So....I have availed of my free month with UPLAY + which is a great deal and a chance to experience the extensive UBISOFT catalogue. I understand a lot of people have issues with UBISOFT DRM as an addition to Steam but with this review I pan on avoiding gaming politics and personally I have no issue with companies running their own platforms and offering consumers deals like this. A link to the service can be found here UPLAY+
Starlink: Battle for Atlas
Platform: Steam - UPLAY+ - Xbox One Playstation
Released: October 2018 (Console) April 2019 (PC)
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I jumped into the game not expecting a lot, and I was very surprised at how it instantly got me into the action with both intuitive controls and beautiful graphics. The style is cartoon in nature due to this primarily being aimed at kids, however as an adult gamer there is still plenty to enjoy here and I found the story line to be engaging and just plain old fun! You start off in space and are able to travel to and enter the atmosphere of planets in the area.
This is similar to No Mans Sky but on a far smaller scale. Having played a lot of No Mans Sky on Xbox I will offer this, the focused nature of Starlink is actually an advantage! Unlike the former, Starlink launches you right into the action and you do not have to take lengthy breaks while you gather resources to get from A to B. I found this incredibly time consuming in No Man's Sky and Starlink counters this perfectly by being all action in a scaled down environment. It just shows that design focus sometimes is a lot better than the open world trend of today! No Man's Sky is a great game and im sure I will play it longer than this but Starlink was a welcome break from the relentless grind!
The planets you can explore and lush with color and change rapidly as you move along the landscape, missions range from capturing resources to liberating outposts and fixing up allies. I found the plant life and animals of each planet to be varied and the landscapes very interesting to explore
Combat is fast and simple, you can select weapons for each wing and also have your main character ability to assist in a tight spot. My character had a particularly impressive orbital strike that devastated the opposition when needed.
Ship and character customization is quite simple but contains many options and combinations to keep you experimenting along the way. Once again the vivid color set makes this game stand out, a visual feast for the eyes.
An example of the toys that can be used in this game can be seen above. I believe UBISOFT have stopped making them and with the Deluxe edition you get on UPLAY+ this aspect of the game seems to be over. It was a cool concept, these fit into your controller and it upgraded your ship on screen, however I am sure this would not have worked for me and was more aimed at the younger age group!
The enemy groups are quite varied and you have to think your way around how to tackle a few of them. The boss fights I have encountered so far have been enjoyable and on a crazy large scale. The downside to this game is that it is very easy and can lack a little in the longevity department compared to other more complicated titles available. However DLC adding ships races, arena combat and other fun activities on the new Crimson Moon help to inject new life into the experience.
I rate games on a simple thumbs up (Buy), thumbs down scale (Avoid)
Without hesitation Starlink : Battle of Atlas gets
