Wizards of the Coast are quite well known in some circles, one of their card games, Magic The Gathering has been a huge success all over the world making them plenty of money along the way, so it was only a matter of time before games like this made the jump to computer consoles and Eye of Judgment is Sony’s way of making such a card game come to life on their console and I will tell you now that they have done a fantastic job.>>

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Eye of Judgment works by getting the player(s) to place their cards on a specially designed mat, this then allows the Playstation Eye to project the spells / creatures in 3D onto the screen. The box includes the software, the PlayStation Eye, camera stand, playing mat, starter deck and a booster pack, to go off topic slightly it is also worth noting that you can download software such as Eye Create from the Playstation Store for free which can be used with your Playstation Eye.

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Before anyone considers buying this game you must really consider if it is for you, fans of the previously mentioned card games (Magic, Pokemon etc) will take to this straight away, however others may take a while to warm to it. Once you have the game in your hands setting it up is easy, place the mat on a flat surface, build the camera stand and make sure you place the Playstation Eye firmly onto it, you can then configure the cameras best position using the games built in features.>>

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The game works with the PlayStation Eye by scanning the special barcodes on your card and displaying the creatures on the screen and this works very well. As soon as you place a card on the map the recognition takes only seconds and once the card is recognised, a burst of light flashes on screen followed by your summoned creature, the great thing about the whole setup is that it seems to recognise the cards every time without any issues at all. >>

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Before the playing the game it is wise to watch the included tutorials, the main two focus on setting up the game and the rules themselves, while it is not really fun sitting through these it is definitely worth it as otherwise you will be lost, even if you are a fan of similar card games. >>

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The main aim of the game is to occupy five spaces at one time with your creatures on the 3x3 map. Each player begins with a deck of thirty cards and they must battle each other in order to reach the main goal, for every turn you take you will draw a card and receive two mana, once this is done you may then attack or move your creatures, though only if you have enough mana left, once you have completed your actions you will then move onto the next phase, here you may summon one creature at a time which will automatically attack without requiring further mana, once all of these phases are complete the next player takes their turn.

As well as the two player battles which can be played on or offline, Sony have also included quite a few more features such as the Battle Arena, Deck Builder and the Judgment mini-game, some of these features, like the Deck Builder which lets you register a deck for online play are quite essential while others such as the mini-game can quite easily be forgotten about.

Thankfully Eye of Judgment works really well online, one of the main worries about playing online was the possibility of people cheating, however as you must scan every card you want to use beforehand with the Playstation Eye fair play is mandatory whether you like it or not, this is because once your deck is registered the computer will draw for you, meaning that you can’t just pick up another card should you not like the look of the one you have.

Although the background of the game is explained in the manual there is no real story mode in the game (therefore we haven’t rated the game on story), instead you battle the computer in one on one battles, it would perhaps have been more of an incentive to provide some sort of goal for you to work towards, however battling against the computer does provide a fun challenge, it’s just that without the extra incentive you may find that the game only comes out when you want to play online or against friends.

The main problem with Eye of Judgment is that it will only appeal to a certain audience, not everyone is going to want to go out and buy it, however for those that do you wont be disappointed as everything works as it should and it is great fun to see the battles you would otherwise be imagining taking place on the screen in front of you.>>