PS Plusis a great service for PlayStation players, but it can be as equally beneficial for games too. The variousPS Plustiers ensure players can access games that perhaps they otherwise wouldn’t have, and even before the tiers were introduced, great games would occasionally grace the service likeBloodborneorShadow of the Colossus. Perhaps the clearest benefit comes to day one multiplayer games, with PS Plus providing an instant community for games likeRocket LeagueandFall Guys, both of which blew up at launch. The argument could easily be made that they could have without PS Plus, but it certainly helped. The same was expected, to some degree, for Square Enix’sFoamstarstoo.
On paper,Foamstarshas all the makings of a great party shooter. It has beencompared toSplatoon, is focused on frenetic multiplayer gameplay, and has a core conceit that’s just wild enough to work. When it was announced as aday-one game for PS Plus, many folks may have thought it was on the same trajectory asRocket LeagueorFall Guys, but it seems to be the exact opposite. Quickly, it seemsFoamstarshas been deemed a flop by many PlayStation gamers.
Foamstars' Launch and Reception on PS Plus
Foamstarsdid not make any serious waves with its release, and then it quickly died off. It remains to be seen how much it has been played or how well it continues to perform, but it unfortunately seems like a shutdown is inFoamstars' future. At least one metric worth checking is its performance on Twitch, yetaccording to Twitchtracker, performance might be a bit of an overstatement. For a day one multiplayer game, its launch day peak of 29K viewers is not a good sign. Making it worse is the fact that, 3 days later, this number would dramatically drop to barely a thousand viewers. Anything can happen in the industry and it would be great to seeFoamstarsbounce back, but it has clearly sputtered out of the gate.
Foamstars Reviews Highlight Core Issues
The why of that can be seen in the handful of reviews that have already dropped forFoamstars. While several outlets have yet to publish a review, there’s been enough for Metacritic and OpenCritic to aggregate them. Based on 10 reviews (though not all of them scored yet),MetacriticgivesFoamstarsa 59 Metascore, with a 6.5/10 user score based on 273 reviews.
Similarly,OpenCriticdisplays an overall Weak OpenCritic rating, a 65 Top Critic Average, and 60% of critics recommending it based on 5 scored critic reviews. There seems to be a general consensus on the quality across the board, which is a little surprising.
While everyone likes and dislikes games for different reasons, it seems the main culprits of these low review scores are lackluster gameplay, lack of launch content, and overly aggressive microtransactions. However, there is significant praise forFoamstars' characters, the in-match feel, and the fun of its moment-to-moment elements, but it seems to drop the ball with the bigger picture.
Even with PS Plus, Foamstars Might Have a Grim Future
It is worth noting thatFoamstarsis a live-service game, meaning there’s time to iron out the edges with its forthcoming updates, but it remains to be seen if it can make it that far. For what it’s worth, these lackluster reviews are still far from some of the worst games of 2023. That year saw a lot of major releases, with2023 being one of the best years in gamingin a long time, but it still saw releases likeThe Lord of the Rings: GollumandFlashback 2, which clocked in with 33 and 35 Metascores, respectively. However, it’s worth noting thatFoamstarshas quickly been put into the same bin asBabylon’s Fallsince both are live-service Square Enix games.
Unfortunately,Babylon’s Fall’s launch was very similar toFoamstars' so far.Babylon’s Falldidn’t make a splash and struggled with player retention and sales, to the point that within a year its physical copies were pulled, it had a concurrent player count of 1 on Steam, and was shut down forever. No one should celebrate the failure of a game, which was sadly brought to an end inBabylon’s Fall’s depressing and final patch note: “End of Service,” andFoamstarscertainly had a lot of promise pre-release. Even now, a lot of reviews and discussions around the game comment on its potential, despite that being buried underneath everything else.
Whether it gets the time to live up to that potential is ultimately up to players and Square Enix, but it seems being aPS Plus day-one free game for February 2024wasn’t able to help its launch. Here’s hoping Foamstars can make a major comeback like so many games before it.
Foamstars
WHERE TO PLAY
LET THE BUBBLES FLY!Get ready to join the foam-blasting frenzy in the new 4v4 foam-party shooter, as you blast through battles using foam to attack, build and defend!FOAMSTARS combines the fun of partying with the thrill of combat, as you blast through battles with a mysterious foam that stays where it lands!TIME TO FIGHT FOAM WITH FOAM!Attack your opponents by dousing them with foam!Hit them enough and they’ll get foamed up, leaving them completely defenseless.BUILD UP THE BATTLEFIELD WITH MOUNTAINS OF FOAM!Shape the landscape with foam as it builds and alters the terrain around you. Give your team the upper hand, and keep your opponents on their toes!CHILL CONFIRMED!Once you’ve got an opponent foamed up, slide into them at high speed with your slide board to secure the chill.If someone on your team is foamed up, use a slide kick to rescue them
