1st Impressions: The Eye of Judgement is a unique take on traditional trading card games that is unlike anything else.
The Bad: You must be in a perfectly lit room for card recognition to work perfectly, is a pretty complicated game, matches will take quite a while.
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As a new PS3 owner, I knew one of the first games I had to try out for my new system was The Eye of Judgement, which is a unique spin on the classic card battle games. Instead of you typical card battles and such, The Eye of Judgement actually uses the included Playstation Eye to animate you battles, giving the game a more unique and realistic feel.
The package you buy in stores includes the game on a Blu-Ray disc, a starter deck of cards, a Playstation Eye (the next gen version of the Eye-Toy) and a battle mat. All of these components are used to give gamers a unique experience. I would highly suggest watching all of the fairly lengthy tutorial videos before hopping into a game. It is a pretty complicated game, and those looking for something to pick up and play will be highly dissapointed, but once you learn how to play, it can be a lot of fun.
Each player has a deck of 30 cards. You may have up to three of the same card in most instances, but there are several cards that only allow one of that card. After you set up the battle mat, connect the Eye to the Eye of Judgement stand and get your deck ready to go, it's battle time!
Each player get's a turn, where they must preform a variety of actions in various stages. I'm not going to try to explain the stages, because that is what tutorial videos are for, but the game is very spacific on what you can and cannot do at certain stages. You always start out by drawing a card, then you can place a creature on the board, or use a spell, or cause a creature already in play to attack an opposing creature. Everything you do in the game requires Mana, which you gain two points of before each turn. Save your mana and unleash tougher creatures and spells, but you might loose it if your opponent conquers the board before you play a creature. Each section of the board has an element attributed to it. If you place a creature onto a space with it's element, it will recieve a bonus, while if you place it onto the opposite of it's element, you will loose HP.
The gameplay itself is a lot of fun. My brother and I played one match for two hours, and really weren't paying attention to the time. It is very addicting and a ton of fun, but unless you have a good chunk of time on your hands and a buddy with the same amount, you might not have quite as much fun with this game. It requires a few hours per match, so make sure you have the time before starting a match.
There are a few negatives to this solid and unique consept. The card reading system only works well in a room that it lit to a very spacific set of specifications. If it isn't lit well, you might need to bring an additional light source, which can get annoying after a while. The graphics are top notch for the cartoony style of the game, but the voice acting can get annoying after a while. You also have to have a good amount of time on your hands to play, since there is no kind of quick play option.
Overall, The Eye of Judgement is a solid card battle game that can be a blast because of it's unique consept and will hopefully be a stepping stone for many more games just like it.
Gameplay: Card battles in 3-D, how cool is that?
Graphics: It has a cartoony style, but it works well for the game's consept.
Sound: Generic rock music and fairly annoying voice acting get old after a while.
Value: You get the entire pack new for $80, which isn't too bad considering what you are getting.
Final Thoughts: Wow, now I feel like Yu-Gi-Oh!