EyeToy: Play Review

Developer	SCEE
Publisher	SCEA
Genre	Action

There are some strange peripherals out there, ranging from dance mats and maracas to fishing poles and giant mech controllers. Enter Sony’s EyeToy: another unusual device. Simply put, the EyeToy is a video camera that works with the PS2 to literally insert the player inside the game. This is an idea that has been tried before with force-feedback vests and motion sensor rings, but this is really the first time it has worked. At the very least, those using the EyeToy will certainly feel a part of the game.

There are 12 minigames included with the EyeToy, and most of them are enjoyable enough. While each has different goals, they all involve hitting specific things on screen with your body. Some mix it up a bit by asking you to hit certain things while avoiding others, or to hit the targets in rhythm, or to hit them a little bit, but not too much. The games are definitely fun, but many of them feel too similar. They’re also pretty simple; don’t expect anything deeper than a Mario Party minigame. But, like Mario Party, the EyeToy is designed so anyone can play.

Kung Foo is great fun, while extremely simple. Hordes of incredibly brave (but stupid) ninjas attack the player from all directions, but they are defeated with the slightest touch. Slap Stream is similar, but there are friendly targets to avoid. Magic Mirror toys with your perception, flipping and twisting your on-screen image, then asking you to touch specific parts of it. Soccer Craze asks you to bounce a ball into specific targets, while avoiding others. All of them games are actually a lot of fun, but it takes a bit too long to switch between them.

The most interesting one plays a bit like the PS2 launch title Fantavision. Fireworks shoot up into the play field, where players must match the like-colored ones and then detonate them. The more one matches up, the higher the score. White combo rockets let you link up multiple colors for even better scores. It takes a fair bit of skill to successfully set off big combos, as accidentally touching a different colored rocket cancels out any other rockets already touched in that wave.

Four players can play, but they must alternate turns. This works, but each player’s turn can take a full two or three minutes. With four people, it can take quite a while between your turns. It’s still a good time, though, as it’s always fun to just laugh at your buddies acting like fools. It’s also nice to take a breather between rounds, as some of the games are pretty physical. Being a party game, the EyeToy doesn’t make a very exciting single player experience. There are high score charts, but it’s hard to care about beating your own scores over and over again in games like these.

As for the camera itself, it displays a decent image. While it is a bit fuzzy, the camera tracks motion very well, and that’s what each game looks for. It’s very picky about lighting and placement, though. The player must stand about 5 feet from the camera, be lit from the front, and have minimal background movement. For some players, this will mean rearranging their living rooms for each session. The body of the camera also feels a little fragile, but part of that is probably just because it is so small.

The in-game graphics here, while scarce, are pretty poor. Characters and objects are simple, with low polygon counts and very few special effects. The screen-filling player image is, as previously mentioned, a tad fuzzy, but none of this really matters in a game such as this. The same can be said for the mediocre sound effects and music, although the two rhythm games would have benefitted from real music, rather than general techno.

Overall Value - As it stands right now, the EyeToy is just a novelty. An enjoyable novelty, certainly, but not much more than that. It’s hard to imagine many developers taking advantage of such a niche piece of hardware, but the potential is certainly exciting. Ignoring all possible future releases, however, the EyeToy is still a worthy investment for someone seeking a completely new gaming experience.

Review by Joe Mackie