They seemed like a genius gimmick, and perhaps they were, at least in the beginning. Like everything, "new, everything is beautiful". Thus, years ago, new Disney Infinity, Lego Dimensions and Skylanders productions appeared, combining virtual and real, physical and digital, on a videogame theme. The rise and fall of toys-to-life, a genre that was born almost as quickly as it was lost, but the gimmick is picked up at home UbisoftWith the new Starlink: Battle for Atlas, of which we tested the version for Nintendo Switch which offers both the single-player solution and in coop (but only in TV mode).
The title, released on 16 October last, proposes the solution of toys that can also be connected to the pad of the portable console, such as spaceships and miniature characters, drawn from a galactic world and populated by spaceships, monsters and antagonists. Are the spaceships, to be built and customized, a risky choice or a successful gimmick? Let's find out together, console (or pad) in hand!
Stars sons
So let's set off on the adventure of a group of terrestrial astronauts during their research on the origins of Judge, an alien crew member of the interstellar spacecraft Equinox, forgetful of his past. The mission, however, dies in the bud, interrupted by the attack of the Legion, an alien force determined to take possession of the Nova, which is a powerful source of energy.
This will be the driving force behind a long adventure, flying over the seven planets of the star system of Atlas and discovering a rather vast open-world, so as to scour it far and wide. We will also be able to know the background of the various protagonists, whose discreet characterization is entrusted to dialogues and interlude scenes that dot a narrative that is, after all, linear. Of these, we will be able to choose at the beginning only between two characters in the game roster: Mason Rana, a Starlink member, and Fox McCloud, a fox from Star Fox.
The experience on Switch can in fact count on an important added value: Fox McCloud and his team of mercenaries make their appearance right from the initial scenes, highlighting a good integration into the campaign and one great attention to detail. Fox's missions represent a major bonus, making the Switch version the most complete in terms of content.
La Customization of the game menu and characters is wide enough, although several options of the latter are only accessible by progressing in the game. After setting one of the four levels of difficulty, we are catapulted into space through some animated sequences that are not too short (but avoidable if we wish) and a substantial number of secondary activities, with the risk of losing sight of the main objective. Each planet provides us with one rich management component, made of materials to collect, life forms to study, enemies to be killed to strengthen the Starlink alliance and weaken the Legion.
La life on the planets è dinamica and varies according to our game mode, thus determining a different and subjective strengthening of structures and the local population, even while engaged in missions on the other side of Atlas. This leads to a different result in the longevity of the game, which varies from 15 to 30 hours game, based on how much attention we would like to pay to the environment and atmosphere, or whether we would simply like to go straight to the point and finish the game. At a price, though: we'll have to contend with more powerful enemies which could make confrontations difficult. Plus it really passes too long in flight between one planet and another, encountering only a few bands of asteroids and ship of marauders, which soon represent a boring interlude, rather than a welcome variation.
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