Gamescom 2018 Starlink unveil: Ubisoft's latest space shooter is impressive

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 like 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 sub-menus, 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 for a 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.

By: Parth Bagaria

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