4/5 ★ – lilock33's review of Starlink: Battle for Atlas.

The Ubisoft open-world formula in spaaaaaaaace! Yep, it plays really well as you'd expect from a tried and tested formula that Ubisoft's had a lot of success with at this point, but the toys to life aspect is implemented in a very cynical way. Extra ships count as extra lives, so unless you buy more ships you're going to have to make it through all of your battles without losing a life - otherwise it's back to the last checkpoint. There's also an elemental system to the weapons but the starter pack only includes heat and cold weaponry. Unless you buy extra weapons you're not going to have the best tools to defeat all enemies, leading to some long, drawn out and difficult encounters. Fortunately the game didn't sell well, and the extra toys can now be picked up incredibly cheaply, meaning getting a good selection of ships, weapons and characters is now actually very affordable. I would strongly recommend getting at least the Neptune ship pack as that includes the Levitator weapon; essential for taking down gravity enemies with ease. Basically the more ships, characters and weapons you have the quicker you level up, the less you have to grind, and the more enjoyable the game becomes. Like I said; very cynical on Ubisoft's part. I'm not at all sad that the game was a flop from a commercial point of view. From a gameplay point of view though, it's great; as you'd expect from a tried and tested formula. It controls very well. All the different ships are distinctive in their handling and abilities. The initial weapons are all sufficiently different, although you do get some repetition in the second wave of DLC - personally I would not recommend purchasing that. Having the physical toys adds a lot of appeal to the game over buying the DLC ships and weapons anyway. Swapping parts on you ship and seeing it reflected on the screen is half the fun of the game and it's most unique mechanic. Graphically this is one good looking game, even on Switch. Each planet is very distinctive and very pretty. It's bright, colourful and just wonderful to look at. There's more than enough to explore and experience to keep you playing to 100% completion if you so choose. There's no way I'd recommend this if everything was still as full price, but as of writing in 2022 it's all so cheap that I'd highly recommend picking up the game and a few of the ship packs and having an enjoyable experience at a rock bottom price.