The Eye of Judgement

Grab a playing card and prepare for a monster fight using just a Playstation and skill. The Eye of Judgement is a strategy card data entry game. It’s more user friendly than most and a lot easier to play than the old barcode games from the 1990′s like the Barcode Battler. To play the game, the Playstation Eye Toy webcam scans a specialised barcode from the character cards placed on a mat. The mat is a replica of the one shown onscreen. Obviously as a Playstation 3 (PS3) exclusive we tested the game on the console.  When the characters battle the CGI fights are impressive although unfortunately short. For the most part who wins is down to card placement on the grid. The winner is determined by character points and statistics. Some squares provide positive or negative effects to characters. Sometimes the characters end up just wounded and other times they die and must be removed and replaced with others on the mat.  What shakes things up is the release of additional character cards sold separately. There are now a number of different card types with a much larger variation of possible battles adding a lot of replace value.  The Water Conquest pack adds a large background story to the game and an array of characters. If non-interactive stats games are the sort of thing that sound appealing then Eye of Judgement is worth serious consideration. The graphics are detailed and the game easy to play for novices. But there is a feeling of disappointment when it comes to the overall presentation. Between moves there is no musical accompaniment of merit so an eerie silence covers the room making everything feel as boring as playing an actual board game. If an owner of the original the expansion cards add quite a bit but do not change the basic mechanics of the game. Stake a claim, fight the enemy in Judgement.    Overall Eye of Judgement is a mixed blessing. While it is unique to the format bringing an old idea and making it new again everything is less than it should be. An empty feeling with less than enjoyable points is what most will find. Others who invest in the expansion material will find some content of merit which should have been included in the original research when the game first came out. So if you take up Eye of Judgement is really down to how much you like to invest on a chance title. If you don’t like the original then it’s a lost investment.