Space is an incredibly inspiring frontier for humankind. There’s something about it that immediately grabs your attention. You want to understand it, you want to discover it, even when you know it’s simply impossible to understand everything. As a kid, I dreamed of going to space multiple times and I’m sure I wasn’t alone. Sadly, due to the high cost and training, I’ve never been to space yet, but I did go there virtually. There are a lot of games that take you to space but Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a pioneer in the genre.

Fight the Legion

At the start of Starlink: Battle for Atlas, you’ll get introduced to the story. Right from the start, you’ll feel a connection with the characters since they are stunningly designed. The studio picked a Pixar-esque visual style to portray the characters. They all have their own character and just by looking at them, you know what to expect from them. Since this is clearly aimed at a younger audience, it’s amazing to see how strong the actual presentation is. They even got me hooked to my television screen thanks to the solid visuals and an amazing soundtrack (I’m 28 years old).

That being said, the game revolves around your role in the Starlink crew. A crew that wants to save the Atlas star system. It’s currently under attack by the Forgotten Legion, a group that wants to harvest Nova to awaken an extinct race called the Wardens. The Wardens left some powerful technology behind and Grax, leader of the Forgotten Legion, wants to use that tech for his own dark motives. Things get personal when the Starlink crew is ambushed by the Legion on their mothership ‘Equinox’. Grax takes your captain hostage and forces him to harvest Nova, resulting in an attack on the entire Atlas star system. Since the ambush also damaged the Equinox and all other ships, the crew has to combine their powers to fight back as hard as possible. When you play on Nintendo Switch, you’ll get some help from an iconic Nintendo character.

Do a barrel roll!

Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a game a lot of Nintendo Switch owners would have welcomed with open arms. There aren’t a lot of good space exploration games on the system and Starlink seems to fill in the void. Things even got better when Star Fox was revealed as an exclusive pilot for the Nintendo Switch version. Does this mean we finally got that Star Fox game we’ve all been waiting for? Well, yes and no.

First things first, during the main story, the focus is never on Fox and his crew. He’s introduced to the Starlink crew as an outsider who wants to help out since he can’t just sit there while the entire Atlas star system is being wiped out. Later on, you’ll learn he’s also after his nemesis Wolf and the more fighters he has on his side, the better. That being said, Fox is never the main attraction in the regular story missions. It’s clear that the team added him and his colorful crew later in development and to be honest, their presence feels a bit strange during some of the gorgeous cutscenes. During these scenes, everything revolves around the Starlink crew and Star Fox often feels like an afterthought. It’s nothing to worry about, you can always play as Fox and while you’re playing the actual game, you won’t really notice how strange it is to play as Fox. During those missions, Starlink truly starts to feel like new Star Fox game.

But then we have the special Star Fox missions, exclusive in the Nintendo Switch version. During those missions, Star Fox and his crew go on a separate quest from the Starlink crew in order to track down Wolf. During those missions, you’re really playing a new Star Fox game injected with the elements that make Starlink such an enjoyable game. I won’t spoil the Star Fox missions for you, but if you were looking for Star Fox action, this is exactly what you get. You can even enhance the experience but not adding guns to your physical Arwing, that way, your Arwing will fire its iconic lasers you know from the good old Star Fox games.

Create your own ship

Saying that Starlink: Battle for Atlas is just a surrogate for a new Star Fox game doesn’t really do it justice. Starlink really is its own game and is perhaps one of the most unique things we’ve seen in the genre. Of course, the new physical toys play a crucial role in this. You’ll be able to buy ships, weapons, and pilots physically in stores. Compare them to amiibo but with a lot more use in the game. Each ship, every weapon, and every pilot has their own strengths and weaknesses. Combining everything correctly is crucial for your survival in the game. Although it’s marketed as a game for the younger audience, it’s not an easy game and it doesn’t hold your hand the entire time. If you want to survive, you’ll need to understand your ship and its parts.

I’ve been experimenting with my different ships and weapons for quite a while now and I’m still discovering new things daily. Take the weapons for example. Every weapon is linked to a certain element, fire, and ice for example. By firing them together, you create elemental combos, inflicting more damage to certain enemies. It’s amazing to see how creative you can get with your physical toys. Everything has its effect. From changing wings to changing pilots (each pilot has a special skill) to changing weapons, everything serves its purpose. Discovering everything will take some time and also money if you want to get all the physical toys. If you want to counter this, you can also digitally unlock everything for a smaller price. While playing, the game allows you to toggle between physical and digital mode at any time, that way you can always carry around your small army of ships without having to carry the physicals with you too. That being said, I really like the physical toys and the ability to mix and match different elements to create one badass and powerful ship. I’m certain kids and even adults will love this aspect of the game.

Save and discover Atlas

Creating your own ship offers a deeper and more complex experience than what you would have thought in the first place, the same goes for the actual gameplay. At first, it feels like you’re doing the same thing over and over again. You go from planet to planet, get stopped by outlaws in space, defeat those outlaws, move forward to a planet, land on that planet and defeat one of the enemies. For some, this might feel a bit too repetitive, and honestly, it is. It’s one of the game’s biggest flaws but once you manage to see past this, you’ll actually discover one big living organism.

Everything in the Atlas star system is connected to each other and it’s a constant battle between you and the Legion, if you want to truly save the star system, you’ll need to work for it. It’s here where the deeper layer of the game is found. By destroying Primes (strong enemies who infect the planet), you can support two faction outposts. By creating more Expedition outposts, you’ll gain more weapons mods to boost your weapons and counter their weakness or you’ll learn a lot more about the natural wildlife. By creating Prospector outposts, you’ll leave the planet behind with a lot more protection, meaning you don’t have to go there to help out each hour. If you combine all these elements together, you understand the true scale of Starlink and it’s rather impressive. To top it off, you even have tons of side-missions next to your main missions, meaning you’ll play this games for a long time. The team also promised to support the game after the launch with even more content and challenges to keep you going.

Conclusion:

Starlink: Battle for Atlas is an impressive game since it’s one of the first toys-to-life games that really understand what toys can add to the overall experience. I loved experimenting with the ships and although the gameplay itself became a bit too repetitive after a while, I could always set new goals and discover new planets at my own pace. Combine this with the fact that you get a new Star Fox adventure on your Nintendo Switch for the same price and you’ll understand why this is a game you simply need to try.

8/10

Tested on Nintendo Switch