Starlink Battle for Atlas Review

INTRO

Here we are living in a world where Nintendo doesn’t have to be the only ones to make a game with Nintendo characters in it. I did not think we would see the day that Nintendo let another company use their characters. But here we are with Ubisoft taking the likes of Mario and Starfox and giving them the third party treatment they deserve.

I purchased the digital copy or Starlink Battle for Atlas on the Nintendo Switch. I did this because…

Oh my God Star Fox!!! I don’t care about the toys You get a far better value to your money with the digital version.

For those unaware there are many ways to buy Starlink. The physical copy for the Nintendo Switch comes with two pilot toys, Star Fox and Mason, an Arwing ship toy and two weapon toys. You also get a digital version of Mason’s ship. That will run you $75. With the digital version you get 5 Starships, 7 pilots, and 12 weapons all for $60. This is by far the best value unless you are a collector and want the toys or a child that’ll get a kick out of the toys.

GAMEPLAY & GRAPHICS

For the limited resources the Nintendo Switch provides, Ubisoft did an amazing job with the graphics and the stability of this game. There is definitely some texture pop in and out but very rarely does the frame rate drop even with big battles going on. The game is seamless just hold the R button to take off from your hover mode to fly around the planet faster or point up and you’ll be in space. The game consists of 7 fairly large plants all connected by a vast open space environment (that is more or less empty) but with zero loading screens.

The combat is great combining your various weapons to do more damage or inflict a devistating combo is addicting and that’s a good thing because you’ll be in combat a lot. Both ground combat and space dog fights are great. My one complaint is the game itself is very easy. Even the big bosses of each world can easily be taken out in just a few minutes or seconds even! To attempt to fix this I’ve upped the difficulty to the max and it has made it a bit more challenging I find myself dodging and using shields more often. But, with the right combination of weapons the big baddies are still dead in a few seconds. That being said for some reason I keep finding myself wanting more.

MONEY & UPGRADES

There isn’t much to say here before I left the first planet I already had over $1,000,000 and haven’t had to think about money at all. What you do find yourself searching for is Nova. It’s like gems or something of the sort in a mobile game, the things that you find far less often. However once you figure out how to get Nova there is no shortage and you’ll find yourself with over 60 in no time and it’ll hardly cross your mind at all when playing if you need it.

The upgrade system for your ship consists of mods. These mods are found by doing everything in the game even just basic combat with grunt bad guys. They will increase your defense, damage output, energy, etc…. And completely customizable to how you find yourself playing.

STORY

The writing in this game is great. I found the story compelling for both the main story and the short stand alone Star Fox quest. It provided meaning for all the mind numbing tasks there are to do in Starlink. Without spoiling anything the story is over all very good and enjoyable.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Starlink is a great first entry into a new franchise and I want to see it succeed. With the addition of Star Fox and the growing partnership with Nintendo I’m excited to see where Ubisoft takes this in the next installments. It’s a fairly barebones experience with lots of repeated meaningless tasks and dialogue. So if you aren’t into that stay away. But if you are looking for a fun seamless space combat/exploration game this is a good choice. I feel the biggest fall back for Starlink is just how easy it is. It made me upset in the beginning when I had more money than I would ever know what to do with and how I hardly ever find myself intimidated by an enemy no matter how big. Bumping up the difficulty improved things slightly and got me to actually need to think and use different skills to combat the environment. These are overshadowed by the sure amount of fun and great story telling of the game. It really is a good first entry in the series and if Ubisoft can take the same combat, story telling, and beautiful Galaxy they have built and increase the difficulty and improve some of the repetition Starlink can have some serious legs (or wings) to run for a few more games.

In summary I’ve enjoyed my time with Starlink. I will hop back in if they release DLC for the game and gladly pay for it. I plan to 100% complete the game and collect everything there is to collect. That will give me a few more hours of play for sure. I urge people to give it a try if it seems even remotely interesting to you because I want to see where Ubisoft can take this franchise or at the very least the mechanics of this space travel and combat.

👍🏼RECOMMEND WITH CAUTION OF KNOWING WHAT YOU’RE GETTING INTO