Eye of Judgment Simply Rocks, A Hands on Review
Eye of Judgment is a unique card game that works exclusively on the Sony Playstation 3 with the Playstation Eye camera. I got the chance to put my hands on the game at this years GenCon Indy and I must say I was impressed.
Eye of Judgment is played by setting the included Eye and stand, and playing field (3′ x 3′) on a flat surface, calibrating the device to the appropriate lighting, and simply playing cards. All board actions are mirrored on-screen. To summon a creature to the field or cast a magic card, which all costs mana, simply place the card on the desired zone facing the direction of your choice. Each creature has specific attack patterns and range, making facing important.
My question was: “What is stopping players from just looking their decks and picking the best cards to draw?†Well, before playing online, you must register your deck with the game, and during play it has randomly shuffled your cards and instructs you which card to you can play. So while nothing is stopping you looking at all the cards you have, the game knows what you actually have in your hand and keeps you from simply grabbing all the good ones immediately.
You can use the controller for non-summoning, non-casting actions, but it ends up being easier simply to use the
cards. The game calculates all stats and figures, indicates when to draw cards, and informs players when they are attempting to perform an illegal move or do not have sufficient mana, all of which is extremely helpful given how many things are being tracked at one time by the game.
Fundamentally Eye of Judgment is about deck-building and strategy. Though the playing field is small and the goal (control five squares out of nine total) is seemingly simple, it can get a tad more involved with all sorts of secondary actions, possessing enemy creatures, dealing with alignment related effects (switching a zone’s alignment to mess with a creature) and so on.
The game offers two different playing modes. The first is the actual battle mode where monsters are summoned into engagement with each other. The second mode is the view mode where you are able to see the various monsters and examine their attributes. You can even conduct mock fight trials to see how they will perform in impending battles.
There will be three ways to play:
- As a single gamer playing against your PS3
- Two players playing against each other in the same room
- Two players playing against each other online
At release, the game will come with the gear needed to play along with a regular 30-card starter set and an eight-card booster pack. Sony, in partnership with Wizards of the Coast, plans to market the game as a full-scale collectible card game. When the game launches October 07, the total set will be comprised of 110 cards. Four months later, a 100-card expansion will be released, adding new rules in addition to the new cards.
Over all I think this is the best implementation of the playstation camera system ever. (I can’t wait to see what
comes next for this technology) The card game has to be overall fun game to play or the great graphics and wow factor of the technology gets lost, and it was lots of fun to play. I was more than impressed with the game. Eye of Judgment provides an splendid visual experience that adds another dimension to traditional trading card games. I can’t wait for the release and it WILL be on my list for Christmas this year.
