The Eyepets get Move support, but are they worth adopting again?
EyePet & Friends is the sequel to the popular augmented reality pet simulation. The original used the PS Eye and a card for your EyePet to appear on and interact with. Things have changed for the sequel, the card is gone and instead the pet just roams across your living room floor while you interact it with a combo of hand gestures and PS Move controls.
I have to admit that I don’t have the largest living room in the world, so my space was somewhat limited and it does dampen the experience as a result. It isn’t the most accurate game when it comes to your hand gestures like stroking, in one instance early on I was told to place my hand on my floor and move it around for the EyePet to come to me, but it just wasn’t working until I moved further back and pretty much moved my coffee table out of the way. So be warned, if you’ve got a small living room then it can be problematic, but I think it’s more down to the inaccurate nature of the PS Eye, why you can’t just use the Move controller by itself confuses me, it would avoid these issues.
The Move controller becomes certain objects that you can use with your EyePet like toys, the augmented reality is a neat idea and its done well with what you can do with the creature and the objects you can use, it’s also great to finally have the option to play with another person and letting another EyePet join in. There is 3D support for those with the tech to do so; unfortunately I don’t so I can’t comment. You can also review other people’s EyePet’s online, which is a nice touch.
In terms of visuals, EyePet & Friends looks like its predecessor. The creatures look cute and well detailed, the fur is realistic and the tools you use look the part, but the background of the augmented reality does look a bit grainy due to the limitations of the PS Eye. The EyePets’ sound cute too, there’s a bit of voice-acting during the tutorial but it’s nothing special.
The Verdict
EyePet & Friends adds new features and reasons to play with the cuddly creatures once more, it’s just a shame that the PS Eye causes problems along the way when the simplest of moves becomes a real chore to do, and I was almost convinced that it was unplayable at one stage, which is a sin in my book. But once I overcame it, I did enjoy my time looking after my pet and I’m sure you will too.