Foamstars review: Square Enix’s fun Splatoon shooter puts its worst foot forward

Foamstars Score Details Pros

Fun core modes
Surprising depth
Strong initial characters

Cons

Awful voice acting
Weak single-player
Ludicrous microtransactions

In the risky world of live-service multiplayer games, first impressions are everything. With the landscape as crowded as it is, any newcomer needs to dazzle players immediately to wrangle up a wide audience and build some much-needed momentum. Failing to do so can doom a new release on day one, turning any potential comeback story into an uphill battle that’s bound to fizzle out.

It’s a hard lesson that I imagine Foamstars is going to learn fast.

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Foamstars is Square Enix’s spin on Splatoon

The more time I spend with Square Enix’s kid-friendly shooter, the more fun I’ve found in its creative fusion of Splatoon and hero-centric titles like Overwatch. The problem is that it puts its worst foot forward at nearly every turn. Grating presentation and jaw-dropping microtransactions drown a charming oddity under layers of foam that threaten to sink its long-term potential.

Foamed up

Developed by Toylogic, Foamstars is a nonviolent 4v4 shooter where players cover one another in pastel suds. I couldn’t blame anyone for thinking it’s a bootleg version of Nintendo’s Splatoon at a passing glance; it looks and sometimes sounds exactly like that series. The only difference is that it’s a lot more confusing at first glance.

The basics are the same. Two teams go head-to-head in nontraditional multiplayer modes that see them covering both the arena and one another in colorful suds. Players can surf over their own team’s soap, fusing traversal and shooting together into one system. Despite those similarities, Foamstars is significantly harder to parse in just a few matches. Its more visually cluttered than Splatoon, with massive mounds of soap covering the battlefield. It can also be