Ubisoft's Starlink: Battle For Atlas Isn't Just For Kids, You Know

Paywall! The next generation of Scamiibo etc etc

This was my favorite surprise reveal at the whole e3. They nailed exactly what I always wanted from a toys-to-life franchise. Plus I have gathered good news: There is no blocked content / paywall if you stick with just the starter pack and you will be able to chose to buy all the parts digitally if you don't want to collect the toys. Even if you do take the toys, you wont need to carry them around on the Switch, once scanned you can pick them from your parts storage. Nice to see Ubisoft not making the easy mistakes for this kind of product.

@WiltonRoots It's only a scam if you don't think it's worth he money.

@NewAdvent See Shiryu's post.

I always shook my head at Skylanders and Lego games, saying people are foolish being roped into collecting toys to play just a bit more of a game. Then the trailer for this dropped and I instantly wanted it. I'm sure this has nothing to do with the fact that I used to love playing with plane and star fighter toys as a child...

This reminds me, did Starfox ever get a r wing amiibo? B/c that's all I see here, a Starfox game based on amiibo.

OK, on second viewing I see Starfox visiting No Man's Sky in a game written and voiced by the Knack team. That's just enough variation that I think it could work. But they are wasting their time on the Xbox edition, I don't see this selling well on there. Though since the toys will presumably work the same on all games no harm done.

Hard to know if we'll be interested by Fall 2018, my kids will be way past the 8-11 range by then, but we would have been when they were that age. Too bad they couldn't get it out this year, not much like this for the boys and I too play, Knack 2 and Lego Marvel 2, that's about it.

Ya right!

@rjejr Starfox never did get an arwing amiibo. If it did I'd certainly own it! I do sense a Nintendo Switch exclusive ship for this game now, though.

By the way, my source was Engadget for those very important snippets.

Seemed like a cool game, but the charm will be lost if this isn't online multiplayer too.

@aaronsullivan I thought it was possible Japan might have gotten the r wing, they sometimes get stuff we don't. I still haven't seen confirmation of the 6 MH Stories amiibo coming west. B/c I actually want those. And a Switch port. No New 3DS XL price drop this week, guess w/ $149 New 2DS XL they figured it didn't need one. So 3DS XL will always have been $199 their entire life, they'll just stop making them, like $299 Wii U. Base model was $299 at launch, it never got any cheaper than that, just bundled better. And Pokemon Ultra S&M. I think they intend to keep the 3DS going for another 3 years. Should have bought 1 of those instead of a Wii U I guess.

Yeah, I can see an r wing 1 of these. Or, they could just accept amiibo and Starfox could skin 1 already in game. We own the Bowser and DK Skylanders, just gotta turn the bottom, so maybe a combo. They can use it in Starfox Zero DX, which will sell much better once they remove the 2nd screen gyro controls and turn it into a normal SF game on the Switch. When all is said and done there will be less Wii U games not getting ported than getting ported. PS3-PS4 did the same. Well ports and sequels, Kirby and Yoshi looked like Wii U games to me too. Kirby could have been the Wii U companion to Triple Deluxe and Roboton, Yoshi Paper World is an obvious Woolly World sequel. que sera sera

I guess I'm at the age in between "10 year old boy" and "senile daddy", as it doesn't appeal to me at all.

Thanks for the vid @Shiryu It's worth a watch @aaronsullivan Last 1 minute gives details.

That area looks like the central region in XCX.

I'm buying it b/c he said you can get all of the parts digitally if you want, which sounds like you don't have to buy the toys. Which sounds like they are doing it right. And you don't need toys for the Switch version, which sounds like Skylanders.

You know, maybe toys-to-life can be done right.

When I first saw this my immediate thought was "if only Ubisoft could license ship designs from classic game series". Imagine an Arwing, Vic Viper (Gradius), Ikaruga, Darius, R-9 (R-Type), etc. I'd dive into collecting those.

Plus do like that there is the digital option for obaining the parts; Nintendo needs to do that with amiibo.

Sounds interesting! Not sure how Skylanders was a "high-profile" failure, btw.

@RainbowGazelle I always assumed it was successful, with tons of toys littering the games sections. I assumed they wouldn't keep making more types if they were a failure.

@Shiryu thanks for the link! Wonder if pilots can also be digital content...need to acquire this stuff with minimal eyerolls from the wife, lol!

An "Amiibo" from Ubisoft ?

@Shiryu Thanks for the link, I was wondering if the base game can be completed without any extra purchases, and around the 4:00 mark they mentioned it can be.

The game looks interesting enough, though I definitely want to see more of it to see if I'll get it.

it looks cool kids would love it (big ones) but my main concern is the balance of the controller with the big bloody ship on it

@Shiryu That's really good news , thanks - I had been wondering about that - playing with a toy always attached to the controller seemed off-putting to me.

I was saying this game looks pretty rad, like a cross between Destiny and Star Fox.

Guy says it can all be bought digitally, and real toys purchased become digital if you want.

I'm intrigued. Says the full experience can be had with just initial purchase. Everything else just fleshes out different gameplay for different combinations and narrative for pilots. Says they want to respect the consumer and not go overboard Skylanders style.

It's so disappointing that this requires the toys (or a digital version of them). In my dream world, we'd be allowed to unlock parts in-game, via actual gameplay, but I guess that's too much to ask.

Why didn't Lego attempted this with their games?

@Tibob
Count me in the "Senile Daddy" group, minus the kids. My inner child is loose and intrigued (though not quite going in hoops yet), and the senile part watches silently from the sidelines, smiling indulgently. Perhaps drooling a bit, lost in thought, but that's probably for other reasons and has nothing to do with this game...

@ricklongo @JaxonH I think Longo brings up a valid point, this is the sort of content that used to just be unlockable in games. I think it will come down to the prices of these things, both physically and digitally. That aside, I am interested in the game itself and the directors comments about respecting buyers has me hopeful.

I'm eager to see how this comes out.

I like spaceships and toys of spaceships. Build a solid space, dogfighting game around that, and I'm on board.

@Indielink
I'm not against toys to life. But I hate how Skylanders and Disney Infinity do it. This seems much better. If the full experience is truly all there, and it's just different gameplay mechanics that change with the ship and narrative for pilots... I'm good with that.

It's not like every game is toys to life. Having one every now and then, particularly one that's not abusive... is fine by me

Have they announced any kind of pricing details yet?

Actually looks like a lot of fun, but the with it being T2L game, I won't bother.

@Shiryu Not sure if I grasped right or not. Are you saying there's a complete game there without buying more content either physically or digitally? The game itself looks great to me, but I have no interest in collecting physical or digital ship parts, so I still don't know if this is a cool game to look forward to or another one to ignore?

@NEStalgia Yep, that's what they said in the interview. The only thing that changes will be the cut-scenes (which are different for each pilot) and your ability to adapt do different enemies (for instance, if you are fighting ice enemies but don't have a free gun, those will be harder to kill). If you just buy the game with the starter pilot, ship, wings and weapons, you can explore the whole galaxy, every planet and so on, complete the campaign/story mode with that pilot and see everything there is to see without any more purchases.

Also I might have forgot to place in the post above: split-screen two player local co-op confirmed for all versions. Shoot them with a friend!

It's an interestesting concept and the gameplay in the trailer doesn't look too bad.

I don't think I can cope with the controller as portal, though, cluttering up my hands. Btw, only docked mode? Mandatory pro controller?

In the end, it will depend on seeing more gameplay and on pricing for me. Oh, and probably on what else is out at the time. I'd love to know how it works technically, like how does part swapping get read by the controller. Bluetooth? NFC?

@Sakura No, you will be able to use all the parts digitally once you either scan them once or purchase them digital only (kida like "Skylanders" for the 3DS). No need to play the Switch version with the ship on the joypad all the time. It would defeat the portability side of Switch.

When the toys were shown it instantly killed my interest. But if it gets cheap and the game is otherwise perfectly playable without buying additional stuff why not.

@ricklongo If you have a decent PC, you might want to take a look at "Everspace", the greatest arcade style space sim no one is playing. This one has rogue like features and it will keep on rewarding you with new stuff and blueprints while throwing procedural generated space sectors every time you play the game. It's rather brilliant!

I have reached RockFish Games about the possibility of a Switch version of "Everspace" (it is made upon Unreal Engine) and this was their reply:

"Haven't looked into bringing Everspace to Switch, yet. Planning to do so within the next few months but not promises for a release at this point! "

Fingers crossed, we might just get that space shooting revival I (we?) always dreamed about...

If the game turns out really well I might pick it up but all the other Toys to Life stuff really has me burnt out

The problem is having a stupid bulky thing on top of my controller. I'd get a StarFox set as a collectible, but would'nt pick this game up in its current concept.

Sounds like a lot of pausing in-between dogfights to pick up stuff sitting on your coffee table.

@BraveFencerZan Please browse my comments above and be assured this is not the case.

@Shiryu Only scan them once? So, we could essentially buy all the sets, scan them and sell them on, but still have all the content? That would be nice, but would they really allow that? When something sounds too good...

@rjejr how does one year put all of your kids simultaneously way past a range of 4 years (8-11)? I highly doubt a game intended for 11 year olds will much less appealing to a 12 year old.

@Sakura You are correct! But you won't even need to buy the toys, you can just buy all the parts/ships/pilots as DLC for what I can assume will be just a fraction of the price.

@Shiryu : Mine too! The adventure/game play is very appealing and It seems like this need not be the same money pit as Skylanders. (No I do not think I'll be playing with the ship atop my beloved Switch Pro controller, lol)

@shiryu Thanks for the info! Ubisoft should send some swag your way.

So that sounds way better. No need to clip the ship onto the controller, a chance of having some Nintendo-specifc content (Fox or Samus O_O), and splitscreen co-op. Sold.

@BraveFencerZan I absolutely believe in the potential of Nintendo exclusive toys/content on this one. Fall 2018 is still a long way to go so we will just have to patiently wait for Ubisoft to keep updating on the game's progress.

@Shiryu thanks for that information! I lost interest when I saw the toy attachment, but if parts can be purchased and stored digitally, then this doesn't sound as bad.

Now if the gameplay is solid and the parts don't cost an arm and a leg, then I'll be interested.

Toys-to-life aside, I love the space fighting and planet fighting-- It reminds me of the Starfox I've always wanted. I hope the toys part (despite how cool I think it is) is not a requirement. I'll keep an eye out for this one as it develops.

@Shiryu That looks quite nice! My PC is so so - I can certainly play stuff like Civilization VI with no problems, but I'm not sure about games with higher end graphics or more action-heavy sequences. Hopefully that does come to Switch!

(BTW: your name is a Saint Seiya reference, right?)

@Shiryu That sounds a lot better. I was excited when I saw the game (even before I saw the Joycons in the showcase) and then saw T2L and noped out. If it can be played like a normal game without getting into T2L and F2P-like DLC purchases it might be a cool game. (We need to see a lot more gameplay though because I'm still not certain how it plays.)

@SEGATA_DREAMCAST I think the difference between this game coming out this year and next year for my boys is that they've gotten a toys-to-life game every year, usually more than 1, for the past 5 years. This year they won't be getting any. I think once they realize they dont' have to spend an extra $100 on toys this year they won't want to go back to spending $100 on toys next year.

And if you don't think a kid changes from 11 to 12 you haven't raised any kids yourself. It's called puberty. pron >>>>>>> toys

@ricklongo "Everspace" run on UE so its scalable. I am sure you will be able to play it in your rig.

(Yes it is. Also Strider HIRYU)

My son (in the target market) did not look impressed. It looks fine and I like the fact that they're trying something fresh but I have doubts about them appealing to enough people to warrant this sort of set up.

Looks chunky for slapping on a pad and I can't imagine anyone (kids included) would want to switch weapons this way more than once or twice, instead of a simple button press (think AC amiibo Festival for rolling dice).

Good luck to them, though I guess as the game itself looks alright.

Hopefully this ends up being amazing.

I'm sold on this. It looks fantastic

I'm not sure how they can say Skylanders and Disney Infinity were spectacular failures when they made billions of dollars. It died after a few years, but not until after they both made crap tons of money.

I'm definitely interested in the collectable space ships. I think this will be different in that you will only need one ship with several parts to upgrade instead of 50+ main figures. Even if they release like 100 ships, you would probably just need to pick a few favorites and some upgrades to fit your needs/style. I'll be keeping my eye on how this game will work.

I though this was more of a adult take on the toys to life, more a collectible to life as us grown ups like to call our toys I am a bit disappointed to hear the original target age was so young. Even if that ups slightly if they are still targeting the very young player along side a higher age it will not have the depth I had hoped for. For me the switch is great for those long play time hogs of a game I simply do not have the pure sit at screen time for. Going forward my ps4 pro will be choice for the very few high visual mid length cinematics. Time will limit that to 3 or tops 4 a year. Anything beyond that will be need to be offered and compelling on the switch as the switch just extends my available game time so so much. This does not look to be in the first category so we will have to see how engrossing this looks as it develops.

Here's what's telling to me: It's in development for Switch AND PS4/XBO. It shows me that Ubisoft is willing to develop a similar game with differing power specs. That's very promising to me in our hopes for Beyond Good & Evil 2.

Have you seen the price tag for the ships? Of course it's not for kids, they can't afford it, lol

No more toy-games for me. I'll be glad if I get my Smash and Zelda amiibo collections done someday somehow.
Other than that it looks like an interesting game that would be right up my alley, but I'll get Mario+Rabbids and Beyond Good & Evil 2, and maybe even Steep and Monopoly for Switch before buying any more games that rely too heavily on toys or DLC.

@Shiryu

"There is no blocked content / paywall if you stick with just the starter pack and you will be able to chose to buy all the parts digitally"

That is still a paywall. Did I miss something? You're buying stuff on top of the game you're buying to play/win/overcome the game. That is the very definition of a paywall.

@Zach777 How is it a paywall if its 100% optional?

@Zach777 @Shiryu Call me naive, but I took "buy all the parts digitally" as "buy them with in-game currency, not real money".

@Kilroy No, real world money, DLC packs if you will.

@Shiryu Then how can you say there's no blocked content even though you have to spend real money to unlock it?

@Kilroy There is no blocked content within the game's "playing field". You can experience every planet, every sector, every story chapter, etc just by picking up the game with the starter pack that will include one pilot, one ship, a set of 2x wings and a set of 2x weapons.

Perhaps this is better explained with a "Skylanders" example: While running trough a level, you would often find a portal to a hidden part of the level that could only be unlocked if you had a certain Skylander of a perticular elements.

There will be no such locked stages in "Starlink", you can explore everything and experience the whole game with just the starter pack. Incentive to buy extra pilots and extra ships will provide new story cutscenes featuring your new pilots while the extra ships and hardware will allow you to tackle enemies in different ways.

@Shiryu "extra ships and hardware will allow you to tackle enemies in different ways."

Meaning, different weapons, stats and (less importantly) designs for your ship?

@Kilroy AFAIk as we were told publicly, yes. Please note that different ships have different stats, different pilots have their own stats and skill trees. So now all we are missing is information on the world itself: will the game have a fun and enough content to explore? Roll on 2018...

I like the concept, and will just wait to see the reviews. Hopefully the ship minis are cool and don't look like half-melted blobs. If the models are nice and the game is interesting, I can see myself buying a few of them to add to my collection of Gundam, Godzilla, Marvel action figures, Lego and other plastic bric-a-brac. I don't have any problem with people knowing I like toys.

Conceptually, this kind of reminds me of miniatures board games like X-Wing Miniatures and Star Wars Armada, where your fleet is literally whatever ships you buy. Buy more minis, get more options. Want to keep it simple? Just buy the base game. You're limited to dogfights between an X- Wing and a couple of TIEs, but it's still a cool game.

It sounds like that's what the designers of Starlink are going for, at least. If so, I'm in.

@Shiryu Then as someone else stated, the game without a doubt has locked content! By definition, if you have to pay real money for something in-game after you've already paid to purchase the game itself and it cannot be unlocked any other way, it is locked content.

I was very interested in this game until I learned that the structure is pay-to-unlock-everything after an initial purchase. This game is now dead to me.

@Kilroy But you did understand the difference between "skylanders" and this, right' I would hate to spent so many words trying to explain the difference to achieve utter failure in passing along the correct information.

When I saw this I thought: No Man's Sky-Toys to Life edition, still it looks to be rather an interesting title, can't wait to get my hands on those spaceships, they look so cool!

@Shiryu The difference is irrelevant. Fact of the matter is that you need toys-to-life or their digital equivalents to unlock content in the game. This would be okay if the game has been out for a while or it's free-to-play, but the former is certainly not the case and AFAIK, it's unknown whether the latter will be the case.