EyeToy: Play

"Great Invention"

The Eye Toy is a completely new idea from Sony that puts you in the game. Hyped about in Japan for a long time and now it has finally arrived here in the UK. The idea is simple- plug the Eye Toy camera into the USB connector at the front of the PS2, place on top of your television, insert the disc and play. The camera shows your movement on the screen and interacts with on screen objects.

The Eye Toy package contains the Eye Toy camera and the disc to play it on. The disc contains 12 games that require you to perform movements in order to complete tasks. The 12 games are Beat Freak, Kung Foo, Wishi Washi, Keep Ups, Boxing Chump, UFO Juggler, Slap Stream, Plate Spinner, Boogie Down, Ghost Catcher, Mirror Time and Rocket Rumble. Beat Freak is a game where you have to move your hand over the speakers as CDs hit the speakers. Kung Foo shows your fighting skills against tiny ninjas by hitting them before they hit you. Wishi Washi as you probably know by now requires you to clean a dirty window with your hand. Keep ups is just you in a game of soccer. You have to head the ball into the air and keep it up for as long as possible. Boxing Chump is by far the best game available. You must knock your opponent out while avoiding being hit yourself. UFO Juggler requires you to wave your hand over the UFO to get it airborne. Wave it too much though, and the UFO will explode. Slap Stream is a quick reaction game where you must slap the rats, but not hit the bunnies. Plate Spinner is a fast reaction game where you must keep 4 plates spinning at once. Boogie Down is a typical dance beat game. You must hit the lights as the character does. This game is quite easy and one of the most entertaining games. In Ghost catcher you have to wave over the ghost to make them disappear before they float off the top of the screen. Mirror Time can be very confusing as your image is switched around and you must hit the green lights but not hit the red ones. Rocket Rumble is the hardest of the games because you have to wave over rockets of the same color then detonate them to get more points. Fast reflexes are definitely needed to do well.

The graphics of this game are not of high quality and are cartoon like. But the gameplay makes up for them. Sound effects are added on all games and there are plenty of different tunes to groove down to while playing, but you tend not to notice them during the fast paced excitement of the game.

There is almost no limit to the fun that can be had with this. The 12 games can be played over 3 difficulties (Easy, Normal and Hard), and it is a great laugh with friends watching. There is also multiplayer options and you can edit pictures as an added bonus.

Overall I would say that this a very worthwhile purchase if you are into short fun games. The Eye Toy is fun to be had by the whole family. It is a definite must buy and a great addition to any game collection.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/05/03, Updated 07/05/03