Foamstars

Foamstars is fun and stylish, but it has a lot to prove in order to survive in a very competitive market. It's the lack of content and the premium economic model (with very expensive microtransactions) the biggest drawbacks we see in the foreseeable future. Today it's just fun.

Foamstars is a mixed bag of a game. The gameplay is fun, elevating itself above the inevitable Splatoon comparisons and doing something interesting with the concept. But the bland aesthetics and aggressive monetization are huge turn-offs that prevent this from fully reaching its potential.

FOAMSTARS from Square Enix is an interesting competitive game that borrows its surface-level gameplay concept from Splatoon while offering deeper and more intriguing gameplay underneath led by solid upgrade and buff systems. Unfortunately, the lack of meaningful solo missions does hurt the game, as it feels like half a game made it to launch.

Foamstars is a colourful, unique, and entertaining shooter. The modes and characters on offer at launch are fun twists on genre staples, and the central foam mechanic is a playful addition with some potential for strategy. It's lighthearted, fast-paced fun with plenty of style. While the steep microtransactions and the so-so co-op missions keep it from being squeaky clean, there's a lot to like about this bubbly multiplayer title.

There is so much good to say about Foamstars, with its quirky characters and cheerfully energizing feel. While at launch the matches do not feel entirely balanced, that will even out with time, yet the microtransactions look as though they could only get worse.

FOAMSTARS is a game of two extremes where not all the foam and style in the world can hide the lack of substance. It shows signs of variety and depth, but ends up being shallow. Its short matches are fun, but they don't keep you engaged in the long term and the repetitiveness in its PvE mode gets tiring before the player sees the best it has to offer.

Foamstars can be a blast under the right conditions. It’s colorful, fast, fluid, and has a great party atmosphere. It’s also disgustingly over monetized, has terrible voice acting, and a boring single player mode. When you’re in a match with players of a similar skill level playing as your main, it’s a ton of fun. But with only three main modes the fun can run out fairly quickly. Who knows how long Foamstars will last, but even with the negatives it’s still worth giving it a shot.

In general, what’s available just doesn’t feel good enough to keep players engaged. The PvE missions are basically tutorials and don’t have much replay value. There are 3 Versus modes, but only two are active at any given time, and the arenas are pretty small without offering much variety. Some of the characters are definitely fun to play, but overall the skill ceiling seems pretty low due to the wide area of most of the abilities and weapons. Despite generally enjoying online PvP games, I can’t see myself returning to Foamstars too often with its current content selection.

Foamstars has some distinctive elements on its side and also knows how to provide a few hours of fun. The fact is that after the "adjustment games" we understood that the experience would not be enough to extricate ourselves from all the foam that filled the screen. Surrounded by too much confusion, the game does not properly highlight its potential: the protagonist heroes, their original designs and the various movesets suitable for different purposes. If Square Enix wants to support Foamstars, it will not be enough to increase the number of heroes, paid cosmetic items or arenas and modes. In short, the road to success is uphill. And it's soapy too. Then there is a bit of a bitter taste in the mouth for a content offer that for the moment does not push you to extend your stay in Bath Vegas.

FOAMSTARS knows what it’s doing following the Splatoon blueprint, but it’s an easy pop that values its in-game economy more than fostering a community during the teething period of its release. I worry for the future of this one in the live service vacuum. While there are aspects that feel fun, this game still needs to prove itself in the market which is no easy feat. Locally, this is a tall ask but with server numbers untenable it really may be the writing on the bathroom wall for such a new multiplayer game – bubbles not included.

There are good bones here, and ones that could easily lead to a strong title were they to get beefed up over the course of balancing and patching the game. With things as they are, however, Foamstars just doesn’t make as large of a splash as it needs to.

Foamstars has its moments, but the frantic gameplay, annoying dialogue, and microtransactions do little to keep you playing for long.

If you have PlayStation Plus and want to try it out, there is the option to add it to the library, and I think it would be a good idea to purchase it now. But in case you reach the time when they will sell it for $30 USD, the truth is I would not recommend making the purchase, it is better to save the money for a product that does provide value for money.

Foamstars is at odds with itself. Its unexpectedly engaging combat mechanics, fast-paced matches, and cool music draw me in, but trudging through its flat single-player content, concerningly aggressive monetization, and horrendously slow menus has numbered Foamstars’ days on my PS5 hard drive. I also feel like I’ve already seen everything it has to offer, and its announced update plan looks glacially slow for a sink-or-swim multiplayer landscape currently full of great options. Foamstars’ ranked modes and maps may be exciting and nuanced mid-match, but the confounding time-gated queues around them don’t offer much motivation to grind up the ladder, which leaves me with very little reason to surf these bubbly waves no matter how much fun it may be.

Foamstars definitely has some charm to it, but the general lack of polish in the gameplay department and shoddy single player can bring the experience from initially impressive to ultimately underwhelming.

FOAMSTARS has some fun elements and offers some frenetic, chaotic and exciting matches, but it also lacks creativity, identity and shame with one of the most abusive microtransactions we’ve seen.

Foamstars' core gameplay offers plenty of strategic fun, but you'll have to grit your teeth through some of its worst instincts to enjoy them.

FOAMSTARS is a fun party shooter with chill vibes and vibrant expression that just needs a few additions to be truly great. The foundation is there, Square Enix just needs to tweak the formula a bit before it is worth recommending without hesitation.

Foamstars is a serviceable paintballer in the vein of Splatoon, lathered with some wild lore and underwhelming hero shooter elements.

Foamstars isn’t terrible, but its uninspired gameplay, deficit of content, and obscene monetization make it a forgettable experience.

There’s fun here, and you can maybe add a point if you got this for ‘free’ on PS Plus. May be worth checking on later, when hopefully it’s scrubbed up a bit. [Issue#38, p.98]

Foamstars attempts to capture the essence of Splatoon with its colorful design and unique mechanics but falls short due to lackluster execution and an aggressive microtransaction system. While it offers some enjoyable moments, especially in cooperative squad mode, its gameplay loop feels frustrating and its pay-to-win elements detract from the overall experience.

As promising a foundation there may be here, Foamstars sadly finds itself buried beneath a malaise of lackluster content and an underdeveloped world alike. Occasionally enjoyable and suggestive of greater potential the foam-centric mechanics can be, as both an offensive and defensive tool alike, it's everything going on in and around the core gameplay, that ultimately makes the experience feel hollow and at worst, jarring to deal with. From its all-too-cheery presentation, to its laughably one-dimensional attempt at instilling personality into its world and characters. Right down to the horrid monetization practices at the very start of its life-cycle. A commitment to further updates and new content may stave off a small amount of concern, but it's hard to see where Foamstars' longevity will land. By no means the worst attempt at a multiplayer-centric experience by way of its handful of hopeful, admirable elements here and there, but still one that could've been far better given the promise.

With a poor story mode offering, wildly expensive microtransactions, and visibility issues that really hamper gameplay, I can't see Foamstars making waves in the sea of multiplayer shooters that already exists.

Foamstars is a lot of unrealized potential. It's like getting excited about a bubble bath only for the bubbles to quickly dissipate and leave behind only some filthy bath water.

Foamstars is a vibrantly inventive take on the hero shooter and Splatoon, though the bubble will quickly burst for those who can’t gel with its floaty, fluid-based gunplay.

Despite Foamstars looking like an amateur project from Fortnite Creative Mode, I've still had a bunch of fun matches with good friends.

While Foamstars has a strong foundation in terms of core gameplay, I found myself quickly growing weary of the small annoyances that kept rearing their heads. Awkward navigation, ho-hum singleplayer offerings and egregious monetisation and design choices bring down an experience that is really fun if you can ignore those things, which is something that shouldn't have to be done. I hope updates are able to address some of these issues in the coming months, but for now this party has left me feeling exceptionally mixed overall.

Cute characters and a handful of promising ideas in its multiplayer matches do little to redeem Foamstars, which is spoiled by terrible solo missions, a lack of maps, and excessive monetization.