When FOAMSTARS landed in our inbox, we weren’t quite sure what to think of it. While the enthusiastic anime characters were welcoming, the concept of shooting foam in places to slow down your enemies while trying to boot them from a map was something very squid-like. As in, Splatoon squid-like.
While the surface of the game is incredibly similar to the post-apocalypse squid game, including fighting on a tightly knit map where you could surf the foam you put down on the map, some differences separated the two from being perceived twins. Not that I wouldn’t mind a Splatoon on the PlayStation, but I think it would be too early to see another console’s goods on a PS.
So, sit back, get some outrageous foam-led emotes kicking, and let’s talk FOAMSTARS.
Moulin Rouge Expectations
You’re probably thinking, “How in the hell can he connect the movie, Moulin Rouge, starring Obi-Wan Kenobi and the badass Nicole Kidman, to a video game?” Hear me out! Baz Luhrmann’s brilliance is to overwhelm his audience at the beginning of Moulin Rouge while setting up substance during the distraction. Moulin Rouge is batshit crazy when it begins! Lots of high-sensation imagery that eventually gets the viewer to where they want to go within 30 minutes of being initiated into it, and eventually gets them comfortable with what’s to come. It’s crazy, beautiful, and flows well.
FOAMSTARS from Square Enix flows in the same direction as Moulin Rouge. While the tutorial doesn’t do much with preparing the player, as it doesn’t reveal all its cards, the first few games will certainly activate that information overload in your brain but eventually subside into a fun experience. The first versus match had me trying to understand what in the world was going on. I surfed into a small The Finals-like map, including flashing lights and distractions, sprayed foam everywhere, and occasionally would have to take down enemies or get taken down. The game lasted about 10 minutes in total, and everyone seemed somewhat happy to win or lose. It was so quick, so flashy, and there was so much to dissect. When things settled, it became something different. It calmed down and everything was clear.
Once I went through about 4-5 games, which was nearly an hour, the game started to change a bit and calm from its Moulin Rouge intensity. The game started to show off its design, as it became a strategy-driven short-stint of intense gameplay that had a rhyme to its design reason.
Starting with characters and strategies, picking a character (out of eight) was akin to playing a game of Overwatch or Valorant, where all characters have certain attributes that fill roles on the team. For example, Rave Breaker lays down a massive amount of foam on a map, while also delivering a punch in the gut to multiple enemies with power-ups. Soa is a fast-moving, dual-pistol wielding foamer, who is more of a quick attack than a stand and fight. Picking and developing a character in the game isn’t an easy decision, as you must work on your role to help your team. While this type of player design and decision isn’t new to the competitive gaming world, it’s interesting to see such a simple-on-the-surface game containing these elements.
Underneath the character design is where the bread gets made. The mechanics of your player are broken down into five major areas. The first three are power-ups you can use during a match, which are good on occasion but nothing that is 100% necessary to win a match. These power-ups help to change the foam in your team’s favor, some causing massive destruction to enemies in the process. Two minor power-ups replenish quickly once used, and a super power-up builds as you spray more foam and take out more enemies. Foam slows down and damages enemies, so having it on the map and in your enemy’s way is a necessary evil.
The other two main mechanics involve foaming and fleeing. Starting with foaming, when you first hit the map, you are required to foam it. Well, required is such an absolute word here, rather you are allowed to foam it. Foaming a map allows you to move fast and to slow down/hurt your enemies. The more your team foams up a map, the better odds you have to win a match. The moving fast part has you surfing (literally) the foam and getting to and from enemies faster. It’s a nice little touch that allows the player to get away quickly when they need to, or to run in and help a teammate if/when the time calls for it.
The fleeing part of the gameplay revolves around navigating the maps and trying to traverse the enemy team’s foam. Since there is pure chaos of foam pushing every which way, you’re going to find yourself actively trying to avoid getting stuck in the enemy’s foam from the get-go until the end. How you navigate that and how easily you avoid it at times means understanding how to use the foam your team laid down and how to quickly get to it before you’re given the boot by enemies.
The game is simple with its controls in all the above areas, as pushing out a power-up or quickly moving through a foam-filled map can be done with a flick of the wrist. Square Enix knew that you needed to keep your eyes on the prize, meaning taking enemies out, while at the same time developing strategy on the fly. Not making controls complicated and keeping them out of your mind is a good sign of a well-designed game.
Beyond controls and taking out enemies on a standard level with foam and fleeing, the game features a more complicated layer underneath with Core Power upgrades. These upgrades allow you to level up those standard control options in the game. This could mean leveling up your shot power, rate, skills cooldown, or the foam damage you can lay on enemies. You can upgrade these with XP you gain from matches, which creates a perfect circle of life when it comes to continually playing this game and finding new ways to play characters. It adds a wonderful layer of complication that makes the gameplay a bit richer and deeper.
FOAMSTARS also contains components called Bubble Gem Sets. You can earn these with XP and insert buffs into them that help build a character’s power even further. These buffs can help a player to speed up on an opponent’s foam space, maybe improve upon jump abilities, and/or other small pieces to the puzzle. Both the Core Power upgrades and Bubble Gem Sets make the gameplay a bit sweeter while at the same time giving players choices with how they play the game. It’s a nice bit of depth to a game that certainly needs it.
Speaking of which…
Solo v. Multiplayer
You will know two minutes into solo missions that going at this game alone was an afterthought. The solo missions are skimpy, easy to get through, and while somewhat entertaining with their enemy design, only offer an avenue to gain experience. And you will probably not want to stay on that avenue too long. You essentially just take on enemy waves that gradually increase in difficulty, and not that much difficulty. The goal is to protect energy sources from the onslaught of baddies and they aren’t fast-moving enemies. You can complete these missions with any of the Foamstars and more than likely you’ll be done after the first one. These missions are shallow experiences at best, and you will quickly forget they exist once you start the multiplayer portion of the game.
On the multiplayer side, you get a bit more. The multiplayer experience starts with a mode called Smash the Star, a 4×4 gameplay structure that allows you to reduce the player count of the other team gradually. You will have multiple layers to that player count and eventually, a player will be deemed the star player. Once that player gets eliminated, the game is over. It’s an easy-to-pick-up concept that makes things fun. During my time with this game, this was the most jam-packed mode of the bunch.
Other modes in the game include Rubber Duck Party, which involves taking a duck and delivering it to your enemy’s goal. A very ‘capture the flag’ sort of deal. There is also a 4×4 game called Happy Bath Survival, where the individual teams are broken into 2-in the arena and 2-out. There is also a ranked game called Ranked Party Lonestar. The MP games rotate and disappear depending on time, with the consistent ones being Smash the Star and Ranked Party Lonestar. The difference in these modes gives enough variety to the game so that it seems you have a decent number of choices. And you do.
I can see this game expanding on the MP side of the tracks. There is plenty of room for growth and the fact that MP is fun helps to make it an even more worthwhile experience where you want more. I sincerely hope that they add more on both ends of the table. The game could have some solid longevity if Square Enix cooks more for it.
As it stands right now, you’re getting a Titanfall type of game, where the lack of solo makes the game feel a little empty. That’s not to take away from what the MP does, as that is clearly the main show, but games these days need another way to play that isn’t online against human opponents. And if this game wasn’t for free on PS Plus right now, the price tag ($29.99) would certainly not justify the content involved.
Transactions
There are a lot of transactions in the game. Are they game-changers? Not really, as the game is so darn chaotic that it’s impossible to get a clear advantage over your opponent by paying for it. There are a lot of costumes, emotes, and such for sale, depending on your fancy. Overall, these transactions don’t affect the gameplay. They’re mostly cosmetics and won’t get you any closer to victory either way you go. You might look good winning or losing, but you won’t win or lose because of them.
On that sweet note, let’s wrap this review up.
Conclusion
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.
