Fuse No Man’s Sky ‘s exploration, a bunch of RPG elements and Nintendo’s amiibo hardware and you’ll create Starlink. Starlink would have been the kind of game I probably played a lot when I was a child. It takes your imagination level to a whole other level. Creating your ship from parts that have been provided to you by the developers and digitalize it within the Starlink’s universe… I’ll bet that it’ll create some awesome moments.
Of course, Starlink isn’t one of its kind. There’s already amiibo, Skylanders and Lego Universe on the market conquering several hearts of children and giving them moments of joy. What does Starlink do differently?
rent? Well, you can actually build and play on the go. Starlink offers you different sets of building parts that can help you with creating the ultimate space vessel. Before you start playing, you’ll have to choose a pilot that’ll use his/ her skills to your advantage. Then you choose the body type of your ship that’ll represent the kind of ship you’re thinking of. Combine wing parts, add them to your vessel and eventually choose the weapons you want to use. All of these parts combined will create YOUR ship. Click them onto your controller and see it appear in front of your eyes. Check it out, install mods to upgrade your parts, purchase abilities for your pilot and you’re good to go!
The game offers you a lot of freedom in their Atlas system that’ll contain a couple of planets. These planets are inhibited by different factions and animals which can be a threat to the player or not. There will also be special nodes that you can harvest to gain a certain type of mineral. This mineral can be used to befriend factions but they can also be used to upgrade your ship parts. Now the main goal in Starlink is all about forming alliances and getting your crew together to stand against the Forgotten Legion. The Legion create sandstorms that can devour planets and it’s your job to keep the good guys from harm.
As a player, you’ll be able to explore these planets on the ground and in the air. Of course, there’s also some exploring to do in space. The developers have made it clear that the transition between “flying in space” and “entering the atmosphere of a certain planet” will be seamless. And from what I’ve seen and played, it turns out that they’re really making progress to give the players a fluent transition. You can play the game co-op, allowing the player to tackle the most difficult parts of the game. The developers want to let the player experiment with different weapons to create some crazy combinations. Some weapons will interact with others and therefore creating a new kind of blast but the player has to keep in mind that different enemies react to different weapons. Not only should the player experiment with their weaponry, they should also try different pilots because different pilots mean different abilities. Each pilot has their own way to confront the enemy and one of those pilots will definitely suit your playstyle but it’s your job to find the perfect match between ship and pilot. At launch, there will be 4 types of ship and pilots, think of it as a “holy trinity” system. There will be offensive and defensive pilots with their own set of skills that you can upgrade accordingly.
My Take on “Starlink”:
Today I was able to get my hands on Starlink and from what I’ve seen and played, this might be an interesting game to keep your eye on. The game ran fluently even though this was still an early build but all the features they talked about were in the demo. I had to build my spaceship from nothing and equip it with some weaponry. The different system parts clicked very nicely into the controller and I did have the feeling that the “toy parts” were easy to use and were pretty robust. This is a great plus for me because the “robust” feel of these parts convinced me that the parts will be tough to break and that’s good for our wallet. The details on the ship were okay and the appearance of the parts was pretty basic.
You could already see marks of “being used” so hopefully this will only happen on the prototypes. But then again, it’s normal when you’re using these things on a daily basis.
The game also offers a bit more variety than just your average shooting.
I had to choose between a couple of planets and once I’ve chosen a planet, I made my way down there to test the “transition” effect. It works but it does take a long time before you actually start to see that you’re descending on a planet. Nevertheless, it works and this is great for the immersion. However, I also tried going to another planet but the demo wouldn’t let me, so there’s no evidence yet that the transition effect is constantly working.
Swapping your guns on the fly is also something that’ll also keep up the immersion up. In the beginning, the moment you swap another weapon and re-click it, the game will open up the building screen. This allows you to upgrade your new weapon directly. I found this very unsettling but the developers showed us an option to turn it down. The moment it’s down, you’ll be able to see your weapon appear without the build screen coming up. I’ve earned some in-game currency just by helping out a certain faction and I could immediately spend it on my hero’s abilities.
“So far, the game felt amazing in its unique own way…”
In-game currency won’t be the only way to earn something. If you manage to upgrade your ship to a certain level, you’ll be able to confront the enemy’s base. If you succeed in capturing this base, you’ll take it over and the scenery changes instantly. These bases can offer different things like minerals, shops with special mods, … and even vaults. Vaults will be the best place to search for some amazing treasure.
The game also offers a bit more variety than just your average shooting. As a player, you’ll be exploring at your own pace, retrieve stolen goods and deliver them to the right person and you’ll even be solving puzzles for some decent loot. These puzzles are offered by large statues “The Wardens”, the moment you solve them, you’ll be rewarded with some amazing loot.
So far, the game felt amazing in its unique own way and all technical aspects ran fluently. The gameplay is definitely pleasant but I hope the game will offer a lot more variety to keep the player’s interested. The fact that the game offers co-op is definitely a step forward. Even though I love the build system, I can’t say that I’m on the same frequency as the developers. The building parts have to be developed, so this will cost the consumer quite some cash to get a decent and variable arsenal. Other than that, I can’t wait to get my hands on the full edition.
