Starlink: Battle for Atlas Switch Review (Nintendo Switch)

Written by Kris Galvez

Title: Starlink: Battle For Atlas
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Price: $59.99
Genre: Action, Adventure, Simulation
Also Available On: PS4, XB1

---

With the Switch nearly completing its 2-year run, a lot of third parties have dropped the ball when supporting the little platform that could. While indies have fully accepted the Switch as a platform to wholeheartedly support, AAA studios like EA and Activision still remain silent. Enter Ubisoft who has continued to release diverse games for the Switch with some degree of success. The first of which being Mario x Rabbids: Kingdom Battle which is a crossover of Nintendo and Ubisoft’s mascots. While Mario x Rabbids is quite ambitious for a first try, Ubisoft tries to outdo their first attempt with an even more ambitious title. Starlink: Battle for Atlas is an open-space exploration title crossing over with one of the Big N’s most memorable cast of characters, the Star Fox crew.

Even if the title seems generic, there are a lot of ambitious things about Starlink. First, is the fact that Ubisoft aims to revive the dead Toys-to-life genre where real toys can be used and be brought to life in the game world. Pilots, ships and weapons are available to buy in stores. While I have only managed to try the digital version of Starlink, it is exciting to be able to physically alter your ship, pilot, weapons and wings by just connecting the object to the controller included with the game. People who are not keen on cluttering their homes with toys can also join in the fun by just buying the ships digitally as another option. A plethora of mods that enhance your loadout are also available.

Gameplay wise, Starlink allows players to explore the vast Atlas system which is a handcrafted world where diverse planets, creatures and enemies roam. The fun is in actually using everything at your disposal to progress through the 20-hour story while doing some side activities like completing your codex of a planet’s fauna or setting up outposts. All of these activities are done while riding your ship as there is no on foot gameplay. Controlling your ship feels pretty intuitive and the controls are easy to learn. This makes exploring the star system fun and wonderful. Another thing I like about the exploration is that everything is seamless. In fact, one of the most satisfying experiences, I’ve had with the game was leaving and reentering a planet’s atmosphere as there are only a few games like this for the Switch.

Combat is also handled exceptionally if you have a lot of weapons as these can be combined with some being more effective than the others. It’s quite satisfying to kill one Imp hive by combining a gravity-based weapon and a fire-based weapon. This makes dogfights in space exhilarating. A minor nitpick is that there are a lot of homing weapons so once you have mastered yours, combat will feel a little bit repetitive as the hours go by. Another thing to note is that I have access to all the game’s content digitally, so the game may feel quite boring if you only have a few ships, pilots and weapons available. It almost seems like Ubisoft is asking you to buy everything to have the complete experience.

While everything seems nice, there are still many of Ubisoft’s usual failings found in Starlink. For such an ambitious title, the game’s story is not epic. It’s the usual save the galaxy story found in many space operas abound. Starlink’s well rendered cutscenes just cannot save its generic story together with its generic characters. It’s almost a miracle that the Star Fox team was able to liven up the game even if the Switch Exclusive Star Fox missions are short. Even when I finished the game, I was left wanting for more of the Star Fox missions.

Another thing to note is that since this is an Ubisoft open world game, it also falls for their usual open world trappings. You continuously do missions planet to planet by opening the map through outposts, collect codex, defeat enemies and move on to the next area. The Atlas system may feel large at first but when you do the same activities over and over, the game gets repetitive. All of this is alleviated by the fact that the story can be finished over the weekend so it does not overstay its welcome.

There is a well-rounded skeleton that Ubisoft can build upon on Starlink: Battle for Atlas. The world is large and beautifully brought to life by their Snowdrop engine. The core conceit of the title of an open space exploration with fun dogfights are also genius especially with how you customize your ships. To be honest, I have had a lot of fun with Starlink: Battle for Atlas especially with the robust Star Fox content. But the constant repetitive trappings of Ubisoft’s open world titles are also found here. While the game may not be as resounding a success as Mario x Rabbids: Kingdom Battle in terms of a Nintendo x Ubisoft crossover, a sequel with all of its issues ironed out will most definitely be welcome in the future.

---

Pros

• As this is made in Ubisoft’s proprietary Snowdrop Engine, the game is one of the most beautiful titles on the Switch. Playing this on handheld mode is a joy even with some downgrades.
• Customizing everything on your ship is satisfying.
• Atlas is a nice handcrafted star system which is amazing to explore, especially in the opening hours.
• The Star Fox missions makes the Switch version the best version.

Cons

• Star Fox missions are too few.
• Story and the characters are generic.
• The open world nature of the game is repetitive.
• The toys-to-life nature of the game is negligible.

---

Score: 8/10

---

Note: The game was reviewed using a digital deluxe code provided by the publisher.