EyePet: Move Edition Review

Sony might take this as a back-handed compliment, but the revamped version of EyePet is probably the most successful title in the Move launch line-up. Considering that EyePet Move is a spruced-up version of a product that was released almost a year ago, and given that it’s not actually a game at all, this might be cause for concern – especially if you were hoping that we were about to enter some new Golden Age of motion control gaming. Still, if you (or more likely, your child) is in the market for a new virtual pet, you’re in luck. Eleven months on from the original release, this is still the best monkey-cat-hybrid simulation that money can buy.

The EyePet is more or less a direct descendent of all those Catz and Dogz games (or should that be gamez?) that surfaced in the mid ’90s. Both series were massively popular with gamers who were either unable or unwilling to deal with the expense, responsibility or omnipresent faeces that accompanies real-world pet ownership. In essence, the player used their mouse to interact with a cartoon mutt or feline as they pranced around their computer screen. You fed the animal, groomed it, and teased it with toys. As an overall experience it was somewhat lacking in gameplay, but this had little impact on the kids who flocked to stores in their millions.

Last year SCE London Studios returned to the formula using some rather impressive augmented reality tricks. What we have here is a mildly revamped version of the same game, adapted to make use of PlayStation Move. You set up the PlayStation Eye in front of your TV so that you’re watching a live feed of your living room floor, then when you look at the screen, you’ll suddenly find you’ve got a new visitor charging about the room. The EyePet himself is cutesy little bugger, a four-legged furball with cat-like agility, a puppy’s playfulness, and the face of a particularly good-looking monkey. With time and effort – and, I suspect, an awful lot of market research – the developers have successfully created the ultimate Frankenstein’s pet. Sony deserves some credit for this, as it’s actually quite hard to blend animals in this way (trust me, I have a lifetime ban from London Zoo).

Rather than being a fully-fledged game, the EyePet is really an AI-driven toy that you play with via your television. You clear a large space in front of your screen, sit on the floor and then start to fool about with your new friend: you can lean over and “stroke” him, wiggle your fingers to get his attention, or call him over by tapping the ground. You might feel a bit daft at first, running your fingers through thin air, but before long everything feels totally natural. You learn to watch the screen and not your empty room, and soon you’ll be totally absorbed in whatever your Pet is up to. The technology behind this project is hugely impressive: the creature’s movements are detailed and extremely well-animated, and whatever he’s doing it always looks as if he’s actually moving across your floor. As a result, it’s easy to believe that there’s actually something there – a crucial achievement that guarantees the product’s overall success.

Sensibly, Sony has resisted the urge to make the Move controller a mandatory part of the action at all times. Hands-on actions like stroking and coaxing your monkey-thing are still conducted with your real-world digits, while the controller is used whenever a toy or tools comes into play. If you’re washing your animal, it can be used as a showerhead, a shampoo bottle or a hairdryer; if you’re doing a spot of gardening, it turns into a watering can. Originally these devices were controlled via a special piece of coloured card that the player had to hold up to the camera; while that system worked well enough, there’s no doubt that things look and feel far more satisfying with the Move controller. The wand’s 360 degree sensing also comes into play here, allowing you to shower your pet at exactly the angle you want. This doesn’t make a huge difference to the experience, but it does make your interactions seem a bit more precise and tangible, and thus easier to believe in.

There are a total of 60 challenges to play through with your furball, from 10 pin bowling to play fights to games of Snap, and at any given moment you can take pics or videos using the in-built camera tool. Many of the challenges have multiple score targets to beat, unlocking new toys and clothes for your creature. As you work through the tasks you’ll unlock new ones, but Sony has wisely stuck a limit on how many you can open up in the course of a day – so it’ll take players some time to see everything the game has to offer.

The most impressive tricks in the EyePet’s bag involve a magic crayon set. The player doodles on an A4 pad with a felt tip pen and then holds their creation up to the camera; the EyePet then grabs a pen of its own and sets about re-creating your sketch in surprising detail. There’s now an option to use the Move controller to draw directly onto the screen, and as you might expect this works rather well, but it’s nice to still have the option to use a real pen and paper; for some reason it feels a bit like cheating when you use the controller. In addition to the basic copy-sketching, there’s also the option to draw vehicles for your Pet – cars, planes and spacecraft – which then pop out of the paper to become drivable 3D objects. Adults may enjoy these moments as much as their kids do. You could easily spend a couple of hours just messing around with these options, and if you have a puerile mind the entire system is ripe for abuse (not that I’d ever to stoop to such behaviour, of course).

If you’re reading this review there’s a good chance that you’re considering buying the EyePet for a child. If this is the case, it’s important to note that it takes a bit of setting up. The game walks you through everything you need to do with a clear step-by-step guide, but younger kids may still need adult supervision with setting up the camera and clearing enough room to play. In the long term children should be able to run most of the EyePet’s activities themselves, but at the start a bit of supervision will be required while they’re learning what to do.

On the plus side, the EyePet is fun enough that most adults will be happy to play along anyway. Sony has made a considerable effort with the presentation here, using comical videos to lead the player at every step. All these instructions are relayed by The Professor – the friendly boffin who runs the EyePet centre. He’s got a big white lab coat, silly glasses and crazy hair – and he’s played by a very decent character actor. On the whole the videos are rather well done, and you certainly won’t mind sitting through them.

To an extent, the EyePet still has the same problem that the Petz series had, in that its longevity is reliant entirely upon your compassion for an animal that doesn’t really exist. It’s a doll, not a game, and if you get bored of the doll there’s no real reason to stick around. Happily, I’d imagine that most kids will want to play with the EyePet for a fairly long time.

When the original release surfaced at the end of last year, augmented reality was something of a novelty; the wow-factor has inevitably depleted a bit since then, but the EyePet still stands up as a quality toy that should enthral its target audience – assuming, of course, that they didn’t sign up the first time around. Aside from a handful of new toys and the upgraded control scheme, this is a repeat of the first product, so existing EyePet owners should stick with what they’ve got. By the same token, I wouldn’t say this is worth buying a Move for either. If you’re already sold on the technology then this is undoubtedly the best version of EyePet to get, but otherwise save your cash and get the first edition, which is still readily available.