[Gamers' Day 2007] Judgment Day
The Eye of Judgment is one part CCG, one part RPG and one part WTF. We go hands-on to sort it all out.
Published: May 17, 2007
People often forget that Sony isn't exactly new to the idea of funky peripherals. Though it never really caught on here like it in Europe, the EyeToy was certainly innovative in that it let the player's body work as a controller -- to varying degrees of success. With their first EyeToy PS3 game, though, Sony is ditching the idea of people flailing around and instead going with a traditional card battle game, albeit one bolstered by a bit of fancy new teach.
If anyone watched the Sony's E3 press conference last year, they probably saw the technical demo that had Phil Harrison battling some summoned creatures with his trademark duck. You simply drop the card down on the 3x3 board, the PlayStation Eye (nee EyeToy) reads the card and summons the monster trapped inside. From there, it's simply a matter of capturing the majority of squares on the board in a fancy version of chess. Or maybe more accurately a game of Go. Y'know, with a bunch of Magic: The Gathering thrown in for good measure.
Case in point: both the board and the cards' elemental persuasions of earth, water, fire, wood and tech-heavy biolith. Since the game is as much about where you place the cards (and the direction, which can be read by the camera) as which ones and when, a bit of strategy is necessary. All actions are governed by cards that you lay on top of existing ones already placed on the field, from healing to attacking to moving/repositioning the facing of your cards, and since attacking from behind or the side causes extra damage, which direction you face is equally important as the kinds of attacks, some in one direction, others in multiples ones, that can be dealt).
It's an interesting concept, to be sure. Since every copy of the game comes with 30 starter deck cards that everyone gets and another 8 in a booster pack (all future cards come from randomly sorted booster packs, up to 110 in all, though obviously there are rarities and the chance for many a duplicate). You essentially shuffle and then follow the on-screen prompts to play through your deck, which feels a little odd at first, but it's actually a fairly cool concept.
Equally cool are the visuals. Once you put down your cards or take an action in a given turn, usually there's an initial animation and then a full-on battle scene that actually uses the PS3's muscle to render out a particular square's elemental properties and the characters doing battle according to card position and the action taken. Though the scenes are obviously short, they really do sport some slick animation and great visual detail.
A game like this is really going to come down the audience. Given that nearly everyone at the Gamers' Day event had at least one comment about cheating and just using whatever cards in your deck to best tackle things, it's possible that sportsmanship might be thrown out the window in online matches, but we'll have to see how it all plays out. If nothing else, it's an impressive proof of concept for what the Eye might be capable of in the future.
If anyone watched the Sony's E3 press conference last year, they probably saw the technical demo that had Phil Harrison battling some summoned creatures with his trademark duck. You simply drop the card down on the 3x3 board, the PlayStation Eye (nee EyeToy) reads the card and summons the monster trapped inside. From there, it's simply a matter of capturing the majority of squares on the board in a fancy version of chess. Or maybe more accurately a game of Go. Y'know, with a bunch of Magic: The Gathering thrown in for good measure.
Case in point: both the board and the cards' elemental persuasions of earth, water, fire, wood and tech-heavy biolith. Since the game is as much about where you place the cards (and the direction, which can be read by the camera) as which ones and when, a bit of strategy is necessary. All actions are governed by cards that you lay on top of existing ones already placed on the field, from healing to attacking to moving/repositioning the facing of your cards, and since attacking from behind or the side causes extra damage, which direction you face is equally important as the kinds of attacks, some in one direction, others in multiples ones, that can be dealt).
It's an interesting concept, to be sure. Since every copy of the game comes with 30 starter deck cards that everyone gets and another 8 in a booster pack (all future cards come from randomly sorted booster packs, up to 110 in all, though obviously there are rarities and the chance for many a duplicate). You essentially shuffle and then follow the on-screen prompts to play through your deck, which feels a little odd at first, but it's actually a fairly cool concept.
Equally cool are the visuals. Once you put down your cards or take an action in a given turn, usually there's an initial animation and then a full-on battle scene that actually uses the PS3's muscle to render out a particular square's elemental properties and the characters doing battle according to card position and the action taken. Though the scenes are obviously short, they really do sport some slick animation and great visual detail.
A game like this is really going to come down the audience. Given that nearly everyone at the Gamers' Day event had at least one comment about cheating and just using whatever cards in your deck to best tackle things, it's possible that sportsmanship might be thrown out the window in online matches, but we'll have to see how it all plays out. If nothing else, it's an impressive proof of concept for what the Eye might be capable of in the future.