Foamstars Review (PS5) | Push Square

pushsquare.com:

Foamstars doesn't deserve the hate. Hand-waving comparisons to Nintendo's Splatoon are shallow; beyond both games featuring weaponry that fires something other than bullets, they're two quite different experiences. Square Enix's new multiplayer game is more of a hero shooter than anything else, and while its launch content is fairly slim, there's a lot of potential in this off-beat offering.

As the name suggests, the game has four-player teams firing foam at each other, all with a glitzy, upbeat vibe. Kills are rebranded here as 'chills', and the already vibrant arenas will be filled with suds of various colours in seconds. While it sounds unusual, the use of foam here is quite clever. The substance can be built up, allowing everyone to create cover, block off pathways, make vantage points, reach higher platforms, and so on. This lends the gameplay a unique tactical edge.

The foam has other properties, too. Spraying your team's foam on the opposing team's will erase it, and you can surf along the suds of your colour to get around super quickly — but the other side's will slow you to a crawl. This means you have every reason to cover the arena in your team's foam as much as possible, minimising the manoeuvrability of your competitors.

Scoring kills chills is a little more involved than just reducing a health bar; doing so will turn your enemy into a ball of foam, and you need to slide into them while surfing to make the elimination. Furthermore, if your teammates have been foamed up, you can slide into them to save them, encouraging your squad to keep an eye on one another.

The main mode of play is Smash the Star, a spin on Team Deathmatch. You must score seven chills against the opposing team, at which point a Star Player emerges. Your job is to then eliminate them, but they have buffed health and power. It's a fast-paced mode and the simplest to understand of the three.

While Smash the Star is always available, the other two are rotated hourly. One is Happy Bath