There are many gamers—both young and old—who probably miss a well-known video game called Skylanders. The main idea of Skylanders was to be both a game but also a collector’s dream as gamers could buy toys and use those same toys in the game itself. Disney even tried the same concept with their own gaming title called Disney Infinity, but Skylanders stood out above the competition lasting several years and being quite lucrative for Activision. Now in 2018, a new contender has arisen called Starlink: Battle for Atlas. Those who love collecting toys—in this case, star ships that are pretty cool if we do say so ourselves—and playing games might find this title to be right up their alley. Though if you want to know if Starlink: Battle for Atlas is worth your pretty penny, you will want to continue on reading as we review Starlink: Battle for Atlas.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a spaceship adventure title that has players setting sails through the galaxy as a ragtag team of heroes on a mission to save the galaxy. The element that will appeal to most gamers though is that Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a physical merchandise heavy title that allows physical ships to be placed on a controller and appear in game. Plus, the Nintendo Switch version of Starlink: Battle for Atlas has an exclusive element not seen on any other version. Fox McCloud joins the team with his legendary ARWING and is playable in Nintendo Switch exclusive missions! With toys to buy and a fun game that allows for two players, Starlink: Battle for Atlas will be a must own for those who love their adventures to be set in the stars above.

When Earth made contact with alien lifeforms from the depths of space, the world as we knew it changed dramatically. In hopes of creating new friendships and gaining more knowledge of space, various heroes were chosen to explore the sea of stars. However, quickly, the heroes would learn that while some life out in space is friendly, there are also those who wish to harness power for evil intentions. After your captain has been kidnapped, you must join forces with others to save him and the galaxy in the process. Welcome to Starlink: Battle for Atlas where an adventure awaits you!

Not too long ago, a game called Skylanders revolutionized the gaming industry for quite some time. With a mixture of actual merchandise collecting—people had to buy the toys for the game—and gameplay, it was no surprise that Skylanders raked in some serious cash. However, time passed and Skylanders began to fade from existence where games seem to go back to normal form…until Starlink: Battle for Atlas arrived on scene. Starlink: Battle for Atlas takes what should have been a normal adventure game with a focus on space/ground combat and fuses it with a similar idea to Skylanders in the form of physical merch to play the game at its best. Does Starlink: Battle for Atlas have what it takes to be just as successful as Skylanders? Let us find out in our review of Starlink: Battle for Atlas for the Nintendo Switch.

The main idea of Starlink: Battle for Atlas is quite straightforward. Players are thrust into a space exploration title where a group of random heroes must join together to save their captain from a terrible alien threat. Your goal henceforth is to explore various planets, fight off baddies and save your captain as well as the whole galaxy. Starlink: Battle for Atlas isn’t anything you haven’t seen in a sci-fi themed starship title, but there is one interesting element you won’t find on every console version of Starlink: Battle for Atlas.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas is actually a multi-platform title, but with the Nintendo Switch version, players gain something the other consoles do not…Star Fox! That’s right, fans of Fox and his crew; Star Fox is included in the Nintendo Switch version of Starlink: Battle for Atlas as a playable ship—the ARWING—and comes with exclusive missions only on Nintendo’s newest console. In our opinions, this makes Starlink: Battle for Atlas a must own for Nintendo fans as the missions are integrated quite well with the main game and don’t seem to ever be tacked on pointlessly. We also love just having a physical replica of Star Fox’s ARWING—which is bundled with the Nintendo Switch starter pack for Starlink: Battle for Atlas—as a collectible/game item.

Let us digress and refocus on explaining what you’ll be doing primarily in Starlink: Battle for Atlas. The brunt of Starlink: Battle for Atlas has players blasting other ships and exploring hostile planets in search of knowledge to where the captain has been whisked away too and to just learn more about the depths of space. At its core, Starlink: Battle for Atlas can be compared to No Man’s Sky—which we’ve seen several other reviews agreeing with us here—that you’re going from planet to planet, doing missions and trying to gather various collectibles in the form of scanning lifeforms. Starlink: Battle for Atlas’ gameplay can be a bit repetitive at times, but here’s why you won’t notice the feeling when you’re playing.

With some awesome aerial combat and decent ground combat—all done in your spaceship of choice, mind you— Starlink: Battle for Atlas plays very well with tight controls and solid visuals. The story of Starlink: Battle for Atlas really hooks you from the beginning to keep you invested in learning more about your random crew and the various life forms that exist in space. We also loved that the planets themselves were very diverse and always had some mission you could do to pass the time. We commend Ubisoft Montreal for creating a star ship adventure title that is accessible to all ages and is equally fun for one player or two players in co-op mode.

Now you might be wondering why we started our review by comparing Starlink: Battle for Atlas to Skylanders. Well we saved that theme for the end of our review on purpose as it will be what makes some people want to buy Starlink: Battle for Atlas and others give it a solid pass. Just like Skylanders, Starlink: Battle for Atlas is all about buying physical merchandise and using it to alter the main game. Players can buy several ships, pilots and weapons all of which attach to a controller—that comes with the starter kit—to allow your physical merchandise to take shape in game. The controller—despite having a pilot, a ship and weapons on it—doesn’t hurt your hands even while gaming for long sessions and actually isn’t needed if you keep Starlink: Battle for Atlas in docked mode or handheld mode. A neat feature that isn’t like Skylanders is that players can actually buy the various items in game—for reduced prices—rather than have to buy physical items. Just be warned that buying Starlink: Battle for Atlas might cost you upwards of $100+ as the ships—physical wise—are $25 and the pilots/weapons go from $5-$7. Ubisoft might even release more ships and such later so the price of Starlink: Battle for Atlas could be a bit…painful to say the least.

While the Skylander toy idea might seem gimmicky, for Starlink: Battle for Atlas, it actually works in ways that many different audiences can appreciate it. The Nintendo Switch version of Starlink: Battle for Atlas has a slight edge over the other console versions for having the ability to nab Star Fox and his trusty ship though. What we did also love about Starlink: Battle for Atlas is that if you don’t feel like buying several ships, pilots and weapons—which can cost a bit of cash—you can always buy what you need from the Nintendo eShop for less value and if you don’t like physical merchandise. Aside from the toys and such, Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a fun starship adventure title that has a ton of places to explore, solid space/ground combat and just appeals all around. Starlink: Battle for Atlas can be a bit repetitive in some regards but never did we groan doing a similar mission type over and over again, we did it because we wanted to get closer to a 100% completion rate for Starlink: Battle for Atlas and that will be what draws people in more than anything else. Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a game we recommend without a doubt as it truly is a solid title for the Nintendo Switch.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas might seem to copy a lot of ideas from Skylanders, but with its spaceship adventure gameplay and cool toys, it makes for an overall amazing game. We can only hope that Ubisoft will add more missions in DLC and more ships for us to buy physically—or digitally—so we can continue enjoying Starlink: Battle for Atlas for some time to come. Are you thinking of picking up Starlink: Battle for Atlas? Comment below why you will or won’t as we’re always happy to hear from our amazing readers out there. If you happen to like this review we got some good news for you. Keep stuck to our awesome hive for even more reviews like this one curtsey of us here at Honey’s Anime!