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EyeToy Play + Camera (PS2)
by cath_del
The EyeToy and its game EyeToy Play was probably one of my favourite games a couple of years ago, and however much it hurt my arms the next day from swinging them about so much, it still kept me wanting to play. Now I suppose everyone would think of the Wii or Kinect when they think of games that involve using yourself instead of a ... controller, but the EyeToy was one of the first things to have this when the Playstation 2 was still one of the main game console.
The EyeToy itself is a USB camera that plugs into the front of your PS2 console, making it the easiest set up I've seen so far for gadgets like this. It resembles a webcam, and I've actually used it on my computer when I had XP and Vista, as all you had to do was install a driver to use it as one. However, you must make sure that the room you are in is bright enough otherwise it won't register and it is easy to make it clearer and more defined as all you have to do is rotate the lense.
You get a little instruction video at the beginning showing you how everything is meant to be done, however for those who can't be bothered watching, it's pretty simple and all you have to do is stand in the outline that they show in the game and then use your arms or head to do what is required of you in the game whether it be breaking things, karate chopping or spinning.
If you don't want to play as one of the cartoon characters the game gives you, you'll have to set up a profile. I liked this little feature as it shows you in the score presenting section with different faces (happy, sad, silly - that it takes of you when you set it up). Then you can select the different types of modes easy, medium or hard and the type you want to play single or multiplayer.
Aside from the main point of the games, there is also the Playroom, which reminds me a bit of a PhotoBooth. It's not as thrilling as the games as all it does is provide various backgrounds for you to play around in, but it is fun for wasting a couple of minutes when you check it out.
There are 12 games available on the EyeToy Play, all require a fair bit of energy, yet they are quite easy to understand and play while being challenging whether you're playing solo or with friends. Below are the games that are included:
-Beat Freak
Disks will start flying at the speakers that are placed around your screen and you must hit them in time with the music, generally this music is quite discoy, with songs like Boogie Nights that you have to hit the disks in time to. If you miss too many of the disks however, it means game over. I would say this requires a lot of energy in your arms, as I found them to be slightly achey after playing this.
-Kung Foo
This reminds me of an arcade street fighter game where you had to beat off waves and waves of enemies, except in this game the enemies are the ninjas. Using your hands, you must karate chop and fling the ninjas that will run at you away and prevent them from getting a chance to karate chop you. It also breaks away from this at points for the fun little mini section of breaking boards through hitting the centre of them. This is one of my favourites and just requires you to have quick movements to battle the ninjas out the way.
-Wishi Washi
This is by far the best game to play on multiplayer, and is one that my friend and I played for around half an hour at one point. However, achey it is on the arms, it is definitely worth it. You play as a window cleaner and you have to see how many windows you can clear completely in the time limit, trying to get all the powerups.
-Keep Ups
Keep Ups is exactly like it says in the name, you have to use your whole body to keep the ball up and if you drop it too often, it means gave over. While you can use your whole body, I find that it's too easy so it's probably best just to keep it challenging and just use your head. This doesn't require too much energy as all you do is move from side to side really.
-Boxing Chump
In Boxing Chump, you enter the ring and must defeat your robotic opponents to emerge as Champion. You must punch the Robot while making sure that you block his attacks and you don't K.O before he does! I'd say that this is a pretty energetic game, but doesnt involve the whole screen like some and all you really do is punch your arm out.
-UFO Juggler
In this minigame, you are guiding other aliens off the planet by moving their spaceships using your hand to spin them and make them rise. However, if you go to fast they'll explode and too slow they'll crash. I found this game to be a bit annoying as I could never find the right balance, but my sister always could and would get ridiculously high scores. It doesn't require much energy as all you have to do is twist your hand.
-Slap Stream
This requires you to have pretty good reflexes, as when you get into the fast paced action of it, it can lead you to slapping the wrong characters. You have to save the Bunny Girls by hitting the Ratmen however if you hit too many of the Bunny Girls, it means Game Over. This was one of the lower energy requiring games in my opinion as you just had to slap something and it didn't require much movement.
-Plate Spinner
This game really reminds me of the previously mentioned UFO Juggler, as you have to spin the sticks to stop the plates from falling off while monkeys throw various things at you. The main aim of the game is to put them in the "Sweet Spot" as EyeToy puts it to gain points. It requires the same amount of energy as UFO Juggler, as all you really are doing is rotating your hand.
-Boogie Down
With similar music to Beat Freak, Boogie Down requires you to remember the sequence of dance that QT does and then copy it exactly. I wasn't a big fan of this game as it was quite difficult, yet my sister prefers it. It does require the same energy as Beat Freak though, as you have to have to move your arms quite a bit.
-Ghost Catcher
In Ghost Catcher, every time you see a ghost or vampire you must try and get rid of it really quickly by rubbing your hand over it till it disappears. This was one of my favourites to as you have to act quite fast to get rid of them. I'd say it requires a medium amount of energy as you have to move around the screen a lot wiping away the ghosts and bats.
-Mirror Time
Mirror Time is a game that appears to not have been developed for the energy side but to be for the mind. The screen flips in loads of different directions which means that sometimes where you intend to move your arm, it doesn't actually move to that space. It's a pretty good game if you feel like a challenge and sometimes it gets even more confusing than you expect it to.
-Rocket Rumble
This is the most colourful game included, as you have a series of rockets that are launched and you have to select the same colours and set them off at the same time. There are also different varieties of rockets, some big, some small, some sparkly and they all need to work together to make a giant explosion. I would say like Mirror Time, this is more of a mental challenge, as you have to think fast to get the same colours together.
The multiplayer is pretty good on this game, as many of the games that I mentioned above really were a great challenge as they're all developed to be really competitive. You can play with up to a group of 8 I think, and while you do have to sit through each players turn, it is quite entertaining watching some of the games like Wishi Washi as people look ridiculous throwing their arms about trying to clean the entire window faster than the others.
Overall, this is a great game that I would recommend to anyone looking for a cheaper option to the Wii or Kinect. While it may not be as developed as they are, it was pretty good when the PS2 was the main console around and the games are still of great quality today. There's a real variety in the games available, so there's always something for someone to enjoy.
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Friends - The One With All The Trivia (PS2)
by cath_del
I went through a slight Friends phase a couple of years back, which clearly gave my mum and easy Christmas present that year, with the Friends: The One With All The Trivia released. At the time, I remember it playing it quite a bit, but now the Friends phase has died down quite a lot to just watching the occasional episode, I haven't ... played it since.
The game is quite cheap at around £5 on Amazon as it is not really in demand, and I'd say you could only really purchase it on Amazon, as I haven't ever seen it in GAME in the preowned section for PS2 since it was first released, and that was in 2005! It's rated at a 12 plus, which is decent seeing as I highly doubt anyone younger than that would even have watched Friends.
The object of the game is to answer enough questions correctly to make it to Central Perk. If you answer a question correctly, an apartment light will glow showing you getting closer to the coffee shop, however if you answer incorrectly, it will bump you down an apartment light. As long as you can answer the final question, you win the game!
Different question categories will occur in the game with 6 all able to show up, which I quite liked as it didn't mean that all the questions were going to be the same and it switches them up a lot so you never get the same question again. These are
-Relationships
-Shake Ups and Make Ups
-Work and Play
-Memorable Moments
-friends of Friends
-Wild Card
Aside from the other categories however, there is also the chance to answer different question types. I liked that they had these different types, as it did add variety to an okay trivia game. Below are the types you can expect to see:
-Next Line Please
-Says Who?
-What Happens Next?
-Who Are They Talking About?
-What Are They Talking About?
-Where Does This Scene Take Place?
-Clip and Question
-The One With..
-Props
-Quote Me
-Useless Information
-Timeline
-Which Friend?
-Where Does?
-Real Name
-the Friends
-Who Is?
-aKa
Within Friends: The One With All The Trivia, there is the option to have two game modes Decaffeinated and Caffeinated. In Decaffeinated you are free to answer the questions leisurely, and this is probably the best mode if you just want to play casually while in Caffeinated mode you must answer questions against the clock and you must try and answer a set amount of questions within a time limit.
Aside from the different modes, you are able to alter the game to fix your specific needs whether it be through difficulty or length of gameplay. You can choose a single for around 15 minutes, double for 30 minutes and triple is around 45 - 1 hour. Then with difficulty, you can alter from Light Roast for Easy, Medium Roast for Medium and Dark Roast for Hard. The ability to alter was good as when I was in a lazy mood I would just put it on Easy and play for 15 minutes.
There is a multiplayer option with up to 4 players, with the only problem being you'll have to have friends who are equally obsessed with the television show as you are, otherwise it is a pretty pointless game to play together. You compete against each other to try and answer correctly first, with whoever answering the most correctly winning.
Similar to playing alone, the multiplayer also has modes available for you to compete against your friends with. There is All Play, where you have to answer questions one after the other and the first to reach Central Perk wins or Buzz In where you must try and answer the questions first. I don't really like Buzz In mode, but I found that All Play was probably the best.
The graphics are okay, but they are obviously as not as developed as some of the games out there like platformers as all it really needs is words. However, the graphics are clearly laid out, and the answers and questions are easy to understand and answer.
Overall, this is would be a much more appreciated game for those who are obsessed with Friends and everything about it, however even if you are just a normal fan, I wouldn't recommend this game. It gets pretty dull as there isn't really an achievement aside from knowing the answers, and aside from competing against your friends, after the Friends phase ended I don't really see the appeal to the game.
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Jimmy Neutron: Attack Of The Twonkies (PS2)
by cath_del
Jimmy Neutron used to be a great character on Nickelodeon, although I'm not too sure if they still play his cartoon anymore, and in 2005 had a game released based around him named Jimmy Neutron: Attack Of The Twonkies. Aimed at a young audience, this game is one that is not only fun and simple to learn the controls to but also manages to ... be as humourous as the television show was.
The game is rated at 3 plus due to the young target audience of the television show, and it is pretty accurate as anyone can play due to the simple controls and the missions are designed in an easy way for people to follow. Currently, this game is available for around £8 on Amazon and it's better just to buy it from them as it's unlikely you'll see it in even the preowned section of PS2 games.
The storyline is pretty simple and reminds me of a longer episode of his series Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. Twonkus - 3 is a comet that flies past Earth every year and Jimmy wants to visit it, so he takes his homebuilt rocket and flies there. Unfortunately, a small cute alien which looks harmless finds it's way onto its rocket, and when they get back to Earth it causes a lot of trouble as it starts to multiply and eventually evolves into some really weird looking monsters. As Jimmy's reponsible for these mnonsters, it's now up to him to collect all of them and send them back to their comet.
The main objective is to make Jimmy run round his town using the gadgets he creates by picking up random objects to collect all the Twonkies around. At the beginning of the game you are only collecting the small Twonkies by using the Vacuum Demodulating Reciprocator (VDR) and this is relatively easy as you just have to collect a certain amount in the level. Then as the game progresses, so do the monsters, evolving into Stompers and Gromps which have to first use the Sheenograph (modelled on his best friends awful singing) to shrink them and then use the VDR.
Each level has different goals you have to complete before you move on, usually these are to collect a certain amount of Twonkies, to colllect a gadget or to talk to a specific person. They are pretty easy to understand and follow out, so kids will require little assistance from adults. However, the game does get slightly tricky at the end of some levels, as there are twonkie bosses you have to defeat. Two that stick in my mind is when Jimmy is at a playground and a frozen lake, as it took about 10 tries just to defeat this one level.
Aside from running around and collecting Twonkies, there is also some levels at which Jimmy has to fly in a rocket past objects or escaping from things. Aside from walking around to, Jimmy can also use his handy inventions of a jetpack or a lawnmower he finds around which adds a bit more to the platform element of the game.
At the end of each level you are rated with a grade to how well you did/how many twonkies you collected, and if you reach the A grade it unlocks a bonus level adding to the overall gameplay. Aside from collecting all the parts to make gadgets, there isn't that much collectables to get. But this isn't too important in this game, as they always have something new being made each level with the gadgets. However, when you complete levels, mini games and concept art is unlocked which is a nice feature.
Using the controls are really simple to grasp and use throughout the game as all you have to do is control Jimmy with the analog stick and then use the R2 buttons to switch gadgets. There isn't too much to learn in controls and only a few gadgets you have to use essentially, making it the perfect game for kids.
The graphics are pretty decent in this game, and it looks exactly like the cartoon series in 3D. It's nice being able to wander around the cartoon world in 3D and they are really well done for scenery and while not too much is focused upon small details they still look great. The cutscenes look pretty good to, and well animated unlike some cartoony games I have played. I'm pretty sure the same voice actors are used to and the sound effects match each gadget really well.
Overall, Jimmy Neutron: Attack Of The Twonkies is a great fun game that is perfect for kids to play and I would recommend it to anyone that was a fan of the television show. It keeps in with the humour that the show in it's storyline while combining with fun gameplay and good quality graphics and sound. While some of the boss fights can be difficult, this shouldn't distract away from the otherwise easy to understand and play levels.
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