You know what? It’s actually pretty good. I assumed, due to the dismal sales and very little game news fanfare, that Starlink was rubbish, but in fact it was a lot of fun.

Coming out just after the death of Plastic Game Tat (Lego Dimensions, Disney Infinity, Skylanders) was a bad first impression, but I picked up the Switch starter kit with physical Star Fox ship (which is obviously Switch exclusive and adds a bit to the story) for just over a tenner a while back and decided to give it a go this week. If they’d not bothered with all the figures and ships – as I didn’t – this probably would have sold much better.

The gameplay is pretty simple. Jet from planet to planet clearing out the bad guys (get rid of spires first to make the “boss” easier), all the while making friends, building outposts, and basically gaining territory from the enemy. Once you’ve done enough, you can build special towers, build one in each region of the solar system and you gain access to the final boss area, then go in and shoot him.

The core mechanics of gaining ground and allies, while fending off the attacks, are almost real-time strategy-like, and the combat is simple but fun. It’s not a fantastic game but it’s sadly overlooked and deserves a play. It’s a bit Star Fox, a bit No Man’s Sky, and a bit musou, but it works well.

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