Long before the Wii Motion Plus, Project Natal or Sony’s forthcoming Motion Controller, there was the simple and humble little PS2 EyeToy. The EyeToy was a quirky novel little peripheral and along with the likes of SingStar Microphones and Buzz Controllers, the PS2 tapped into family incentives and the fun, friendly ‘everyone around the TV at once’ market. EyeToy enjoyed some considerable successes and with a new Sony Console in PS3, the Eyetoy was revised to become the Playstation Eye.

The Playstation Eye has not enjoyed the same kind of successes the EyeToy has. Yes, you can take pictures of yourself in Burnout Paradise or SingStar Take That, or fight monsters and play cards in Eye of Judgement but after that, the peripheral is essentially an unnecessary purchase. It is only now that Sony is beginning to harness the potential of this hardware and how it can compliment its software range. Que, a little furry creature who’s as cute as a button and wants to be your new best friend. This is the Playstation Eye and this is its EyePet.

You can’t help but love this little guy. Eyepet is whatever you want him to be. He’s a little furry monkey, dog, cat hybrid thing that’s gorgeous, loveable and appropriately rendered with sugar, spice and all things nice.

The game allows you to hatch and essentially raise, interact and play with your own EyePet and the game relies almost entirely on interactivity through the Playstation Eye camera.  You begin in a kind of tutorial mode where an annoying as hell professor type guy takes you through the steps of setting up the PS Eye and the environment in your living room or bedroom for where your Eyepet will running around.

Your pet will then need your help to ‘hatch’ before you give him his own name and identity essentially. It’s all very cute, cuddly and cartoony, while all the way interacting with the camera to help your pet take his first step. It is quite novel and its very fun. EyePet is beautifully rendered and he runs and jumps full of the joys of this world and is very enthused by what’s going on around him i.e. you waving your arms, petting him, coaxing him to chase your hand or jump around and play with him

The PS Eye is a sensitive piece of kit. You cant just pop in the EyePet and start playing; you need the perfect balance of light and physical space to play with your pet just right. Without this, your pet will not be able to pick up on certain gestures and physical movements and this can become quite frustrating. Initially, We found the pet to be a little slow to react to me, however simply plugging in a lamp next to the TV made a world of difference and EyePet literally became 100% reactive to my every move and physical signals. The game is packaged with a plastic ‘Magic Card’ and this is used to make objects such as trampolines, X-ray machines or bottles of shampoo appear on screen for your Pet to interact with. It’s a nice little touch that immerses you in the relationship you have with your pet just that little bit more.

So what can you do with Eyepet other than just immersing yourself in his cuteness? Well, apart from ensuring you keep your pet well fed, cleaned and active, there is a 15 day programme in the game which provides you with different challenges for you to undertake with your pet. Completing these challenges rewards you with new toys and objects for your pet as well as a plethora of customisable clothing and physical looks for your pet. The customisation features are thorough and im sure will be expanded with DLC.

The more you play EyePet the more you realize that this is a game that’s really aimed at children and pre-teens. And there’s plenty here to keep them entertained. You can draw items and hold them up to the camera and make your drawings come to live for your pet to play with. It’s actually a really nice touch and expands into challenges and programmes which has your pet playing with cars and robots and even flying around in a toy airplane in the clouds. SCEE London, to their credit, are actually trying to get children to use their imagination and this really shines through. It’s not all just bouncing on trampolines, playing with balloons and going EyePet bowling.

All in all, SCEE London have put together a really smart title and it shows off the functionality of the PS Eye really well. However, you can’t help but feel and hope that there’s more to the PS Eye. Sony’s Motion Controller and it’s reliance on the PS Eye will be crucial into getting the peripheral into your living rooms. EyePet is a good start all the same, even if it’s for kids who don’t really know what Modern Warfare 2 or Tekken 6 is. In the run up to Christmas this would make a really great present to keep the kids content and stimulated for the duration of the festive season and beyond.

But if your a big kid at heart like me  then  you will find yourself  immersed in the world of eyepet with a passion.