The idea of using the Eyetoy is still very much a novelty, with most of the Eyetoy compatible games not being abundantly enhanced by its presence. This is why it was so important for Sony to make Eyetoy: Play 2 - a game that showed off all the Eyetoy has too offer. After extensive playing, we can conclude Sony has done rather well.
The Eyetoy is a very simple premise. A camera places the player in the game and they use their hands, feet, nose, voice or what-have-you to achieve the games objective. The game is full of twelve mini games which all require different activities to complete. This is where the bulk of the game is, so let's run through them.
Kung 2: Kung 2 is the sequel to last year’s karate game. This time there are no time limits - players must fulfil certain objectives in order to pass a level. There are over eight different stages. One of the stages has the player adding vocal work to their punches to pull off a more powerful punch, which results in hilarity. Kung 2 is completely different to its stagnant predecessor as the backgrounds consistently change, and there are even boss battles. PALGN predicts this is where players will spend most of their time.
Air Guitar: Air Guitar - who could complain about the inclusion of this game (I can't! RAWKKK! - Ed.)? The objective here is to watch as the icons fall and strum the guitar as appropriate. This game isn’t as good as PALGN was expecting but, it is good for a quick laugh.
Table Tennis: Players use their hands to direct the ball onto the table as they take on an opponent. This was a tricky game to get used to. However, once you master how to actually direct the ball, Table Tennis becomes very addictive.
Secret Agent: The objective of Secret Agent is to avoid the spotlights and security cameras, while collecting the items which appear on the screen to escape the jail area. Secret Agent is full of mini games in itself, where players must crack combination codes, amongst other things. The overall objective is to get out of the jail. The stealthy tension involved in this game makes it quite an engaging experience.
Mr Chef: In Mr Chef players are given a customer order and need to drag the ingredients over to the plate to make a burger. However, the game is full of food related mini games such as chopping a pickle, destroying tomatoes or mixing the milkshake.
Bubblepop: Popping the blue bubbles and leaving the red bubbles sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it? Think again. This game requires very accurate hand movements, and it only takes one slip of your hand and all your hard work is ruined. Bubblepop is fun at first, but tires quickly.
Monkeybars: Monkeybars is a more strategic game where players have to choose the path to get to the end of a building. Touching the top left icon will send the player to the left, touching the top right icon will send the player right and so on. It requires full movement of the player.
DIY: DIY is a collection of mini games which all relate to building. These mini games include knocking trees into mulcher, hammering nails into the boards as well as other various creative ideas.
Knockout: Knockout returns from last year’s edition. However, this time, the camera pans around into the third dimension. When players are knocked out they have an opportunity to recover by knocking away all the stars that appear on the screen.
Goal Attack: Goal attack places players in the role of a goalie trying to stop the ball from going into the net. This is done quite easily in the beginning, but the mini games in between help to tire the player out. One of the “fitness tests” actually has the player jumping to pass. Who ever thought gaming would be so much work? It’s a bit of a physical workout, but it's also extremely gratifying.
Home Run: Home run requires players to hit the baseball hard enough to make it to first base. It’s another tough workout and also allows the players to choose whether they're left or right handed.
Drummin: The final game on the compilation is Drummin. This game is essentially the same as Eyetoy: Groove, but instead features six drums. Hit the icons as they go past the drums for maximum points.
There is much more to the games than we have included but we want to make sure that we don't spoil everything. A lot of the mini games have a lot more depth and you would think, making everything a lot less simplistic than the original Play title. This is the most significant improvement over the original game, and it makes Play 2 a blast.
One of the drawbacks of the more detailed games is the loading screens. Every game incurs a loading screen which lasts from three to eight seconds. It isn’t a huge flaw, but it’s annoying having to wait every time you change games.
On top of the 12 main games, Play 2 also features an extras menu. In the extras menu, video messaging makes a return. It’s safe to say that Eyetoy: Chat will cover video messaging better than this version, though
Spytoy is also featured in this menu. It has several features such as a normal and time lapse digital camera. PALGN cannot imagine it being used too frequently, though.
The playroom also returns and has some interesting little gadgets. This is mainly just a place to demonstrate everything the Eyetoy can do to your friends with a minimum of fuss. Sonic-cam, cut-out cam, motion cam and colour cam all feature here and have their own games.
The graphics in the game are nothing special. However, they are a significant upgrade from Play and are well suited to the game. Once again, the audio isn’t exactly captivating by any stretch of the imagination. It’s all pretty basic - but then again who really wants anything too over the top for this type of game?
Eyetoy: Play 2 is a significant upgrade from the two Eyetoy titles released last year. It really showcases the power of the Eyetoy, and broadens its use beyond just reacting to on-screen movement. Hopefully from now on we should see better use of the Eyetoy camera than just quick cash-ins gimmick games. The work done on the mini games has been great - the fact that they are no longer timed is brilliant, although this can lead to physical exhaustion for the unfit among us. PALGN loves the fact that the mini games all contain several other mini games in themselves, as it makes the experience lot more challenging. Eyetoy: Play 2 is a really solid title that is much better than we were expecting. For only $69.95 without the camera, we strongly suggest you pick this up.
Loading...
