EyeToy: Play Review

By Kristan Reed Published 25 June, 2003

Kristan continues his quest to make a fool of himself in the name of gaming.

Version tested: PlayStation 2

It's just as well we don't mind making ourselves look like tits in the comfort of our own home. After our recent humiliating Dancing Stage antics, the Sony EyeToy held no fear, if only that it's markedly less embarrassing waving your arms like a frantic Italian at some imaginary objects than playing 21st Century hopscotch.

The EyeToy is essentially Sony's attempt to bring a new form of gaming to the masses - or in other words, games that you don't need to be a gamer to play. You may have already mentally written it off as a curious sideshow, but Sony is bigging it up as "a leap forward in home entertainment", "the beginning of a new era" and "set to change the face of traditional console gaming as we know it". Blimey. Is this really the new friendly face that will expose the mass market naysayer to the joys of console gaming, or a quirky summer novelty that'll be gathering dust within days?

True plug and play

'EyeToy: Play' Screenshot 1

The key thing that is likely to appeal to technophobes is that it's an absolute doddle to set up, requires no control device - other than your arms and head - and stars you in the game itself. Depending on whether you're a self-loathing Quasimodo lookalike, or the next Pop Idol, this could be either the coolest thing ever or a reminder that you really should get that barnet seen to.

Vanity issues aside, it's so stupidly simple, even your granny could, and probably would, be moved off her Zimmer frame to wobble around in front of the family TV, although we're not sure that kind of behaviour should be actively encouraged. I mean, what happens if all these non gamers start hogging the PS2 when you want a quick session of Vice City? This could be the end of society as we know it...

The EyeToy: Play pack itself retails for around £40, and comes bundled with Darth Vadar's USB webcam and a disc containing all 12 inordinately simple - but fun - mini-games to humiliate yourself to. The webcam is stylish enough, with the traditional black grooves down the side to remind you that this is a PS2 you're dealing with, as well as a manual focus in front of the lens itself and a tilt stand to allow you to position it as required.

Wobbly granny alert

'EyeToy: Play' Screenshot 2

Booting up provides some slightly wacky instructions on what to do, complete with said wobbly granny and big smile. Immediately you'll be slightly perturbed at your mirror image staring back at you, albeit slightly blurred, but once you've positioned the EyeToy correctly atop your set and adjusted the focus, you can get on with the important task of playing the games.

Given that you are the controller, you have to carry out the menu selection by waving your hand over the arrows to cycle through the games, and then again over the select icon. By default, only half of the 12 games are unlocked to begin with; namely Kung Foo, Wishi Washi, Keep Ups, UFO Juggler, Ghost Catcher and Plate Spinner. Once you're good enough to beat all of the first half dozen, you'll be treated to Beat Freak, Boxing Chump, Slap Stream, Mirror Time, Boogie Down and Rocket Rumble.

Some of the games are ridiculously simple, like Kung Foo and Wishi Washi. In the former you simply have to punch the oncoming attackers out of the way, while Wishi Washy tasks you with cleaning as many windows as you can in the time limit, amusingly, to the strains of 'When I'm Cleaning Windows'. If you manage to attain a top three high score you'll even have your picture taken, which makes for some amusing possibilities - especially as it's stored from then on.

On the 'ead son!

'EyeToy: Play' Screenshot 3

The other 'starter' games are slightly more complicated, with Keep Ups requiring you to repeatedly head a football as many times as you can, while bashing enemies and avoiding friends who poke their heads out of windows intermittently. It's easy enough to manage, especially as the physics are totally unrealistic and overly forgiving, but the two 'juggling' games Plate Spinner and UFO Juggler can begin to wear your arms out after a while. You try waving your hands repeatedly for three minutes; begins to feel weird, doesn't it?

The final starter game Ghost Catcher is, again, quite simple, and is a spirit alternative to Kung Foo, requiring you to pop the spooks before they escape off the screen. At this stage the EyeToy experience is a novel one and you won't be able to stop giggling like a girl while you're playing/watching, but very soon the stupendous ease of the initial batch of games makes it unlikely that you'll be playing them more than a few times before you, literally, tire of the novelty.

The second half dozen games in the compendium, however, are a little more challenging and help rescue the package overall. Rocket Rumble is one such tricky example, that tasks you with selecting fireworks as they shoot into the sky, and then exploding them into a shower of stars at the right time by thumping one of two detonators, with tricky to pull off chains allowing you to attain higher scores.

Bop bop, lose lose

'EyeToy: Play' Screenshot 4

If you've got any sense of rhythm, then Beat Freak is one of the more straightforward mini-games you'll encounter, as the user is tasked with hitting four speakers as CDs fly towards them. Unfortunately, after a few minutes the blood starts to drain from your arms and you end up on the floor having a fit. Seriously. The addition of licensed tracks such as Boogie Night, and Sing It Back are a nice touch too.

Another rhythm action based mini game, Boogie Down, has you pointing at the disco lights in a game of Simon Says that's pretty easy to get the hang of, until the latter stages, when it all gets a bit frantic. Boxing Chump, meanwhile, is pretty easy. You stand side on and have to basically bop the Robot until his energy bar goes down to nought. Three knockdowns and its Game Over. Slap Stream, however, requires a bit more concentration that most of the others. In this one, you have to slap the rats as they appear out of clouds (well, obviously) while avoiding the bunny girls, which is harder than it sounds.

And finally, Mirror Time is by far the most challenging. While bursting the good bubbles and avoiding the bad sounds easy enough, the screen regularly flips to an upside down and reverse mirror image, and your movements must react accordingly. Suffice to say we were a bit crap at that one!

Wholesome family fun

In conclusion, EyeToy is tremendous fun for a quick mess around if you've got a few mates around and fancy a few flailing belly laugh, whether at your and other people's expense. On your own, however, it feels a bit pointless, and you'll soon get bored of waving your limbs around for the sake of it.

In terms of family/party fun we can see this turning into something of a cult success, especially given that it's sometimes even more fun watching than it is actually playing it - rather like eBay classic Samba de Amigo. It's certainly a piece of technology that has enormous potential if it was incorporated into a 'real' game, but by dipping its toe into the water with such an experimental, but straightforward effort, Sony still deserves plenty of credit for trying something genuinely new at a time when gaming innovation is seemingly a low priority for the industry right now. The end results may be somewhat shallow for most serious gamers' liking, but it's a quirky, fun, amusing, and heart-warming addition to the PS2.

8 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (46) Latest comment 8 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ssuellid #1 9 years ago

    Is there a minimum distance you have to be away from the camera?

  • Blerk #2 9 years ago

    I still think it looks shit.

  • Nemesis #3 9 years ago

    Who's the spanner in the pictures then? ;-)

  • Precision Auto #4 9 years ago

    Innovative!? My friend had some cheapo web cam for his PC a couple of years back that had games like this bundled with it. Maybe the 'Innovative' claim was made referring to the traditional Microsoft way - i.e. steal an idea, pretend you thought of it, market it better than the competition and take all the credit.

  • rare_uk #5 9 years ago

    Nice one Sony - for bringing something new to the gaming world.

  • pjmaybe #6 9 years ago

    It's a cool idea but the games looketh liketh they sucketh. Would love to see an online racing game that uses this as the "idiot cam" so you can see the bastard who just rammed you off the road sticking his tongue out at you as he screams past..(there's some arcade racer by Taito that does this...really excellent game for a bunch of drunken pissheads)

    Peej
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/03 @ 10:37

  • Sko #7 9 years ago

    This thing has that kind of desperate innovation feel to it I got when I saw that surfboard you attached to your speccy keyboard.

  • LaundroMat #8 9 years ago

    I think I'll get this.

    By the way, wasn't Police 24/7 supposed to support this cam?

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #9 9 years ago

    I still think it looks shit.

    You hate everything! :)

  • Killerbee #10 9 years ago

    Nice. But it does sound like one that'd be fun to rent for a weekend when you've got some friends over, rather than invest £40 in and play regularly yourself. Bit like Mario Party in that respect. Still, I admire Sony trying something a bit out of the ordinary for console gaming.

  • Blerk #11 9 years ago

    You hate everything! :)

    But I love you, mouse!

  • beep #12 9 years ago

    Anyone tried it in the nude?

  • gravity0 #13 9 years ago

    When is this out?

  • SanktePer #14 9 years ago

    It would be great to play Punch Out this way...

  • otto #15 9 years ago

    Have you had a haircut krudster, or is that some other poor git in the screenshots? :)

  • Han_Solo #16 9 years ago

    WOW whos the fit chick in the third picture......

    HUBBAHUBBA, SHWING BADDA BADDA SHWING!!!!

  • Nemesis #17 9 years ago

    Have you had a haircut krudster, or is that some other poor git in the screenshots? :)

    Mmmmwyeah, he ain't answered my version of that question yet. It takes a brave man to pose for those piccies that's all I'll say. At least he has clothes on I guess. Oh no, naked man playing Keep Up footy with the purple head. /looks away

  • Pirotic #18 9 years ago

    i think somebody was to chicken to take screenshots of himself playing the game... *cluck* ;)

  • Cyhwuhx #19 9 years ago

    .::: We've had this one in the shop for the last two weeks and people are genuinely enjoying it. Although all the kids keep playing Kung Foo without trying anything else. Also if it's younger than 16 it'll try playing the game by standing right in front of the camera. :) Silly buggers. There are also a few aggresive types who don't really get it and will try to hit the tv itself instead of waving at the right points in the air. :)

    It's a great gadget though, mine's already pre-ordered.

  • reflux #20 9 years ago

    Oooh. I can easily see porn-games using this hardware. "Jenna Haze Highschool Encounters" etc.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/03 @ 12:35

  • ssuellid #21 9 years ago

    re the pictures, don't EG just use the piccies that come with the press pack or with the review copy of the game? Or do EG normally take their own pictures of games?

  • Razz #22 9 years ago

    /Has flashbacks to Edge E3 DVD... fat bloke playing "kung foo!"

    *shudders*

  • eviltobz #23 9 years ago

    ssuellid said:
    re the pictures, don't EG just use the piccies that come with the press pack or with the review copy of the game? Or do EG normally take their own pictures of games?

    but more importantly, Han 'the boy' Solo asked:
    WOW whos the fit chick in the third picture......

    HUBBAHUBBA, SHWING BADDA BADDA SHWING!!!!


    come on EG staffers. we neeeeed to know the truth here.

  • WriterUK #24 9 years ago

    Those pics are of Sony's dev team... the guy is the producer of the game. Not sure who the woman might be.

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #25 9 years ago

    OH god no, none of those are any of us. You think we'd do that far just give you lot a laugh? I don't THINK so!

  • prettyboytim #26 9 years ago

    How well does it work when you don't have a convenient big white wall just behind the camera? How well would it work with the somewhat noisier surroundings of the average living room?

    P.S. There were some games that came with the intel webcams that were very similar to these back in 1999...

  • gizmo #27 9 years ago

    I'm a bit worried about that guys eyes in the top picture.

  • BLACKSHEEP #28 9 years ago

    WOW whos the fit chick in the third picture......

    And what is that stuff she's wiping off the screen. :D

  • pjmaybe #29 9 years ago

    "This thing has that kind of desperate innovation feel to it I got when I saw that surfboard you attached to your speccy keyboard. "

    Or worse, those steering wheels that clamped over the keyboard in a similar fashion.

    Peej

  • Segata Sanshiro #30 9 years ago

    Probably as you can use the socom headset as a PC mic.

  • Cyhwuhx #31 9 years ago

    How well does it work when you don't have a convenient big white wall just behind the camera? How well would it work with the somewhat noisier surroundings of the average living room?

    .::: Perfectly, as long as it doesn't hqve any moving objects in it. The camera only reacts to movement, so unless you have a GIANT swinging pendulum or anything like that in the room you want to play, you won't have any problems.
    The movement in it's place is taken from contrast differences, so if you're wearing white with a white wall behind you, you might get some hiccups. But with 'nomral' surroundings I can't see it fail easily.

  • BLACKSHEEP #32 9 years ago

    It can be used as a WebCam like the SOCOM headset can be used on MSN.

    USB is wonderful on the PS2 when you can use perephirals on your PC too. :)
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/03 @ 18:41

  • Viktor #33 9 years ago

    I love the EyeToy. It's definetly an 8/10, maybe even 9/10. The fact that the tech now exists gives an even more interesting proposition: how about creating a Tony Hawk that tracks body movement, or a _good_ fighting game, or maybe a Pilot Wings clone where you would fly by flapping your hands. Loads of possibilities, but obviously all of these ideas require a lot of tweaking to make them work.

    Still, lovely to see Sony bringing in some "innovation" - this is the next best thing since dancemats and maracas!

    Although it's true that I have played, on the pc, Kukakumma Muumaassa, which utilizes a webcam to pretty much same effect. That said, the EyeToy makes it even more accessible and plays real well.

    Got the missus playing too, so it has to be cool :)

  • Tyronne #34 9 years ago

    Sooo like someone else asked...when is this released ?

  • krl #35 9 years ago

    USB webcam eh? Can you use that one also on your computer?

  • UncleLou #36 9 years ago

    Is there a specific mode for 2 players, or can you play all the games with two players anyhow, as the camera doesn't care how mayn people are waving their arms? I am definitely considering to buy this.

  • bungalooBunny #37 9 years ago

    You can plug it on your PC but you'll need the right drivers to make use of it - not sure if this are available yet.

    Sure you can play with several people. Especially in WishWashi it can turn out to be quite fun.

    By the way the 'Kung Foo' photos shown on the review are from the old 2d version you could play at ECTS. The newer version looks a bit better and its in 3d.

  • UncleLou #38 9 years ago

    /throws copy of WWE Raw in Xisthename's cage

  • gravity0 #39 9 years ago

    I got this yesterday and played it with my dad for a couple of hours - I was almost in tears laughing by the end. Tremendous fun.

    Oh, and the final version has all 12 minigames unlocked from the start.

  • Whizzo #40 9 years ago

    Got mine today from Asda for £37, I had pre-ordered it from Amazon but they couldn't deliver for a least a week so I cancelled.

    Played it most of the evening with my brother, his wife and his two kids and we had a great time. It's a hell of a lot of fun and I'm glad I got it, it's a good workout too! :-)

  • ReGuRgIt8oR #41 9 years ago

    Very, very funny to play and watch.

    Ace family game. You'd spend £40 taking family on a day out whereas we had 3 hours of solid fun on the first session alone. Just know the location of your nearest A&E department for the cardio-vascular attention you (I) will need.

    Buy it or miss out.

  • Nosbod #42 9 years ago

    Ive purchased eye toy and i think its a good laugh especially having a few mates round and using it as part of a drinking game. Its worth bying as the actual camera will be used by other developers in more serious games. There could be some graet games made that use the cam along with the controler.

  • shane #43 9 years ago

    as soon as more games are developed for eye toy i am going to buy it.
    just yesterday i was walking past a computer shop and realised it had a game set up on a computer where you could play basketball. the shop was closed so i was standing outside on a main road waving my arms like a lunatic.

  • Pirotic #44 9 years ago

    im curious as to if the eyetoy mic works with the PS2 online games.

  • jiroczech #45 9 years ago

    You live with a family of voles, Tiamat?

  • WoodenSpoon #46 8 years ago

    Buy the game then.