Foamstars is Square Enix’s new PlayStation exclusive 4v4 party shooter. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn’t do well, and if it’s worth your time and money.
Foamstars Review Overview
Foamstars Premise
The Foamstars are an eccentric cast of capable athletes partaking in the world’s biggest sports event, the Foamsmash tournament. In this tournament, contestants will use foam to attack, defend, or strategically alter the terrain to their favor. Skill and charisma will decide who will be crowned the winner of the Foamsmash.
Foamstars Overall
Foamstars' beautiful graphics and stunning art style don't change how the game isn't really all that enjoyable. Getting eliminations, making plays, and even winning don’t feel anywhere nearly as gratifying as these would in other games. The foam covering the entire arena and teams shooting at each other non-stop lead to chaotic gameplay and not the good kind.
Foamstars Story
Much like in other party shooters, the story in this game is only secondary and only serves to make sense of how the game works. Foamstars is about a game show where players compete by battling with foam. There’s also a PvE mode where you could play solo or co-op, but it’s nothing special either.
Foamstars Gameplay
Gameplay isn’t enjoyable at all. It definitely runs smoothly and I didn’t encounter any bugs or glitches whatsoever. However, nothing in this game can replicate the dopamine rush you get from things like getting sniper headshots, one-tapping in Valorant/CSGO, or getting a one-clip kill in Apex Legends. The foam stacking up makes the game so chaotic that you don’t know what the heck is going on anymore. Moreover, you could surf on your team’s foam, but otherwise, you’re slower than my grandpa on crutches. I understand that being on your team’s foam should give you an advantage, but all movement outside of the foam is way too slow for anyone’s liking. An example is during the start of a match where there’s barely any foam yet, teams would take too long to get to the action.
Foamstars Visuals
Foamstars looks stunning and its art style is charismatic. Its visuals are one of the few things I praise about this game. Each character uniquely stands out, and the game’s fictional environments are detailed and beautiful.
Foamstars Audio
The audio in this game sounds good. It doesn’t stand out like the visuals do, but it’s nowhere near as terrible as the gameplay either. The stylish soundtrack fits with the overall vibe of the game, and the sound effects work well to keep you immersed. However, the voice acting in this game isn’t something I’m fond of and sounds a bit unnatural.
Foamstars Value for Money
The game is free-to-play and download for a limited time for PS Plus subscribers. It’s totally free, but that doesn’t change how it isn’t really worth your GBs of storage, or your time. However, pretty soon players who didn’t get to claim this game for free would have to pay. With all the bad things I’ve had to say about this game, why would anyone pay for it? Additionally, for a ridiculous price of $45, you could buy a cosmetic pack for just one character. Not even Call of Duty asks for this much for a skin bundle.
Foamstars Review | Lamestars
Foamstars Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Beautiful Graphics Kid-friendly |
Kinda Boring Chaotic, but Not in a Good Way |
Foamstars isn’t all that special. It’s undoubtedly unique and the graphics and art style are gorgeous, which merits some praise. However, it doesn’t change the fact that the game isn’t enjoyable. Nothing in this game emulates the thrill of gun combat that good shooting games successfully make you feel.
You start each game by choosing your character. Each one has its own unique weapons and abilities, but they all pretty much just shoot out foam or summon things that also just shoot out foam. What I like about the characters is that they all stand out visually, with each one having a distinct and striking character model. For example, Jet Justice is a buff African-American man with pink dreads who uses a shotgun that fires three foam balls over a short distance. If you charge your shot, you’ll send out one massive ball of foam. On the other hand, there’s Soa, who looks like a K-pop idol equipped with two foam pistols.
Each game will have teams shooting each other with foam guns and casting foam-related abilities. You could also cover the arena with foam, which will allow you and your teammates to move faster on top of it via sliding with your surfboard. Getting hit with enough foam causes you to get “foamed up” into a ball, which makes you vulnerable to enemy slide attacks, which eliminates your character. Allies sliding into you would remove the foamed up status. Since foam holds its shape and doesn’t just fall flat to the ground, mounds of foam end up covering the arena and it gets so chaotic that it becomes almost impossible to tell what’s going on.
There are three game modes in this game. The main one is Smash the Star, where teams would eliminate each other team deathmatch style. Once they’ve lost 7 lives, a player from their team would be chosen to be the Star Player, receiving buffs. The goal of each team becomes to protect their team’s star player and eliminate the opposing team’s star. The other two are Rubber Duck Party, where teams try to push a giant rubber duck as far into enemy lines as possible, much like Overwatch’s Push mode, and Happy Bath Survival, where teams of two are divided, with one of them in the arena and the other one on the sidelines providing support for their teammates in the arena. Sadly, none of these game modes are something I see myself playing for more than an hour.
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.
Pros of Foamstars
| Things Foamstars Got Right |
|---|
|
Beautiful Graphics Kid-friendly |
Beautiful Graphics
The graphics in this game are eye-catching and gorgeous, and so are the character models, art style, and environment. It’s definitely nice to look at but isn’t quite on par with the stunning sceneries of AAA games like Elden Ring. Sadly, this doesn’t actually make the terrible gameplay any better.
Kid-friendly
Foamstars’ beautiful and colorful visuals and graphics are sure to appeal to children. Moreover, there’s no blood or strong language in this game. There’s a tiny bit of cartoon violence, but it’s pretty much just characters sliding into a foamed up character, knocking them away. There are not a lot of kid-friendly shooters out there right now as shooting is inherently tied to guns, which aren’t exactly what you would call kid-friendly.
Cons of Foamstars
| Things That Foamstars Can Improve |
|---|
|
Kinda Boring Chaotic, but Not in a Good Way |
Kinda Boring
Shooters are supposed to mimic the adrenaline and thrill of gun combat. This isn’t thrilling at all. It’s not just because it’s unrealistic as there are dozens of games like Fortnite that are loads of fun but isn’t grounded in reality. Getting kills in this game doesn’t feel anywhere nearly as rewarding as a sniper headshot would in COD, a one-clip kill in Apex Legends, or even a creative play like in Overwatch. This game simply does not feel rewarding to play.
Chaotic, but Not in a Good Way
Once the match begins everyone just starts shooting gigantic orbs of foam everywhere. After a short while, there are mountains of that stuff and so much is going on that you couldn’t tell what’s going on anymore. There’s good chaos, like during team fights in DOTA 2 or Overwatch where there’s so much going on but you’re still having fun, and then there’s this type of chaos.
Is Foamstars Worth It?
It’s Free, But Not Worth Your Storage or Time
Foamstars is completely free-to-play for a limited time only. However, there are so many other free-to-play shooters I’d recommend over this one where you’d undoubtedly have so much more fun. Foamstars isn’t worth your time, nor your storage.
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Foamstars Product Information
 |
|
| Title | FOAMSTARS |
|---|---|
| Release Date | February 6, 2024 |
| Developer | Toylogic |
| Publisher | Square Enix |
| Supported Platforms | PS5, PS4 |
| Genre | Action, Shooter |
| Number of Players | 1-8 |
| ESRB Rating | T |
| Official Website | Foamstars Website |
