| Product: |
Sony Eyetoy |
| Date: |
14/06/08 (83 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Great fun for anyone!
Disadvantages: Need room to play properly
I have chosen to write this review on the Sony Playstation 2 accessory - The Eye Toy Camera as I think it is a fantastic and fun accessory to have so everyone should know about it and have a go themselves!
This review is (as the category says!) about the Eye Toy Camera itself, not a specific game!
*** What Is The Eye Toy? ***
The Eye Toy is a really fantastic accessory for use with the Playstation 2. It is a small black camera, which you place on top of your TV and plug into your Playstation 2, this will then put you on the TV screen, which will enable you to play various interactive games with yourself as the star on the TV screen!
The Eye Toy games have you as the star, with your image being projected through the eye toy camera on to the screen. It is here where the fun will begin! To control the eye toy games you do not need any controllers. You and your body are the controls. Every move you make small or large will control what happens in the games, this can mean one wrong flick of the hand and the bombs will go off and it will all be over!
Now, because every aspect of the eye toy camera is about movement in the area that the camera picks up, this will mean that if anybody else walks into the room and across your screen it can and most probably will cause havoc with your game play and many arguments can be started! I was playing a game where you can't touch the red bombs but you must touch the green ones when my mate walked through the door and set off two red bombs, which promptly ended my game, and I wasn't too happy! Also a little tip... if you have a clock in the background with a swinging pendulum then I would advise you move it or move your position of the camera as it will pick up its movements however small they may be and this can again lead to a very short game, this gets frustrating when you have no idea what is causing this to happen, it took me ages to work it out! But don't let these little things put you off, as you will have great fun!
*** So What Do I Do? ***
First of all you will need to purchase/borrow/rent an eye toy camera. On getting this home you need to plug it into the USB port on your Playstation 2. This port is located just below the controller ports.
Once plugged a bright blue light will appear next to the lens of the camera. This shows the camera is on and working fine. The next part will vary slightly depending on which game you have with your eye toy, but usually you will be taken through a on-screen guidance of how to use your eye toy camera. In this areas like focus and room brightness will be covered.
To adjust the focus of the eye toy all you simply need to do is gently twist the outer part of the lens until your picture on the screen becomes as clear as you want it.
Next you will need to sort out the lighting in the room you are playing in. This is because the camera reaction senses are affected by light. If the room is too light or too dark then it will find it hard to pick up your movements, this will result in poor game play for you. However it isn't too hard to make sure your lighting is right. Just make sure if it is daylight that any curtains are pulled to so any un-necessary glare onto the screen is avoided. If it is night time and you are playing with the lights turned on then you will need to make sure there is no glare coming off these too, my top tip for this is to use little bedside lamps and place them in a couple of places around the room which are just out of the way of the cameras view, or if you're short (like me!) then you might be able to get away with adjusting the camera angle so it doesn't catch the light from the ceiling. If the camera does detect lighting problems then a little red light will appear to tell you there is a problem and your game play will stop at this point until you sort it out.
Adjusting the camera angle is also really simple to do; all you do is gently move the camera around on its little stand until you are happy with the angle.
*** What Sort Of Things Can I do In The Games? ***
This will vary greatly depending on which game you have, and as I said earlier this is mainly about the eye toy camera, however the camera is nothing with out the games so here is an idea of some of the things you can get up to based on my experience. (You're gonna think I'm mad now!)
The eye toy compatible games I have are Eye Toy Play 1 & 2 and the Singstar Party.
In Eye Toy Play 1 & 2 there are loads of things for you to do and mini games for you to play on, for example if you go into the fun areas you can select to be in the background of a screen full of bubbles, sparkles or even spiders! On this type of screen every move you make will move the sparkles, poop the bubble or frighten the spiders away. In these little areas there is no score to beat or bad guys to wipe out, it is just entertaining J If you go into the games section then you will be able to play a wide variety of games including one where you throw yourself around the screen trying to clean windows and another where you set off fireworks or even try to launch spaceships into space without then blowing up! One thing I can say about all these games on Eye Toy 1 & 2 is you will be left breathless and wanting more!
My experience with the eye toy and Singstar Party however is a much calmer one as I have used this to put my image on the screen as I am singing a song... I will not recommend this as it is very off putting!
*** The Eye Toy Games ***
There are a variety of games available for use with the eye toy, they range from ones where the game can only be played using the eye toy camera - Eye toy play 1 & 2 to games where there is the option of playing the game with or without the eye toy - Singstar party.
These are the games that I am aware of being eye toy compatible:
Eye Toy Play 1
Eye Toy Play 2
Eye Toy Groove
Eye Toy Antigrav
Eye Toy Kinetic
Eye Toy Monkey Mania
Eye Toy Chat
Eye Toy Rhythmic Eye
Sega Superstars
Disney Move
Singstar Party
These games vary in cost depending on whether you purchase the game alone or the bundles, which consist of either one or two games and the eye toy camera. On average a game alone will cost you between £17 and £25, whereas a bundle will cost between £25 and £39 depending on the game included in the bundle.
*** Other Info ***
Age Restriction: This will again depend on which game you purchase with you eye toy although most of them are age 3+ which I think is a fair limit as there is no violence or anything in the games, however I can't really see a 3 year old understanding what to do on some of the games so maybe the bubbles and sparkles would be more entertaining for the little 'uns!
Instructions: The instructions I received with my eye toy camera were on a folded piece of paper inside the box. However I bought my camera with Eye Toy Play 2, so the instructions may vary depending on how you buy it. There are also verbal instructions with an animated video showing you how to use the eye toy camera, this is shown when you first start up the eye toy games.
Saving and Loading: Again this will vary depending on which games you have. If you do want to save any of the games you will need a memory card for the Playstation 2.
Price: As I mentioned above, the price of the games and bundles vary depending on what you want to buy. The camera can be bought alone, the cheapest I have seen it was in Virgin Megastores for £19.99.
Ease Of Use: The eye toy camera is very easy to set up and use, it is pretty much self explanatory once you have it plugged in as most of the games will have the guidance demo for you.
Lifetime Of The Camera: This camera and its games will keep you entertained for ages! I have had it for around a year now and I still look forward to getting home from work and having an eye toy work out... beats going to the gym any day!
Thanks for reading! Lou.x
Summary: Great Fun and the easiest way to get on TV!
| Processing/Quality: |
|
 |
| Reliability: |
|
|
| Ease of use: |
|
 |
| Installation: |
|
|
| Speed: |
|
|
| Variety of features: |
|
|
|
|
