Saturday 13 May 2006
When we saw Eye of Judgement for the first time at Sony's pre-E3 conference, we didn't really get it, not least because there wasn't anything that made it peculiarly next-gen. And having seen a further presentation of the game today by developer SCE Japan Studio, we're still none the wiser.
The game largely plays like any traditional battle-card endeavour. The difference is that the card game is played under the watchful eye of a next-gen EyeToy camera linked up to a PS3.
This then make characters supposedly 'jump' out of cards to give proceedings a 'live' feel; battles are now realised on the screen as opposed to just taking place in the imagination of the players. Which is fine, but it still doesn't alter the basic gameplay - which, until now, has worked perfectly well without the need of being hooked up to a next-gen console.
Above: Members of the SCE Japan Studio dev team demo the game to an invite-only audience at E3
At this stage, the one true benefit Judgement appears to offer is that lone gamers are given the ability to play - not something that's possible in traditional battle-card confrontations, which require two players.
To be fair, Judgement does seem to be aimed at a fairly young audience and it /is/ yet another example of innovative EyeToy usage. But as an indication of what the first wave of PS3 games will be capable of, it could be sorely lacking.
