The latest game published by Square Enix, Foamstars is a colorful party shooter available exclusively on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. Included with a PlayStation Plus membership as a free monthly game from launch until March 5, 2024, the handful of interesting multiplayer mechanics on show might make it worth downloading if you’re a current PS Plus subscriber with literally nothing else to play.

It is simply impossible to recommend Foamstars in any other context though, as there is very little here to justify more than about an hour of your time at most. A lack of modes and maps lets down the PvP matches, while the unremittingly dull single-player missions are frankly painful to sit through. The PvE mode fairs a little better, with some unique power-ups to discover, but it is ultimately still far too repetitive to maintain interest.

To make matters worse, the game is awash with monetization, including a battle pass and shockingly expensive costume packs. Although this would be far more forgivable in a free-to-play title, it’s hard to imagine a future where the Foamstars bubble doesn’t pop once it fully transitions into a paid product.

 Fear and foaming

Set in the neon-lit city of Bath Vegas, Foamstars is at its best when you’re competing in its fast-paced PvP matches. As a contestant in the Foamsmash, you’re armed with a surfboard and a foam-powered weapon that spews brightly colored bubbles across the screen. These bubbles damage enemies, lathering them up until they enter a vulnerable ‘Foamed Up’ state where they can be ‘chilled’ (the game’s rather patronizing term for an elimination) with a quick hit from your surfboard.

Your streams also coat nearby environments with a bouncy layer of team-colored foam, providing some cover, a small degree of vertical elevation, and, far more significantly, the ability to slide around on your surfboard at a greatly enhanced speed. Foam from the other team, in contrast, hinders your movement by slowing your surfing down to a crawl. Given their mechanical similarities, the comparisons between the foam in Foamstars and the ink in Splatoon seem almost inevitable. 

Still, Foamstars contains some more unique ideas that help set it apart. For starters, Foamstars features a line-up of intriguing hero characters with their own distinct weapons and abilities. There’s a solid variety in the current roster of eight heroes, from the close-range dual pistol-wielding speedster Soa to the foam stream-spewing Rave Breaker. They all have very distinct, eye-catching designs and getting to grips with their unique quirks is surprisingly engaging. 

My personal favorite of the bunch was Mel T, an adorable dessert-themed contestant who packs a powerful homing missile launcher. Sticking to the sidelines and foaming up opponents from a safe distance was a pleasant change of pace. Foaming up your opponents before smashing them out with your board has an enjoyable rhythm, but the bright colors and fast movement can make the action hard to follow in particularly hectic moments.

 Hold the foam

It’s unfortunate, as matches in Foamstars use a very condensed 4v4 format that, in theory, should make things more easily understandable. There are three PvP modes available right now: Smash the Star, Happy Bath Survival, and Rubber Duck Party. Rubber Duck Party is a basic objective-based mode in which teams fight for control of racing a rubber duck - with the winning team successfully getting the duck to the finish line the fastest. 

Smash the Star, on the other hand, is a bizarre take on a team deathmatch that sees the highest performing player named the star player. The first team to lose a star player is defeated, and keeping your star protected makes for quite a tense team-based challenge. Happy Bath Survival switches things up entirely by placing two players from each team outside of the arena, supporting their teammates with showers of colored foam. It takes place over a maximum of three rounds, with the team to win the most declared victor.

Happy Bath Survival is definitely the most engaging, but, unfortunately, matches in all three modes can feel extremely brief and often only last for a couple of minutes. While this does prevent them from ever seeming like a drag, being repeatedly booted back out into the small hub area in order to sit through a lengthy queue for a new game soon becomes grating. 

It also pushes some of the more flagrant attempts at monetization to the forefront, with one of the few hub activities being staring at the various costume packs, some of which are priced at the almost comically high price tag of $44.99 / £36.99, available in the in-game store. 

The fact there are only three PvP modes in total is also a shame. There are just a few very basic maps to master,  which immediately detracts from the replayability of each mode. With the sole exception of a refreshingly unique casino-inspired map that features a giant spinning roulette wheel, the barrage of plain arenas quickly begins to blend into one.

Outside of PvP, there are also 18 single-player Foamstar missions to tackle. They each focus on different characters, but all follow the same laughably simple format in which successive waves of dull enemies slowly advance towards an unstable reactor in a literal straight line in a bland, boxy environment.

Irritating, awkwardly written dialogue plays out almost constantly while this is occurring and, aside from the odd appearance of a charming illustration and one highly concerning moment that seems to suggest the game’s foam is in fact a bodily fluid secreted by one of the characters, it all feels like pointless filler.

There are also incremental upgrades that can be bought using currency earned from each successful mission, but its benefits are so minor that the whole system can be safely ignored entirely. The online PvE mode thankfully fares better, as it brings three other players into the equation and introduces a much more engaging upgrade system that sees more substantial buffs awarded between waves. These range from small stat improvements to extra projectiles and even turrets, which, while nothing particularly special, mercifully reduces the sense of monotony to a more tolerable level.

On the whole, while the PvP component does have a few things to offer, I can only hope that future seasonal content updates will go some way to help bring the rest of the package up to par. Foamstars is, as it stands, a huge disappointment and a real waste of that multiplayer potential.

If you’re craving more games to play, see our guides to the best free games or the best FPS games for some top picks. 

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a special game with an enthralling narrative that expertly weaves its new characters and plot points with the series’ past. It’s a story that’s as thrilling and intense as it is heartwarming and - occasionally - genuinely hilarious.

That said, it is a story that’s got plenty of that ‘for the fans’ energy about it. Of course, this is exactly what longtime Like a Dragon fans will want to hear. But it can understandably leave complete newcomers feeling a little lost.

Infinite Wealth knows this, though, and confidently leans into the fact that it’s a capstone on a story that’s nearly 20 years in the making. And for newer players, it still has its own narrative that’s wholly unique and captivating. But, fans who’ve stuck with Yakuza since its earliest days will be rewarded with a tale that feels deeply personal and plenty bittersweet. Best of all, Infinite Wealth hasn’t lost its ability to make you smile and laugh to balance out its bleaker moments.

Gripping narrative aside, Infinite Wealth iterates greatly on the switch to a turn-based battle system that started with 2020’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon. New and returning party members have access to even more classes and skills. Additionally, enemy AI has been vastly improved, and boss fights feel significantly less spongy while still offering a high degree of challenge.

All that plus some of the best side content in a Yakuza game to date and you have a game that could potentially take you upwards of 100 hours to finish. However, it was all so compelling that I never once felt the game was overstaying its welcome. 

Across the pond

Taking place a few years after the last game, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth sees protagonist Ichiban Kasuga resume a quiet life, helping former yakuza members ease back into the civilian world. After a viral video frames him as a fraudster, however, he’s offered the chance to escape the spotlight by trekking over to Honolulu, Hawaii. Here, his mother - once thought to be deceased - seems to be alive and well.

Aided by native Hawaiian cab driver Eric Tomizawa, exchange student Chitose Fujinomiya, and the Dragon of Dojima himself, Kazuma Kiryu, Kasuga soon learns that there’s much more to his mother’s whereabouts than initially thought. What follows is a story that - as we’ve come to expect from the series - slowly unravels a plot with multiple factions at play and potentially thousands of lives at stake.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth takes a dual-protagonist approach this time around. At first, I wasn’t sure how to feel about this; Kasuga is firmly positioned as the new face of the franchise, and taking time away from his story initially felt jarring. However, Kiryu’s got no shortage of unfinished business left to attend to. And as a result, his side of the story simultaneously plays out like a victory lap and more definitive closure. For the most part, though, Infinite Wealth’s story is well-paced and offers ample time to explore both Honolulu and the returning setting of Yokohama’s Isezaki Ijincho district.

It’s fantastic to see Yakuza: Like a Dragon’s cast all return, too, and here they’re better fleshed out than before. Nanba, Koichi Adachi, and Saeko Mukoda have all matured greatly, and their personalities shine brighter than ever. Additionally, the Geomijul faction’s head, Seonhee, is now a fully-fledged party member and along with Chitose adds some much-needed female rep that the previous game sorely lacked. 

Take it outside

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is clearly much more confident in the direction it’s taking the mainline series now, and this really shows in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s battle system. As such, it’s worth noting now that many of the flaws from Yakuza: Like a Dragon’s debut attempt at turn-based battling have been addressed here (as noted above) but there are plenty of additions that made me actively seek out fights in the hub cities.

The first big change you’ll notice is that characters can now move in a defined radius in battle. This opens up tons of new options in combat. You can position characters to attack an enemy from behind, guaranteeing a critical hit. Several abilities have also been reworked to activate in a long, straight line or a circular area-of-effect, thus hitting multiple targets at once. These can be occasionally tricky to line up, as enemies also tend to move around during your turn, but nailing these abilities for big damage and crowd control always feels fantastic.

There’s a whole bunch of new classes to swap your party members into. A personal favorite of mine is the Aquanaut, who fights with a surfboard and can deal huge water damage to enemies while providing buffs to allies. The Samurai’s great, too, if you’re looking for a straightforward damage powerhouse. The agile Kunoichi’s another strong addition, able to continuously boost agility which then allows other abilities to hit even harder. Oh, she can throw bees as well.

One very welcome addition here is that by leveling these classes, you’re able to carry their skills to others. Essentially, this means you can patch up a class’s weaknesses with more powerful abilities. At a certain point in the story, you’ll also unlock access to all the previous game’s classes, giving you even more options. 

Unfortunately, classes are still locked by gender. This means Saeko, Chitose, and Seonhee won’t have access to classes like Aquanaut and Action Star. And the lads won’t be able to become Geodancers or Night Queens. It’s a bit of a missed opportunity that I feel prevents the class system from being as deep as it otherwise could have been.

Stay a while

It wouldn’t be a Like a Dragon title without reams of compelling side content. Infinite Wealth provides some of the best in the series to date. You’ve got the usual helping of side stories acting as optional quests, which typically unlock handy rewards such as new weapons or helpful ‘Poundmate’ allies to call into battle.

The first of two meaty side content offerings is the Sujimon League - Pokémon battling with a delightfully Yakuza twist. Defeating enemies in battle (or at dedicated ‘Raid’ spots on the world map) gives you a chance to recruit a baddie to your side. With them, you can compete in turn-based Sujimon battles to climb your way through the ranks, even earning gym badges on the way. It’s so hilariously on the nose that I can’t help but love the cheekiness of it all. 

It’s surprisingly deep, too, with Sujimon all possessing elemental types and special abilities. Some - and I’m not kidding here - can even evolve into a much more powerful Sujimon when upgraded enough. And best of all, as I was thinking it would be awesome to use my Sujimon in actual battles, the game answered. Kasuga can unlock the unique Sujimancer class that lets him summon Sujimon to perform magical abilities. It’s so utterly charming and brilliant.

For something a bit more laid back, then, you’ve got Dondoko Island, which unlocks early in the story. Something of an Animal Crossing-style ‘home away from home,’ here you’re greeted by popular real-life Japanese mascots Gachapin and Mukku and invited to save the island from a gang of pirates. Yes, really.

Dondoko Island tasks Kasuga with cleaning up trash, catching bugs and fish, and crafting furniture and buildings to increase the island’s tourist rating. Eventually, you can even invite guests to the island to stay and spend money; many of which are familiar faces from throughout the series. Is it the most exciting content ever? No, but it’s not supposed to be. I found Dondoko Island to be a nice, laidback experience that was perfect for breaks in between the often dramatic narrative.

One last bit of side content I really loved was Aloha Links. And it’s really super simple; Kasuga can greet certain NPCs with a dedicated ‘Aloha!’ greeting button, and they’ll register to the Aloha Links app as a friend. It’s a small but very wholesome addition that comes with its own rewards, and of course invites exploration to discover all the applicable NPCs.

Overall, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth made me extremely confident in the series’ future. It presents a wholehearted, earnest story about caring for those closest to you and the importance of not leaving any regrets behind. Paired with some of the best turn-based combat I’ve played in years and a dizzying amount of quality side content, I can confidently say Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is an early game of the year contender. 

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is an early game of the year contender. Want to learn about our pick for last year? Consider checking out our list of the best games of 2023. 

If you’ve been waiting for a fighting game that will push you to your mental limits, but reward you through a level of satisfaction unfelt in the genre when successful, then Tekken 8 is bound to deliver. The seamless fluidity of combat will raise the hair on the back of your neck, and hits feel heavy enough to knock the air out of your lungs in real-time - Tekken 8 is nothing short of a revelation. Offering an evident step up from the previous installment to the fast-and-furious fighting game franchise, there’s a huge amount that marks Tekken 8 as what I can confidently call one of the best fighting games in recent memory.

Tekken 8's most immediate impact is the visuals, bringing the roster of beloved characters - and some new faces - to life in a way we've never seen before. But as soon as fights start flying, you'll see combat that keeps you sweaty palmed at the edge of your seat. The entire experience of Tekken 8 is designed to draw you in, stick with you, and keep you thinking about every fight to see how you can improve. Each match, character interaction, slow-motion K.O., and flurry of blows will have you analyzing how you can simply be better.  

You'll have some help getting there, though. Newly implemented control schemes such as Special Style, and the introduction of Arcade Quest - which serves as a way to get familiar with the game's basic mechanics and controls in a more hands-on way rather than a simple tutorial - also make the game more approachable than ever. For anyone who has been intimidated by Tekken in the past or anyone who’s been considering returning to the series after some time away, all of these features help you feel ready for anything no matter your skill level. 

If you don’t know, get to know 

Whether you’re looking for an expansion to the story that Tekken has been carefully weaving together since the launch of the first game in 1994, or you’re looking for a way to refine your skills and combos, Tekken 8 offers everything you need and more. For most, The Dark Awakens will be your first port of call - a single-player story mode that whisks you through the history of the game and why its ensemble is constantly going toe to toe in combat. 

This is where you get to witness the cinematic experience of Tekken 8. Cutscenes entwine together so seamlessly that you could easily re-watch the entire story without any combat and still feel as involved. As you work your way through the chapters on offer, it’s as if puzzle pieces are slotting together to help you understand the fighter’s motives and reasonings behind their fury. The campaign experience also gives you plenty of chances to test out different move sets and see which characters are fun to play so you’ll know when you’re ready to jump online. 

Although fairly short, having taken me about three hours to complete, The Dark Awakens wastes no time in answering questions that players have had about the series for years. But, even though I praise how satisfying it is to have age-old questions finally answered - or at least touched on in passing - many new players may leave with more questions than they came with. 

There is a lot to learn about Tekken before jumping into its story mode, and, while everyone gets a firm introduction to who people are and they each have their relationship with characters like Kazuya and Jin explored, there’s a firm chance that new players will complete the mode feeling nowhere near as satisfied as those returning. 

Practise makes perfect 

On the other hand, Arcade Quest is ideal for anyone more interested in honing their combat skills, filling that role better than a narrative exclusively involving the roster and lore of the series. This mode focuses on you as a Tekken player, which takes the form of a cutesy yet slightly dead-behind-the-eyes customizable avatar, and how you can become one of the best. That’s the dream, being able to waltz into an arcade and immediately assert your dominance as a top contender, but it’s not that simple. Especially not with Tekken. Luckily, the charismatic friend you meet the moment you start the mode, Max, is willing to break down everything from how to block and punish to how to pull off your first air combo as you explore arcades across the map and fight willing NPCs.

Information about how the game works is presented to you in a far more digestible way than any previous Tekken game in Arcade Quest, making it a lot easier to feel inspired to keep pushing forward rather than feeling disheartened as your opponent whips out combos you’ve never seen before. This is a feeling I’m not unfamiliar with in fighting games, but, with Arcade Quest, I could at least take some time to understand why I was missing opportunities to punish a move following a block, or where I missed a window to bring out a combo. 

The in-depth tutorial-esque game mode also ensures you have plenty of players to fight against to make sure you’ve perfected your skills in each area too. This feeds into the emphasis Tekken 8 places on how practice makes perfect. Tekken 8 wants you to know that you should constantly be striving to be better - a sentiment echoed throughout the narrative of both story modes. 

Power is everything 

The Dark Awakens and Arcade Quest set you up nicely to feel prepared enough to take the fight online,  which is where you see Tekken 8's true colors shine. As the selling point of the series, there’s always a lot of expectation resting on how Tekken’s combat has been improved over the last game, and, while it’s hard to build on a foundation that has already been set in stone, there’s something about Tekken 8 that feels utterly unmatched when compared to previous games.

Attacks in Tekken 8 carry a weight with each hit. Even basic inputs and beginner combos feel earth-shattering, which is amplified as you start to string together attacks that strip chunks from the health bar of your opponent. Because of how satisfying it feels as you start to master combos, you're motivated enough to learn more convoluted inputs which in turn, make you a fiercer competitor. You can almost physically feel the payoff when you successfully land one in a match, and before you know it, training paired with My Replay & Tips feels like a second home while you learn everything there is to know about your favorite fighter's moveset. 

The heat system, a new mechanic that lets you deliver a chain of hard-hitting attacks if timed right or at least some chip damage if you attack into a block, also helps encourage the concept of tangible impact. Hits are designed to be hard and fast when this ‘heat’ is active, and you’re capable of drastically changing the pace of a match with one well-timed activation against an unsuspecting opponent. As a result, you never know what to expect from your fellow fighters, and this is how Tekken 8 keeps you watching with bated breath and biding your time to fight back. 

Visuals and models are more polished than ever before. The larger-than-life aesthetics elevate Tekken’s roster, with costumes and poses defining personalities. These visual cues make it easier to connect with the characters you’ve been playing. Idle animations and stages ooze charm, and, if you weren’t fighting for survival in each battle, it would be incredibly easy to lose yourself in the details of the game.

Animations have also been enhanced, which makes matches just as enthralling to watch as they are to play. Moves feel explosive, and characters crash to the floor making visual impacts that stick through each battle. You can even punt your enemies straight through the walls on stages like Ortiz Farm to add to the explosive nature of each match. With Tekken 8, there’s no such thing as half effort. You’re either all in, or you’ll be quickly searching for your next opponent having taken a huge loss. The style of the game reflects this at every turn.

The fluidity of the animations and the tension created by the speed of each battle boils down to an experience unlike any other. The high I get from a win in Tekken 8 is something I find myself constantly chasing, and it’s a feeling I haven’t tapped into through games like Street Fighter 6 or Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In comparison, Tekken 8 essentially offers it to me on a silver platter and tells me I need to work for it, bit its supportive modes are there with me every step of the way. It’s safe to say that it feels as if a new standard has been set for fighting games, and it’ll be a hard standard to exceed for whoever feels brave enough.

If you’re looking for a way to improve your playing, it’s worth checking out our guide to the best fight sticks.