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| - I'm a sucker for gadgets. Tossing a miniature camera on the top of my television and hooking it up (via USB) to my PlayStation 2 was inevitable. With Sony's EyeToy, I can flail my arms around and actually be doing something. While web cameras have performed the same functions in the past, the EyeToy brings a larger-than-life feeling to the experience, with a translucent image of the player merged in with the background of the game, hands reaching towards buttons and a wave of the hand activating them. It's all pretty cool. Since the game involves only one's hands, it means that the games are pretty limited. Consisting of 12 mini games, gamers will punch ninjas, twirl UFOs, adjust to slapping icons that flip and turn on the television, twirl ghosts to evaporate them, box robots, move in rhythm, and bounce a soccer ball around, among other things. There is a mentor of sorts named Wonton, who will instruct the player on what the purpose of each game is in their respective 'Help' sections; there is also other characters, who are a forgettable lot that compete in the different games. Some of the games, like Kung Foo (slapping around jumping ninjas and breaking boards), remain fun; quite a few don't stack up. Since the games are just variations of slapping and twirling, simply because that's the nature of the product's initial offerings, all of them becoming a little boring after a while. Even when that happens, though, there is still an oddly addictive quality to the games. The novelty of the EyeToy never truly wears off - it's just so darn cool touching something without actually touching anything. With the ability to play with up to four players, Play is an excellent party game; of course, that's if you can get your friends to try it out. One downside of the EyeToy is that it requires a significant amount of room for the player to properly use - the ideal position of the player is indicated by a chalk outline on the screen - so rearranging some furniture won't be out of the question if more than one person is going to have a go. But like | |||||
maracas, giant controllers, and dance pads even the most casual of gamers will get a kick out of trying something new and a little silly. The versatility of the camera is also pretty impressive. I used it in a room with a dim light, which was handled with ease by way of setting the dim setting in the options. Even with the sensitivity cranked up, there is still some soreness in store. If you thought you had wrist pains before from excessive playing, allow me to introduce you to Mr. Arthritis's younger brother, Excessive Jazz Hands. Constantly waving hands to select buttons, options, and play all the games means that, no matter how addictive the games are, they can only be played so long before the ol' wrists get tired; controllers can be used for menu selection, but constantly picking up and putting down a controller seems like a good idea for only so long. The game really accommodates the party atmosphere by its use of profiles and random photos taken during the games. When setting up a profile, the game takes photos of the player making a happy, bad, and silly face. Playing with other players without profiles doesn't mean they can't get in on the photo action since the game will allow a quick photo to be taken before the initial round starts after choosing a game. There is also the ability to record some memory-intensive video messages - not necessarily needed, but a cool feature nonetheless. Play really goes with the idea that, if the player is willing to wave their hands around, they'll go all out with messages and goofy faces to mess around with friends - a wise decision. The
social crowd is really who this is for at the moment. With only 12 games, none
of which really try to grasp anything more than the immediate potential of the
product, those going solo will find themselves bored relatively quickly. Overall:
7.5/10 [ top ] |
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