated for Starlinka. It's not just a toy. There's a pilot, his ship and weapons on this ship. You can combine it all or if you have more ships, you can also swap their wings. Everything fits in and then you put the whole boat, pilot, and weapon assembly into your controller's bracket (Switch is a Grip Holder to which you put Joy-Cony), so that you have a boat in front of you playing.

From a collector's point of view, Starlink's toys are quite controversial. Weapons are a bit of an impression on ships, but they have to be big enough to be easy to deploy them and to dash during the game. Figurines are tiny, they lose their details, which is a huge shame. Well the boats are on the other hand very nice. They also do not have nice design details and the structures are strong enough so you do not have to worry about being easily damaged. For example, Fox Arwing also has moving parts, which works even better. With exclusive content for Switch, Starlink offers 10 pilots, 6 ships and 15 weapons in 5 categories. In addition, if you do not want toys, the game can be played digitally without these things, even if you buy a retail version. Simply ships, pilots and everything else changes in the menu and not physically.

Let's go to the game itself, which is actually a science-fiction action RPG where you control a spaceship not only in space but especially on the surface of the planets. But the pilots have an unmistakable place, and you can hardly even notice them when you play them, you can enjoy them in a story. You find yourself in the Atlas star system, until the scientist St. Grand, who is the commander of your crew, which is made up of several other people as well as aliens. He came here to explore the ancient secrets, but as you might guess, he will soon become a victim of a local race that is relying on the power of a long-lost civilization. Then it is your crew's job to save him, defeat the villains, and unify the whole system in this struggle.

Ultimately, however, the story is more interesting than you would expect from this description. It enters many characters, not everything goes exactly as you expect. The game is a bit tedious and in this area it has the advantage of the Switch version, which not only gets Star Fox with the boat, but also its story line, which is exclusive and even more gaming. The Fox itself is premeditated, part of the mainstream scenes and becomes a part of the Equinox (albeit not a long-term) ship. His extra story is not short, and as you might expect, you are hunting Wolf in it. From this point of view it would seem that the Switch version will offer the most in the pack and also in the game.

Though it does not seem like it, the Starlink concept is exactly the same as any other Ubisoft titles in the open world. It takes place in space and on several distant planets, but basically it is similar to Far Cry or Assassin. Just take care of the cities that most missions play. The universe is here to move, bigger fighting against Dreadnought, and lurking in it, the bandits waiting for you to catch them in a hyperpriestor trap. Later you will also unlock fast travel between the planets, but you must first discover each one.

However, the planets themselves do not offer too much, and it is to be noted that the concept of the game may change during the course of development. One of the first activities that you can acquire is, for example, scanning a local fauna that will give you some expo. Perhaps it would be likened to No Man's Sky, but that is useless, because if you compare them, Starlink is a game that No Man's Sky should be. However, there are also a number of other secondary activities, some of which are more entertaining, others less, but you can not avoid them.

The primary activity here is and always will be the fight, and it actually takes place in two forms. Yet you control the spaceship, so you can, of course, fly. It is very nice that the transition from space to the planets through the atmosphere is smooth, without any recording, just a little change the application to background the surface and it is all. Planets are smaller, but not quite small. But when you're on it, you can switch your ship into hovering mode, so you're sliding down the surface of the planet, and in this case you're fighting farther from the ground than from the air.

The games themselves are really fun in the game, thanks to how many different types of enemies and how many weapons are available, although the fact is that the weapons depend on which package you buy. In action, however, it is different. It's a downfall, you have to know how to turn around, use shields and eventually run away when needed. Most importantly, however, you change weapons according to the weaknesses of your current enemies. Sometimes they are resistant to firearms, which means you have to deploy ice. On each wing you have one weapon and you can combine them with effects with an even stronger effect. For example, an ice and fire weapon will cause a heat shock, but the best thing is the vortex that you can add, for example, to a devastating fire effect.

Well then there are stronger enemies. On the planets, this is a huge Prime machine, with a battle with it consisting of several phases. First you have to weaken it, then try to escape you and eventually attack you with everything you have. In the universe you are waiting for big boats, which you must also weaken first and then attack on its core. If Star Wars reminds you of it, just wait for the game to play. In addition, there is an enemy hierarchy, where the weaker, the stronger the big ones. So if you want to weaken them, you have to go downstairs. New Primates may also appear.

Hand in hand with the destruction of enemies and progress in the story is also the liberation of the planets. This is primarily the case by eliminating the enemy's influence on them. Secondly, by building up your own base of various types (armory, observatory ... - each has a different purpose). Well, and finally you're doing side-by-side tasks for bases that are already on the planets. So you wear something, collect raw materials and protect them. Then, in the fight against the enemies, they begin to build on your side, only you have to watch out for the friendly fire and possibly repair it too.

And that's what I'm going back to something I've suggested earlier. Even though Starlink does not look, it is again the Ubi sandbox. With all the good and the bad team. So these side-tasks work very generically and repetitively. Probably to the bounces, but I can not understand how anyone could think of putting the arcades where you have to jump with the space ship will be fun. On each planet you actually do the same cycle of activity, even though these planets are very different in their environment. They are here instead of the turrets, so now you do not have those, but the parts of the individual planets. In the end, there is nothing in the core that you would not have known yet, but fortunately there are other things that keep the game above the surface, whether it's interesting story stories, catching action, or characters and weapons.

RPG elements have been the most powerful ones. During the game, you level your ship, weapons, characters. Each pilot has his / her own abilities, with the addition of passive and one special active (for example, Fox calls for reinforcements) and you can gradually improve the experience points. In the course of the game, you also collect different modes that are classic by RPG style, from ordinary to unique, and the more unique they are, the more they will improve your skills. You can then place yourself in the free slots of your weapons and ships and ultimately achieve truly different gameplay. However, it is questionable whether the game can motivate you to sacrifice strength for the sake of dexterity. But you really have a variety of ways to connect mods.

Technically, Starlink is not bad, not even on Switch, where it runs surprisingly well and there are no significant drops in the frame, everything is smooth and the game looks good, but it's not without compromise, and on the planets pop-up objects are still unbearable, in space, the asteroids leap straight ahead of your nose, which does not work well. The sound is also very well done, whether it's a nice music or a great dubbing of all the characters. He also enjoys the quality of the presentation where the game is accompanied by high-quality CGI scenes and here and there you can also use 2D cartoon scenes in some parts of the story. Indeed, from the technological point of view, Ubisoft played with the game to look, play and move the best.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas is much better than you would say, and it is definitely a game that should not be missed especially by the youngest sci-fi fan. However, the focus on the children does not interfere with older players as well, and the families come with an interesting option where parents and children can play cooperatively in a couple. Yes, there is grinding. Yes, there is repeating content. It's a sandbox game from Ubisoft. But if it does not hurt you in other games, you'll lose it to get what you care about - storytelling, entertainment, upgrades, and even toys. Switch players also have the advantage that those high-quality Star Fox games have gone a long way and from this you can definitely make a good Star Fox game.