Spotlight: Eye of Judgment

By Tristan Clark

Get the lowdown on the game and its expansion!

I’m quite torn about Eye of Judgement. On the one hand, it can be extremely finicky to set up; the camera can cause a lot of headaches when it doesn’t recognise cards you lay down; and the latest patch took roughly five hours to download on a fast cable connection. But on the other hand, when everything works fine, it’s a fun game to play if you’ve got a mate around.

But let’s backtrack here if you have no idea what The Eye of Judgement is. Essentially, it’s a trading card game along similar lines to Magic: The Gathering (which was made by the same people who developed the game here). You’ve got a grid of nine squares that you place creature or spell cards onto, and take turn attacking and counter-attacking with another player. But it all gets a bit crazy when you factor in the PlayStation Eye camera, which is placed on a stand above the board and relays information of the cards through your PS3 and onto the TV screen. The game itself then regulates statistics, moves, and all the rest.

I’m not sure how someone managed to come up with such a strange concept, but it’s not a bad one – watching your summoned lizard archers take out an assassin in full 3D is pretty cool, and definitely adds something to the experience.

Well, that’s if it works. During the course of testing the game out, Eye of Judgement has proven to be pretty unreliable when it came to recognizing the cards on the game board, something that brings the game to a crashing halt, and turns fun into frustration. Add to this a long setup time and a tutorial that will simultaneously grate and perplex, and you’ve got a potentially ruined experience.

However, if you can get past those problems, you’ll find a card game that, while not as deep or involving as something like Magic, is still pretty enjoyable. The idea is to control five of the nine squares on the board, which you do by summoning creatures. Of course, your opponent is trying to do the same, so you’ll naturally have to outwit and outmaneuver them to win.

There’s a fair amount of depth here for those who want to go crazy with the game. There are now a couple of hundred cards available, and you can purchase themed decks and booster packs to further customize your decks. Creatures and spells come in many different flavours and abilities, so you can employ quite a lot of strategy if you so desire. Having said that, be prepared to spend a lot to get to this stage – the base unit costs around $170 over here, and expansion packs are more on top of that.

This is the kind of game that will likely appeal to a niche of a niche – those who like trading card games, and feel it’s worthwhile getting over the initial hurdle of setup and calibration. You’ll also ideally have a friend handy who shares your passion – playing this against the computer, or even online, gets old fairly fast. It’s at its best as a social experience, so you can jointly taunt each other over the table, or scream in frustration when the camera refuses to recognise your card.

As you’ve probably gathered, I’ve got quite a few criticisms of Eye of Judgement. For many, the price and combination of inconveniences will be quite a turn off, and for good reason. But given the right circumstances, you’ll be able to get a good deal of fun out of the product. My girlfriend, for one, is really enjoying the game, and we’ll be playing it tonight after this feature is finished. So it’s hard to really make a – sorry – judgement on The Eye of Judgement – you’re going to have to look at the facts yourself, and try to decide whether it’s worth your time and money.

Oh, and if you’re the kind of crazy gamer who likes both hardcore games and making an ass of yourself, take into account the fact that the camera works with SingStar – making a drunken night singing your face off into an unfortunately unforgettable experience.

Biolith Rebellion 2 Expansion

We were also recently sent the latest expansion pack for Eye of Judgement. Called the Biolith Rebellion 2 set, it introduces a further 100 creatures and spells to let you bolster your decks. Have a search on the net for a complete rundown of the new cards, but they generally fitted in well with the previous cards. It’s also worth noting that this latest expansion improves the interface somewhat, making it easier to access info on your cards.

We were given the Fire King’s Rage themed deck, which was fun to pit against the starter deck the original game comes with. The new abilities of the creatures opened up a few new strategies as well, so you won’t necessarily be able to rely so much on tried and tested tactics. The expansion is obviously targeted solely at those already well ensconced in Eye of Judgement, and it serves its purpose – to provide some fresh experiences on the battlefield – well. Pick up some of the new cards if you’re looking for new ways to play against your opponents.

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