I toy with Eye Toy (EyeToy Play + Camera (PS2))

Member Name: SRowlands

Product:	EyeToy Play + Camera (PS2)
Date:	13/12/05 (5803 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Takes gaming to the next dimension

Disadvantages: You'll feel knackered playing it !!

The Sony Playstation 2 is an excellent piece of gaming hardware, but is occasionally criticised of not being interactive enough, and causing kids (and adults) to spend hours sitting in front of a TV screen, and not getting enough exercise !

The "Eye Toy" is Sony's answer to these critisms - it is a small piece of hardware that takes gaming to the next dimension.

Basically, the "Eye Toy" is a USB Camera that plugs into the USB port in the front of the Playstation 2. The original package comes with the camera, and a package of games called "Eye Toy - Play", and together, these put YOU into the game !

Setting up the equipment is easy - plug in the camera, stick in the disk and off you go !
Upon loading, you are presented with a short video, informing you on how to set up the camera and how to interact with the games. This video is entertaining and informative, and demonstrates all the basics that you will need to know.

After this, you are presented with the menu screens. This is where you notice a big difference - your surroundings are on screen, along with an outline of a character. You need to position yourself in front of the camera so that you appear in the outline. From this position, you should be able to interact with the menu - (no PS2 controllers are used in this game at all !!!).
To select and change options is a simple process of moving your hands over arrows and commands on screen. (If any of you have seen the movie "Minority Report" with Tom Cruise, it is very similar to the crime computer !).

After selecting the language of the game, you are presented with the main menu. The first thing you will have to do before playing is set up a profile. This is done by entering your name, and then the camera will take three photos of you - one with a happy face, one with a sad face, and one with a silly face. These are used later in the game when it is your turn to play, and for high scores.

Next, you select the type of game you want to play - single player, multi-player or enter the "playroom".

The Playroom is not really part of the game - it's more of a toy in which special effects are performed on you in front of the camera, such as bees will chase you, or you can appear underwater. This is a novelty, but nothing more.

There are twelve games included in this pack, which are as follows... (I have also rated each game based upon how good it is, and how much energy it takes to play on easy level.)


BEAT FREAK
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This game is excellent - after picking one of four songs (including Moloko's "Sing It Back", you stand in the middle of the screen. As the song plays, CD's emerge from the center of the screen towards four speakers in each corner. The aim is to hit the speaker as the CD passes over the center of it, in time to the beat. Miss too many and it's game over !
Game Rating - 9 / 10 Energy Rating - 7/10

BOXING CHUMP
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If you've every fancied yourself as the next Rocky, then this is the game for you. You stand side on to the camera, and face up to your Robotic opponent. Seconds out, round one ! You need to punch the head and body of the robot to get points and try to get a K.O, whilst blocking his attacks. Careful though - if you get too close, the ref will call "Break", and you need to take a step back. There are three rounds to face on this game.
Game rating - 9/10 Energy Rating - 9/10

SLAP STREAM
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In Slap Stream, you are presented with characters on the screen. If you see a black rat, you need to slap it - if, however, you see a white rabbit, you must not hit it. If you slap too many white rabbits, the game finishes.
Game Rating - 6/10 Energy Rating - 4/10

UFO JUGGLER
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You mission in UFO Juggler is to help some friendly aliens leave the planet. When a space ship is launced, you need to "wave" your hand over it, until it spins and starts to rise. If you spin too much, the UFO will loose control and crash. If you don't spin enough, the UFO will loose altitude and crash ! It's all about getting it right - just like spinning plates ! If you succeed in the first part of this mission, you get a bonus screen, in which you must land a mothership successfully. This game is hard work !!
Game Rating - 8/10 Energy Rating - 9/10

KUNG FOO
~~~~~~~~~

This is a great game, that first made it's debut on last year's "Big Brother", in one of the reward rooms. You stand in the middle of the screen, and fend off hoards of ninja warriors that come at you from all sides. A quick slap is all it takes for many of them, but the masters require more hits to destroy them. If they attack your image on screen, you loose a life.
This game is broken up with bonus screens, in which you must break boards that appear.
There is also a final level that is really difficult. You must take on the masters as they fly around you on clouds.
Game Rating - 10/10 Energy Rating 8/10

PLATE SPINNER
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This game is very similar to the above "UFO Juggler", and is based upon the famous circus act. All you have to do is spin plates by waving over them. However, this is made more difficult by monkeys that try to unbalance the plates and throw things at you. If you see them, give them a slap !
Game Rating - 6/10 Energy Rating 10/10

WISHI WASHI
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In Wishi Washi, you take on the role of a window cleaner. To the backgroung tune of "When I'm Cleaning Windows" by George Formby, you start off with the whole screen as a dirty, soapy window. To clean, you simply move your whole body left, right, up and down to clear the suds. Sometimes, a "bird poo" will involve some extra scrubbing to clear, and there are bonuses that appear as well, that can result in a point bonus, clearing the whole window or... it can mess up the window again. Once 95% of the window is clean, it's onto the next one !
Game Rating - 9/10 Energy Rating 8/10

BOOGIE DOWN
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A dancing game this time. As the music plays, you must watch the character on screen as they hit the spotlights in time to the music - then you must copy it. There are five lights to hit, and this often involves hitting two at a time. As you get better, a crowd arrives to watch you dance.
Game Rating - 8/10 Energy Rating 5/10

KEEP UPS
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A classic idea - a football drops down from the top of the screen, and you have to keep the ball up in the air. You can actually use your hands, arms or head for this, although when we play, we restrict it to the head to make it more challenging. There are also characters that appear in the buildings at the side of the screen, that can have positive or negative effects on your game, from adding extra balls or bursting your one !
Game Rating - 8/10 Energy Rating 7/10

MIRROR TIME
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This is a fantastic game that is mentally challenging. Four balloons appear in each corner - simply burst the green ones, but don't touch the red ones ! Well, I say "simply" - and the first one is - but then the screen image flips horizontally, vertically or both. This means that you may move your right arm to burst a balloon, but the mirror image on the screen moves your left arm. It's quite hard to explain, and needs to be played to understand how confusing it really is. On harder levels, the screen can split four ways which makes things even harder !
Game Rating - 10/10 Energy Rating 3/10

GHOST CATCHER
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It's halloween, and the ghosts are coming out to play. You must catch them by waving your hands over them until they vanish ! The nastys range from ghosts to bats, so you'll need to be on your toes !
Game Rating - 7/10 Energy Rating 6/10

ROCKET RUMBLE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A safe way to play with fireworks - a series of rockets of varying colours are launched. You need to connect rockets of the same colour, and then detonate them before they fall back to earth. There are also "linking" rockets - so for example, you could select three blue rockets, then a linking rocket, then three red ones... and then detonate them.


OVERALL OPINION
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The concept of this device and game is excellent. It really does get you more involved in the game, and could also provide quite a bit of exercise whilst playing it. You would normally build up a sweat after playing just a couple of rounds of these games. If you try the "marathon" 12 event game, you will be very tierd by the end of it. Whilst this is ideal for most gamers, I would advise caution to people with heart / chest conditions playing it, as it can make you very breathless.
There is also the self-concious aspect of the game - some people may feel uncertain about seeing themeselves on the screen, as part of the game. I can assure you that even the most self-concious of people will, after the first couple of games, not even think about it. You get so involved in the game, you don't even realise that it's you on the screen.
The game is great if you can get a group of friends around, preferably with a few beers for those of drinking age !

A word of warning though - please ensure that you have enough room whilst playing this game. During one round of "Kung Foo", whilst hitting out at a particularly nasty ninja, I actually hit my twelve year old cousin in the face, as he was (unknownly) in my range !

If you are not yet convinced by this review, and think that this could be a five minute novelty, the technology is being used in other current and forthcoming games.
Since the release of "Eye Toy Play", a purely dance version titled "Eye Toy Groove" has been released - which is basically an extended version of the "Boogie Down" game.
Also, more recently, "SingStar" the Karaoke game also has the option to remove the original music videos, to replace them with you on screen, with added "Top Of The Pops" style effects. I have read reports that other games are planning to use the Eye Toy to digitise your face onto computer game characters - so this should be proof enough that the Eye Toy is here to stay !!


The Eye Toy Play pack is available from most games retaillers at a cost ranging from £30 - £40. This includes the USB Camera and the games disk.

For futher details, including screenshots, check out the official website - www.eyetoy.com


*Disclaimer - I originally wrote and published this review on Ciao, under the same username, and have transferred it to dooyoo.co.uk.

Summary: An interactive PS2 device that puts YOU into the games.