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<\/p>\nAfter playing it a couple of times at E3, on Xbox One and Switch, we returned to Ubisoft to try out Starlink: Battle for Atlas again, the exciting new shooter in development at Ubisoft Montreal. A new demo and new content await us!<\/p>\n
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\nStarlink is a new product for Ubisoft because it's based on a line of toys that interact with the video game, much like Skylanders or Disney Infinity. In the case of Starlink, however, we won't have action figures but rather modular spaceships that are reproduced in the game. Using a special accessory that physically attaches to the gamepad, we can assemble our own spaceship. You start by choosing a character (there were five different ones at the Ubisoft booth), who has a unique special power and, obviously, a different appearance in the game. Next, you have to choose your spaceship; there are fast, heavy, durable, and so on.<\/p>\n
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Finally, we can attach accessories to the wings and, last but not least, weapons. As for the latter, they differ not only in type (vulcan, rocket launcher, grenade launcher, etc.) but also in damage type. There are blue cold damage, red fire damage, and purple energy damage. During the game, we'll often be encouraged to quickly change the composition of our ship to react to different enemies with different weapon weaknesses. It will also be necessary to change them to solve small puzzles found on the playing field. Once the ship is assembled, the weight of the gamepad increases. Not dramatically\u2014we expected worse\u2014but still noticeable.<\/p>\n
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\nFinally ready to go, we traveled to one of the seven planets available in the final game. According to the developers, each planet will have its own unique features and a vast explorable surface. There will also be space combat sections, and we'll be able to enter and exit the atmosphere at any time, simply by aiming skyward and pushing the throttle, not unlike No Man's Sky. The planet we visited offered various activities to complete, highlighted by various indicators and waypoints. To move around the planet's surface, the player can choose between flying or staying grounded, hovering a few dozen centimeters above the ground. While flying allows us to avoid most obstacles (trees, rocks, buildings), combat felt more comfortable on the ground because we didn't have to worry about height. The gameplay is indeed vaguely reminiscent of Starfox, but not too much. It has its own identity that, from what we could see, works well. A sort of shooter with a certain amount of inertia in its movement.<\/p>\n
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It's disorienting at first, but after a few minutes of practice, it becomes almost second nature. During our wanderings, we became familiar with the game's progression system: essentially, the player must complete a series of missions aimed at ingratiating themselves with various factions in order to obtain help in completing the final mission. This involves expanding outposts, procuring resources, and generally making as many friends as possible in order to obtain additional missions and access to essential upgrades for progressing the campaign. In our case, we transported some materials and defended some merchants under attack from the evil faction. We also remade a more complex boss, the same one featured in the E3 demo. In short, it involved destroying a series of energy pillars, withstanding fire from a central unit, and eliminating a whole host of mobile enemies. A rather challenging fight, though not impossible.<\/p>\n
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\nStarlink: Battle for Atlas is intriguing and entertained us for the half hour we spent with it. As for the final game, however, it will require gameplay variety and, possibly, an interesting story to connect all the various missions. We also hope Ubisoft doesn't force players to buy multiple sets to access all the game components, similar to what Activison did with Skylanders and Disney with Infinity. We'll find out everything on October 16th!<\/p>\n