Starlink: Ubisoft’s space shooter is impressive
Starlink lets you construct your own ship using real- world parts
Starlink was one of the more unique games I got to play at Gamescom 2018. Published by Ubisoft, it is a mash- up of some of the ideas behind No Man’s Sky and the toys to life games such as Skylanders. While it may primarily be targeted at a younger audience, I still had a lot of fun in my time with the game.
Starlink is a space exploration game with an emphasis on building your own ship using real- world parts. There is an adapter on top of your controller and you must first select a pilot, who will determine your special ability. After that, you must select the class of ship, and I was told that each will have widely different playing styles based on their stats. For the purpose of this demo, I chose the tank class. After that, you need to select the weapons and wings. You can attach your guns on either side, I initially chose a mini- gun and a rocket launcher. I was impressed by how clearly it was represented in the game. I could see my pilot, my ship and the guns I had selected right there on the screen. What was more impressive was the depth found in Starlink.
Although I did not get a chance to fully explore the menus and the submenus, there were modules and upgrade paths for almost all parts of the ship you had built. Attaching and removing weapon mods, while looking for better equipment throughout the world was a key pillar of the game. For the purpose of the demo, I was told to land on a particular planet and try to complete a few missions. After landing, I spent roaming around the world and fighting enemies. The movement mechanics and shooting were easy to control and responsive. I decided to follow the market and came across a small village, which was in need of some rare material.
A very clear indicator told me where I could find it, upon reaching which I had to play a mini- game of sorts to pull the material out from the surface. All throughout, enemies kept attacking me and I took part in some tense encounters before finally reaching back. The village was under attack but I was told it was completely random.
After the successful mission, I decided to roam around a bit more and came across this gigantic structure that corrupted the surrounding area and covered the sky in deep red. The developer told me that if I left it, it would soon corrupt the entire planet. Taking down that structure was pretty simple. I had to shoot the energy cores at its legs before taking out the big central weak point that opened up after enough cores had been destroyed. It was a long and gruelling fight, with multiple waves of enemies, but I finally managed to destroy it. I also learnt how important combos are in Starlink. Earlier, I had swapped out one of my weapons fora fire- based attack in order to solve a puzzle, and that even worked on enemies as I had both fire and ice based mods on my weapons.
You can view the video to get a better understanding of the game, but do not simply brush off Starlink as a No Man’s Sky clone. It has more depth in its combat, but more importantly, it is more fun to play. Although I may not spend hours exploring the world, I will definitely check out all of the different combinations of ships I can make when the game launches.