Starlink: Battle for Atlas Reviews
The toys are unnecessary, but Starlink: Battle for Atlas is still an enjoyable space adventure.
Ubisoft's late-stage toys-to-life entry is pretty, derivative and slightly lacking in charm.
At its core, Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a fantastic space exploration game, with solid flights, fights and enemies, but can be a complicated toys-to-life proposition to recommend, and understand.
An engaging entry point into space combat and exploration, with just enough sophistication to be attractive to some veteran pilots
Starlink is a fun, albeit repetitive, game of space combat and exploration--but the digital version of the game is the way to go if you're on a budget.
I just wish there was more to do.
Starlink is a great outing for folks of all ages. The toys are costly but well-made and great fun both in and out of game. Buy it.
There's no other title with quite the same approach as Starlink has taken and it's easily the best integration of toys to life that has been done so far.
With its exclusive use of some substantial Star Fox content, you're getting the best version of Starlink: Battle for Atlas on Nintendo Switch. And with a more accessible and ultimately enjoyable version of No Man's Sky's gameplay mechanics and Mass Effect's original vision, you're getting one of the best dogfighting/space exploration games you can buy outside of Elite: Dangerous. Its gameplay loop does run out of steam after a while thanks to the required grind, but with a surprisingly ungreedy approach to content access and toys-to-life integration, Starlink really could be the spark that reignites the genre's renaissance.
Starlink's fighters are fun, whether you're playing with them in game mode or just racing around the living room and dogfighting with your kids or friends.
Frustrating platform elements and rote missions prevent Starlink from being as good as its promise deserves.
A unique but expensive space experience if you want to enjoy it in full.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Congrats to the Toronto team for creating such a fun experience, and I sincerely hope that we'll be getting additional Atlas adventures in the future.
Overall, Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a solid foundation if Ubisoft wants to make this into an ongoing franchise. Allowing you to play with or without the toys was a smart call, especially since if you're playing on the Switch and don't want to bring a bunch of toys with you. The world and characters they've created are intriguing enough for me to want to see more of it. If there was just a bit more variety, Starlink could be a fantastic franchise for both kids and adults alike.
The graphics are great, flying feels smooth and effortless, and combat and exploration are are delightful, both on-planet and off. The underwhelming mission variety and tremendous amount of customization options may put some players off, but the ones who stick with with the title will be treated to a polished space-based shooter with enough content to keep them busy for the foreseeable future.
Starlink: Battle for Atlas is really a title that begs for a sequel. As a proof of concept, it's an absolute success
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a good game that's robbed of greatness by a lack of ambition and terrible toys-to-life implementation. Everything it gets right – the clever mix-and-match shipbuilding, the combat, the controls, the imaginative alien worlds, the decent space opera storyline – can't escape the vortex of tedium that comes with pedestrian mission design, planets that are mechanically the same, and the crushing knowledge that people who buy just the Starter Pack are getting an unquestionably inferior experience.
A muddled mess of good intentions and corporate greed that ruins a promising space adventure with needless repetition and horribly expensive toys to life gimmicks.