Will the Foamstars bubble burst or is the party just getting started?

By Cole Luke

Published: Wednesday, 07 February 2024 at 13:49 PM

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Perhaps wanting a slice of the Splatoon pie, Square Enix has created its own child-friendly arena shooter, Foamstars, where players paint the map for control – just this time with foam.

And we’ve got our review round-up to see what the early players are saying.

First revealed in the PlayStation Showcase in May 2023, the comparisons drawn between Foamsars and Splatoon started the second the foam started flying.

It’s not exactly without good reason either, as it’s clear that Square Enix had an inkling about the Inklings and has drawn much inspiration from them, but has taken the concept into the third dimension.

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Visually, they are starkly different, too, with Foamstars leaning heavily into the foam party scene often found during university Freshers’ Week, albeit with a bit more style and substance than most 18-year-olds have when they first leave home.

What’s more, there’s a rubber duck DJ keeping the excellent tunes going. But cool factor is one thing, the real question is, “How is it to actually play?”

We’ve scoured the web to find the hot takes from the press and players alike, so read on to see if Foamstars will tickle your fancy.

Foamstars review round-up: What are early players saying?

Overall, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag for Faomstars.

Some people are having fun with it, others not – largely owing to them not being the intended audience or not jiving with the gameplay mechanics.

A fear shared by almost everyone is a concern over the longevity of Foamstars, due to the saturated live service games market.

But ultimately, the choice is yours – and it’s free on PS Plus for February, so you may as well take Foamstars for a whirl to see for yourself. With all that, let’s get to those impressions and reviews.

Steven V Santos for Game8 wrote: “Overall, Foamstars fails to show its players a good time. It gets too chaotic and is a shooter where getting kills doesn’t feel anywhere near as gratifying compared to other titles.” He gives it an overall score of 62/100.

Jerry Plays said in his YouTube review: “Foamstars presents an intriguing concept with its foam-based gameplay and promises of a dynamic team-orientated experience.”

He continued, “Teamwork enthusiasts might find a satisfying home in the foam-covered battlegrounds,” and added, “Foamstars brings a fresh approach to the arena shooter genre.”

But he warned that “the crowded market and the challenge of standing out amongst gaming giants might hinder Foamstars’ long-term success”.

Backloggd user danieladultman shared their thoughts and said: “I don’t think it’s necessarily bad, I just don’t think I’m the target audience at all.

“Certain elements about it seem pretty polished. The gameplay ranges from alright to kinda frustrating depending on which character you play with.”

Their account shows their played games typically being more adult in themes, so if you have similar tastes, you might not find satisfaction in Foamstars either.

Simon Cardy of IGN was far more positive, and they were “pleasantly surprised at just how much fun I was having after four hours of hands-on time”, believing that you shouldn’t write it off as a Splatoon clone.

Cardy said they particularly had a lot of fun with the Rubber Duck Party and Smash the Star game modes, though they fear Foamstars may be short-lived owing to the “recent fate many live service games have met”.

Eric Switzer for The Gamer echoed the same sentiments held by Cardy and Jerry Plays, saying, “I have a lot of doubts about Foamstars’ ability to compete in the live service team-based shooter space,” despite the fact that they “had a blast playing it”.

This was due to the fact they were playing in the same room as other games journalists at a preview event, but for everyone else playing it, they feared the “game is going to get lost in the sea of established online shooters immediately”.

Mishelam, also for Backloggd, wasn’t impressed by Foamstars, saying: “It’s fun for like 20 minutes, but the game just feels kind of empty after that.”

They did enjoy that players need to “confirm a kill by ramming into them, building up cover with foam [and] the 2D art for most of the characters”, but it wasn’t enough to sway them.

Kuja-Kitashida took to YouTube and said in the description of their video review that: “This is one of those games [I] like to call stupid fun. It’s a combination of [Overwatch] and [Splatoon] which overall isn’t too bad.”

They added that “it’s great with friends and it has three different game modes all based around 4v4 combat”. Kuja-Kitashida ultimately gave the game 7/10 “due to balance issues” and claimed that the “feel of shooting” isn’t up to par.