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This one took a while. i had originally planned to cover foamstars back at launch when it was a premium title for full price and all shiny and new, i even got so hyped for it that i covered the beta way back when as long time readers may recall. i was *hyped* for this game, so why did i never cover it. the reasons are myriad, the use of GEN AI in some of its menus, a lack of offline content, some of the worst netcode i have ever experienced and to top it all off i was actually in Japan during the games entire launch period so i just never had a chance to play it on release and by the time i did sink hours into it, it felt like all my excitement had passed. as time went on things just piled, a net code that got worse and worse and extra characters with an insane grind to unlock. i never gave up though and i did keep at it, trying to have my fun with it and unlock those characters. i did unlock them though and I'm finally here to give my final thoughts on this game. despite it's major issues and icky moral failings, it's actually still a really fun and stylish game that's easy to recommend if you can get passed those quandaries. it's a game i hold a lot of fondness and nostalgia for.

So how does foamstars play. well, it's a little bit like Splatoon crossed with a hero shooter. it's the kind of premise that'll either immediately sell you on it or it'll make you want to stay far away from it. for me i think it's a good idea and i think the game does well with it. it uses the movement mechanics and paint systems of Splatoon but it adds its own things to it. the hero system gives you a ton of weapon and ability variety and the spray systems work pretty different. levels are a lot more open and instead of paint staying flat on a surface they bubble up and can create barriers and walls and ramps for you to move through. you also don't get harder to see when moving through it like in Splatoon where you go under the paint. you might be faster when using your movement abilities but you're just as vulnerable and i think it makes movement a lot more risk/reward than it is in Splatoon, i also just think it's cool to see your character surf around on a board while they do it. the movement has enough of a skill ceiling to it that you can actually pull off some tricks with the movement too. it's got a lot of depth. it's a lot of small changes but i think they make it feel like a very different game in the moment and i think it makes it worthwhile as an alternative. i think for some people the difference will be night and day for which they prefer but i don't think it'll be as clean cut as the bigger game being better, there's enough here for people to enjoy both games on their own merits if you go in with an open mind.

There's a good variety of characters too! the poster girl for the game is the idol, Soa. has duel wield machine pistols, a Max Payne style jump attack that shoots out waves of bullets and a bomb. she's a ton of fun, though her ultimate which is a huge spikey hamster ball can be pretty hard to foam anyone with. the gamer agito get's a super fun shotgun, a move where he can go underground, a shrunken bomb and an ultimate that summons a huge shark to swim around. he's pretty fun and super powerful if you can get the hang of his shotgun. tonix gets a burst rifle you can charge up, a turret and a homing bomb alongside a huge turret for her ultimate. she's one of the harder characters to use i find, though i always found people who played her could absolutely demolish me in a direct fight. there is also jet justice, one of the bigger tankier characters. he gets a triple barrel shotgun that's pretty useful and can be charged to channel all 3 barrels into 1 shot. he gets a few cooldowns, a jump attack that can create a big impact and a grenade that can suck things into it. both are pretty solid and i find the jump is one of the most fun attacks in the game. his ultimate is just okay though, it's a big shield. the last of the base characters is rave breaker. he gets a foam flamethrower that just might be the games best weapon plus his cooldowns aren't bad either. he gets something similar to agito's shark move where he can go inside the foam and he also has a mine that's pretty effective. his ultimate is like a combination of jet's vacuum bomb and the mine. it's pretty deadly.

There were some unlockable and post launch characters too. the baristador uses a gun similar to rave breakers but he gets a summon he can send out to foam the ground and a carpet bomb attack that makes a big wall of foam, his ult might be my favourite with a huge coffee nuke he can summon into any part of the map. mel-t gets a bazooka that can home in on enemies, one of the games best weapons. she can also use a turret style attack, some missiles and her ultimate is this huge railgun that's an instant kill to anything caught in it. coiff guy has a bazooka too but his doesn't home in, instead it deals huge damage and actually creates a trail under it on the ground, he also gets a dash that ends in a dive bomb, a jump pad attack and his ultimate is strange though. it's the games one debuff weapon, any enemy caught in it will be stunned and start dancing so you can easily KO them. shockingly i loved playing as him and did it a lot once i unlocked him. Chloe is the games hardest to use character. she uses a sniper that leaves a floor trail, a laser attack, a bat rush and a homing mine. her ultimate is super fun though, it gives her flight and a better weapon, super fun to use. ramzey gets duel wield pistols similar to Soa, a sheep rush and a bomb he can use as a jump pad. his ult might be the most broken though, upon KO he comes back as an even more powerful version that's super hard to take down. if you see a ramzey you'll know he's going to be trouble. the last, and hardest to unlock, is bublo. i know he was probably a paid character at one point but i just did not want to invest in MTX for the game, so i unlocked him the hard way. through 100 matches (though wins counted as 2) i eventually got him. he's good! but maybe a little disappointing for all the work i put in. he gets a minigun, a cluster bomb shot and a rushing barrier with his ult being duel wield miniguns with a shield. he basically becomes Mauga from overwatch. for me i focused mainly on playing Soa and Penny. i love Soa's outfits and her idol theme was naturally going to appeal to me, plus her movement abilities and quick firing weapons just worked super well with how i play games like this. penny is a lot slower but i couldn't not main a character with a penguin theme. it helps that she has an amazing gun and she's the character i tended to win most matches with.

The game gives you a few modes to work with too. there's a few experimental modes introduced with patches like letting you play multiple of the same hero in a match or swapping skills, but the game has a few mainstay modes you'll end up playing the most. there's an arena mode where 2 of the 4 player team go into a small zone and fight while the others cheer them on and help to spray down the arena. I like this one a lot and if you get a good team then it can be super tense. there's a payload style map where you escort a big duck that you can speed up by doing a dance atop it. It's fun but a little too long. there's a king of the hill style mode that very rarely popped up for me, and for good reason. it's easily the weakest of them and felt like the main one where it always ended up as a total steamroll. the last main mode is the one i always came back for, "smash the star". this is the mode the game clearly intended to be its mainstay, it has the most maps for it and it's the one you see the most in quickplay. the gist of it is that it's a mix of team deathmatch and a VIP mode. you get a set amount of lives per team and once those are gone one player becomes the star. they get a ton of health but once they're KO'd the game is over. it's a lot of fun, has the best maps and i think the experience of being the star is a lot of fun. even when games went long in this mode i never minded them much because i was having so much fun.

Sadly if you aren't into multiplayer there really isn't much here for you. There's a hub you can hang out in with some stores and a large practice area. it's super cozy and i love how rich and snazzy it feels with the cafe and the infinity pool. The single player mode though is basically just a short wave based survival mode with some dialogue and cutscenes thrown in. it's fun enough and i think the writing is really charming, it does a great job of getting across how much character everyone has, but there just isn't much to it. every story mode kind of goes the same way and not all of the cast have their own episodes, anyone post launch get's nothing which is a real shame, though you do get a killer end boss here and i love the art for the cut-ins and the cutscenes. the story mode can be beatable in a night or two so at least it won't keep you long if you want to check it out at least. it has some fun here and shows off a lot of the games strengths with its gameplay and music. the story isn't the best either, though the world is interesting and most of the cast show up in the story mode in some form. they even get some mini events here and there and there's some pop-up radio plays that come into the hub world too. it's the kind of world i would have liked to see more of though, maybe a more fleshed out story mode or some more in depth character stories, though it's ultimately not that kind of game. it's focus is elsewhere and i think that's fine for what it is. it'll run you a good 3-5 hours to finish all that content and it's not super difficult outside of a very fun unlockable end boss that caps off the whole thing. you can get a lot out of the game though if you move onto the multiplayer. i spent a good 50+ hours on it to unlock the whole cast and if you enjoy the gameplay then i imagine you can get a lot more than that.

The character designs are also pretty solid! the 2D artwork is done by gurihiru who you may know from comics like Gwenpool and manga like Unico. Gwenpool is one of the very few comics i read and enjoyed so i was so happy to see the duo back here for art and it's one of the hero shooters that i think really nails the design of both its world and cast. it looks so unique in both aspects and i think it really sets it apart. the commitment to the look of this world based on foam and baths is honestly really impressive. down to even the design of the cities, it's got so much to it. the characters are mostly cool too! i love Soa's design with the cool duel spike pistols, agito looks rad, i like rave breakers outfit a lot with the shiny latexy material, Mel-t's dresses are so adorable, Penny Gwyn is the games best design and i love her penguin friends, Ramzy is one of the cutest mascots around, tonix looks great and i love how stylish Chloe noir is. even the less interesting characters like jet justice, coif guy, bublo and the baristador are still well designed , the baristador especially has so much detail in the coffee theming of his outfit and i love the little cafe you can find him in at the hub world. the duck DJ in the menu's has also became a staple in my household. me and my roommate both quote his lines constantly, I'm not even sure why.

The soundtrack just might be the best part of it though, it's easily the main reason i would recommend checking the game out to people. it was mainly composed by "Keiichi Okabe" but there were tons of others under him and it is an all star cast. Keiichi has worked on classics like ridge racer, glass rose, the tekken series, alpine racer 3, the katamari series, the nier and drakengard games, lord of apocalypse, soul hackers 2 and fate extella: link. under him for this was Syotaro Seo, who has worked on the katamari series, stellar blade, nier, fate extella: link, soul hackers 2 and SINOALICE. this resume is mostly shared by Oliver Good, Keita Inoue and Keiichi Hirokawa who worked on many of those same projects, as did the staff I'll talk about after. Kuniyuki Takahashi worked also on suikoden 5, yosakoi live and altdeus. lastly was Keigo Hoashi who worked on tekken tag 2 and star driver for PSP.

Standout tracks are plentiful here. first for me would be "summer", it's the most iconic track from the game and odds are it's the one that you know if you've seen gameplay or the trailers. it's fun and catchy and it sounds like something right off of the sonic R ost. it's a fantastic track. "rainbow overload" has a similar energy, but a lot more jazzy. "pop" is one i don't have the same fondness for, it's more rockabilly inspired and it's solid but i just don't think the male vocalist is as good as some of the other vocalists featured. the energy just isn't there for this kind of game, though it's a super interesting genre choice i have to admit which is why i'm mentioning it. "ring-a-ding-ding" is a killer track though, classic swing and it's got some of the best instrumentation of any of the tracks. "high on life" is likely the other track that i see posted the most from the game. it's also pretty solid and i love the vocal work, it's so funky. "miracle groovin'" was another personal favourite, again just super funky. "behind the devil and the deep blue sea" is by far the best of the games instrumental tracks and it's better than a lot of the vocal ones too. an easy top 3. "a little bit of hope" is excellent too, it sounds very future funk. another easy top 3. "wipedown", "dustin'", "all that glitters", "sparkle", "spotless" and "off my feet" make for the best of the instrumental tracks, that latter one is especially good, also worth mentioning are two personal favourites in "memento vivere" and "a small wonder". "myself" is also solid, though i'm not big on the vocals in it. "Vida limpa" is a lot better though, it sounds super katamari'y and i adore that. "on the bubble" is just adorable sounding, it's very reminiscent of some of the better Nintendo jazz tracks. just super upbeat and nice. i love the vocals in "a little bit of happiness" and i love the beat and the piano in "the down low". "Moonlight paradise" sounds like a Falcom boss theme and i mean that as the biggest complement possible. fantastic track. the same goes for "spin cycle" which might be even better, "TGI yay" is a very solid vocal track and "I'll be there" which finishes off the OST with a very solid credits theme.

If you want to play the game yourself, i have some good news! it's playable on the PS5 and PS4 right now, for free! the game originally launched at a budget price but it also went free on PS plus day one for players. on top of that it eventually just switched to being entirely free a year or so later. so you can go and grab the game right now for no cost at all! no physical or anything though, but for the price it's hard to complain. it's never been ported to anything else though and at this point i don't think it ever will. the game is super abandoned and hasn't had an update in over a year. the game was primarily developed by one "toylogic", a developer who's games I've actually covered here before! one of them at least. i played the game "warlander" a few years back and had a decent time with it, i'm also pretty familiar with their work on "happy wars" and "Happy dungeons". they also worked on other games like "nier replicant ver 1.2","contra rogue corps" and "glitch busters". it's not a bad resume and i really want to check that contra game out. the game was directed by a first timer though, one " Chikara Saito" and i think for a first project it's pretty impressive!

overall i do recommend the game, it's got a lot of charm but i do have to admit that the elephants in the room are hard to ignore. i left discussion on both to the end here because i don't like dragging things down like that, even when it's warranted. foamstars has AI art in it, if you've been around here long enough you know how disgusted that makes me and i can't condone it at all. its especially disappointing when we know just how talented the artists on the project are and even though it's for some album art in a menu you likely won't even see. it's still there and that alone does make it too much for most people. i don't blame you if it's too much for you and i totally understand if you want to write the game off because of it. the other thing is the games monetization, it's there and its egregious but since the game went free and kind of died in terms of support, it did get more generous. you can go back to old battlepasses and redo them and every character is unlockable for free with some grinding. same for many of the outfits which you can just save for with login bonuses. it's egregious but compared to most games out there, it's not so bad. if you can get passed those two things? yeah i think the game is worth it. it's free so all you have to lose is your time, and maybe a little respect for square over the ai art thing.