Foamstars

About the Game

Game: Foamstars
Genre: Third person Shooter
Consoles: PS5, PS4
Published:SquareEnix
Developers: Toylogic
Released:February 2024

In July 2023 during Sony's State of Play online event for Playstation, SquareEnix unveiled a new IP, Foamstars. The game was developed by Toylogic and SquareEnix, two big name companies in the gaming field. This isn't the first time the two have teamed up on a game as they've been working together for a long time on SquareEnix's Nier Replicant.

With the announcement of the game and the reveal trailer, the game gave a strong impression of "Playstation's Splatoon". In the trailer we saw anime characters shooting bubbles and foams at each other, stacking them on the ground and activating various techniques with different weapons. Despite the initial positive response, the "Splatoon rip off" comment has always overshadowed the game. The companies said that the game is more than that and they will prove it when the game is released. In January 2024, during the new State of Play the game's new trailer announced that it will be a member of the February Ps+ subscription.

Early February 2024, the game was released, however there was no physical release, only digital.

Story of the Game

The new foam sport is the newest coolest thing in the area.
The creators of Foamstars give us a future version of Las Vegas which is now called Bath Vegas. The most famous area in which they hold the world famous Foamshash competition where the best Foamstars fight for the first place. One day, the Bubble beasties led by Dark Ramzey attacked the bubble cores which contain bubble energy at high pressure which can cause a huge explosion. The beasties' next destination is Bath Vegas. The police guns can't stop the monsters and the only ones capable of this are the Foamstars as their guns are the monsters weakness.

After the opening act(missions-solo) is over you can choose one of the six heroes of the game. Each foamstar has been placed in different energy cores in Bath Vegas. Your goal is to defend and survive various enemy waves. Each hero has three acts in which you'll be taught their techniques, learn about each character's personality, and work as a team to find out what exactly sparked Dark Ramzey's rage. The game has little to none cutscenes and the story is given to you mostly through dialogue as the heroes talk among each other through their phones.
Game'chasers
With the arrival of the second season, the game added a new hero and new pieces of the story that are not compatible with each other. At first the script makes you believe that the battles are happening at the same time because of the dialogue and the events. For example, Breaker is seen to be spying on Soa's live stream insinuating that the two fights are happening concurantly. In the new story missions we learn about the creation of Dark Ramzey whose story differs based on the hero of your choice. The game decided to give each hero their own relationship with Ramzey. This fact is not necessarily negative, but the fact that the game forces you to play the same missions with the same "boring" Boss fight, with the same in-game cutscenes with the same annoying sound effects six times was enough to make me hate it. There's a limit as to how many Baaah- baaah and my mom and dad told me not to sleep i can handle, and this one was not it.

The game mode (Core defense), can also be played with a group of four if you choose the squad missions. Your aim will be to defend the bubble core from bubble beasties with your team. At the end of each wave, you will be able to upgrade your equipment. There are no cutscenes or story elements in the squad version of the game.

Thoughts on the story

It goes without saying that online live serrvice games such as Splatoon, Overwatch etc do not necessarily rely on their story mode to make the consumers buy their game as it is not the main focus. Games that choose to do so, is usually to teach you the mechanics or simply to give you a small narrative. Foamstars is using its story mode as an excuse to introduce us to the amazing cast of heroes and their wacky personalities. It also goes the extra step to introduce you Foamsmash and how it came to be one of the best entertaining sports out there. My only complain is what i mentioned before with the alternative story path. If the game was like that from thr beginning i would have had no issue but because they chose to change stuff i am slightly bothered. Furthermore i would ve loved to see some cutscenes here and there even if it was just a still frame with a hero doing something.

Gameplay

Intense Colorfull battles await you
SquareEnix's new multiplayer game has simple mechanics but relies on teamwork and the skill of each player. At the start of the match you must choose a hero to play with, duplicates are not allowed, so choose your player before your teammates choose it for you. Each hero has his own techniques and type of weapon. Some weapons are suitable for battles (direct shooting) while others are responsible for conquering the ground (spread shooting). The techniques as well as the ultimates differ per character and represent the play style of the heroes. Then with the press of a button you can quickly move with a surfboard over your team's Foam. Your movement in your opponents foam is slower. When an opponent or ally is covered in the respective/opposing team's foam, you can use the board to neutralize or free the player.

There are various game modes in which you can compete alone or with friends. The main game is called Smash the star. Two teams of four compete against each other on the battlefield for seven minutes. Both teams start with seven lives and each time a player is eliminated the team's lives are reduced. When a team loses their last life (1) the player with the most points will take on the role of Star player and their life will represent their team. Players who lose after the star player is announced do not affect the match. Whichever team wins the other's Star Player wins the match. If time runs out and neither team has killed the other's star player, the game goes into overtime until someone wins. During Overtime the stadium gets smaller and smaller forcing the players to meet in the centre of the arena.

Smash the star is not the only gamemode available as after completing two games you unlock the Rubber Duck Party mode. The game is similar to Overwatch 2's push mode. Two teams of four compete to conquer the giant plastic duck in the middle of the track. The aim of each team is to conquer the duckling and move it along its predetermined course. The only way to move the duckling is by sacrificing a player, who must dance on his head while the rest of his teammates defend him. The way you fight the opposing team is the same as in Smash the star.

The last game-mode (at launch) is Happy Bath Survival. Two teams of four compete on a small track. The difference is that out of the four, two fight inside the track while the other two try to help from outside by using their techniques but also by providing foam on the ground for their allies. The players standing outside of the arena cannot hit the players that are inside the arena and the outsiders of the opposing team. Your main objective is to eliminate the two opposing players inside the arena. The winner is the team that will win two matches.

Seasonal Content/ Events

Just like any other live service game, SquareEnix updates the game as often as they can. They added competitive play which allows you to play the game more seriusly as winning and losing adds or subtracks points from your overall rank. Unfortunately the game is yet to introduce party search for competitive, meanning you cannot Queue with your friends in competitive. With the introduction of the new seasons, the company introduced new heroes for us to play. The first season had Mel T, the second Coiff Guy and the third will soon introduce us to Chloe Noir.

At the same time every weekend, theres a party mode event. These events follow the traditional gameplay but allow you to have different buffs/perks. For example, play the game but every hero is not visible on screen, or play the game with multiple versions of the same hero and so on. This modes are available during the weekend only.
Last but not lest the game allows you to decorate your hub world with different cosmetics that you unlock by simply playing the game. In doing so you can more or less create your own small arena. When partying with a friend you can use your arena as trainning whilst waiting for your game.

Sound and Graphics

The new game combines various art styles. In the Story mode (PVE) there are various comic style frames/panels while the gameplay is what one expects when seeing the use of Unreal Engine 4. During the battle there are intense explosions of various colors that may confuse you. Foamstars is one of the first SquareEnix games to use AI. According to Game producer Kosuke Okatami, they used Ai to create some in-game posters. The game allows you to decorate your hub world with various cosmetics which are divided into different categories. All the tracks and objects you can place create a nice atmosphere. On the other hand, the models of the heroes that appear in the cutscenes can very easily pass as models from an indie company rather than from Square Enix.
Game'chasers
On the other hand, the sound field of the game, as usual from SquareEnix, is also one of the pleasant parts of Foamstars. While the voice acting isn't anything great or what sticks in your mind after playing it, the songs are quite the opposite. The songs were written by Michael Christopher and Koji Fox who have worked on soundtracks for Final Fantasy 14 and 16. The songs are enjoyable as the main concept of Foamstars is the bubble party. The music satisfies many tastes as there are hip-hop tracks, country, jazz and even rock. The quality of some songs has been compared to that of Persona 5 as Foamstars' lead track Summer sounds similar to Persona 5's Last Surprise.

$$ The big elephant in the room $$

One thing was certain when the game first came out and that was monetization. The Live service games in order to keep players on their games, must often have something new to offer. This means that the creators will have to continuously create cosmetics, arenas and heroes. The only way they can do this is by offering things in exchange for money. Foamstars didn't get off to a good start as there are microtransactions in every corner of the game.

The fact that the game is only for the Playstation and that it was free with a Ps+ subscription means that the company will have to make a profit through other means. With this reasoning players can buy the season pass. In the season pass there are various cosmetics and the new hero which will be directly available if you buy it or you will unlock it for free if you reach the corresponding level (31). Then you can buy various cosmetics (skins,emotes,songs,stamps) from the in-game store. The in-game store is linked to the PS store, allowing you to spend real money to buy the product. Finally, monetization continues with the build upgrade where you can spend money to unlock random passive skills that you can put on your character.
Its worth mentioning how some things are cheap such as the season pass beeing only £4.99 BUT in store you see some suits(NOT from collaborations) going from 7-15 which is redicoulous.

Final Thoughts

An honorable effort with an uncertain future.
In conclusion “Foamstars” is an enjoyable game whose plot may be simple, but like Splatoon its value is in the gameplay. It could have had no plot but then we wouldn't know the heroes and their crazy personalities. On the other hand, in the scenario of Splatoon there are crazy over the top moments that stay in the mind, while in Foamstars the scenario is made up of simple conversations on the mobile phone with 1-2 photos. The game respects the player's time and allows anyone to open the game play 7-10 minutes and close it. The music, gameplay and graphics make for an enjoyable and entertaining experience.

On the other hand the game has some flaws. One problem is that the game is PlayStation exclusive which means the player base will only be based on Sony players. This problem does not exist on Switch (Splatoon) as on Playstation there is more competition as far as 3rd person shooters are concerned. Also, while the game is not full price (and has been given for free via Ps+), it uses microtransactions. Besides the fact that microtransactions are a negative in themselves, Foamstars has a more ridiculous number. The player pays for the season pass, pays for cosmetics and pays for ability points. Finally, after the first few weeks of its release, the game has problems with its serves as often at the end of the match the game freezes or sometimes it takes a long time to find you a game. Queueing in a party reduces the time significally but doing it solo is a pain.