GamesRelay

Name: EyePet

Virtual pets, the more technology evolves, the more they themselves evolve along with it, unfortunately for us it'll be a few generations before we see terminator pet dogs intent on human annihilation with real artificial intelligence, but still, for the time being, these virtual pets can be fun and loving, to some degree that is. Sony's EyePet is one of the companies more recent experiments with the PlayStation Eye camera device they released a while back, we've had The Eye of Judgment which was a card game and a whole host of camera games on the PlayStation Store, but never anything like a pet, that is, until now.

Whether you're one who will love and care for your new EyePet or become intent on starving it to death, some fun can be had with the furry little monkey type puppy thing. When you start the game up you'll be taught how to correctly position your PlayStation Eye camera which basically is about knee height, pointing at the ground, and a good level of light for it to track your hand movements. Afterwards you're shown the magic card, now the magic card is a tangible item and something you'll hold in your hand under the camera so that the game can use it to produce an assortment of in-game objects for which you'll use to care for and have fun with your EyePet. By now you may be wondering where your EyePet actually is, well he/she/it, (we'll stick with it) hasn't been born yet, and as such you're given it in the form of a large egg. Of course this isn't an edible egg, you wouldn't want to eat your EyePet now would you? You'll need to hatch the egg to get your EyePet out, to hatch it you will have to use the heater that appears on screen to heat the egg, once it cracks you'll have to use your hands to rock it back and forth until it fully emerges, fresh from its egg shelled enclosure.

At first it can be a little strange trying to interact with something on screen that doesn't actually exist in front of you, it is short lived however since it doesn't take long to get used to, after a while you'll be flicking your wrist and playing with your EyePet without a second thought.

After your EyePet is born/created/produced/insert any type of reference you like, you'll be asked to perform a variety of tasks on your new furry little fellow such as tickling and chasing it around the screen, this is all done with your hands which makes things a much more pleasant experience. Afterwards you will be guided through caring for your new pet which involves feeding it, washing, styling (dressing up) and generally keeping it a healthy little furry being. The major problem with the game lies here, while you're encouraged to look after and maintain your new pet, there isn't really any incentive to do so, you see, your EyePet will never die, probably to stop any children from having a nervous breakdown at their pet toppling over and collapsing from hunger, but if you don't clean or feed it, it'll just end up looking sad and hungry with flies buzzing around its head to show it being smelly. It can make you feel a little sorry for the poor thing unless you're just being cruel, it'll give you those puppy eyes and even drag it's food bowl over to you to show it's hungry, but regardless of its condition it'll never stop doing the challenges you can put it through.

The main objective within the game while looking after and maintaining your pet is the Pet Program, this program encompasses sixty challenges which are split over fifteen in-game days, while you can play the game as much as you like you can only play a few days worth of in game pet program challenges at a time before it stops you. The challenges are fairly simple; such as using the magic card to create a trampoline for your pet to bounce on until it reaches a set goal, nothing too challenging for any young children. Some of the challenges are one time only events while others can be revisited to reach a new high score, mainly you'll use your hands for the challenges but the odd one uses the controller as well. Another great example is the treadmill challenge where you have to clap your hands when it reaches an obstacle so that it jumps over it, while they're all simple, they are very fun and involving. Two of the highlights to the pet program is Snap and the sketch book, for those that don't remember the classic game of Snap as a child, basically you take it in turns with your pet to place a card down, if the same card is placed as the one below it, it's the first to place their hand over the deck and shout snap, well, the shouting isn't necessary but it's all about immersion, isn't it? Playing Snap with your pet is excellent fun and it's just as good as playing with a real person, the pet will jump on the deck if you're not fast enough to place your hand down before it gets there first, and controlling the cards is extremely simple, it's just a case of flicking your hand over your deck to move a card across and then placing your hand over the deck if you can win the snap. The sketch book is equally as good, both from a fun perspective and a technical one, with the sketch book you can draw a picture on a piece of paper (we're talking real paper here, not in game, black marker pen works best) and then hold it up to the camera, your pet will then copy your drawing within the game on the sketchbook, it's pretty amazing stuff.

There are some downsides to some of the challenges however, mainly the instructions themselves. Upon beginning a challenge you're given a brief introduction on what you need to do and for most of the challenges this is fine, but some of the challenges don't quite explain what you really need to do, one such example is the smashing watermelons task, you're given the task of using a robot to smash some watermelons with the aid of a toy baseball bat, yet how exactly you're supposed to do this isn't apparent. Natural instinct tells us to use our hands to smash the watermelons, nope, what about getting your pet to run into them? Nope. There are a few other such examples like taking a picture of your face alongside your EyePet, simple right? One would think so, but when you actually take the picture, it doesn't complete the challenge, perhaps the game doesn't like certain people, these are the types of challenges you'll get annoyed with, ponder over, and then never go back too. While the challenges which do work and provide adequate instructions are fun, there is a reward for completing them, you'll win prizes, mostly in the form of new clothing for your pet such as hats, but they are rewards all the same and it can be quite fun coming up with designs of what you can dress your pet up in.

Unfortunately, the major disappointment with EyePet is the pet itself, while you can dress it up to your heart's content, perform the same challenges and maintenance on it, your pet itself never actually grows or evolves. It never learns anything that differentiates it from all the other EyePet's out there, this in a virtual pet game is a huge disappointment and something which makes you wonder what the whole point in playing is after the initial novelty wears off. The game does come with some limited online functionality however, though it's slim pickings with the options you have, the online activities basically boil down to buying new items from the EyePet store or visiting an online gallery where you can see other EyePet's from around the world. You can post photos and videos of your own EyePet which you can take in game should you so choose but these small and limited options don't contribute much to the longevity of the game at all.

Without a doubt EyePet is a fun game, it makes excellent use of the PlayStation Eye and kids will no doubt enjoy it much more than adults will. However, it isn't without its problems, mainly the odd challenges which don't give clear instructions, and the real disappointment of the game however is the pet itself, without the ability to grow, evolve, or change in any way other than how it was born, the lasting appeal of PlayStation EyePet soon loses its novelty factor and will no doubt be retired to the stack of other games you own until you fancy showing someone how fun the camera can be.