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In 1993 Wizards of the Coast shared with the world a little game called Magic: The Gathering, giving geeks around the world yet another hobby to obsess over. Since then everyone seems to have tried their hand at latching onto that popularity, and now we have collectable card games based on anything from Bratz to World of Warcraft and even Penny Arcade. If you can think of a topic, they’ve probably made a CCG for it.

WotC’s latest development is Eye of Judgment, a CCG that uses Sony’s PlayStation Eye technology to display the monster or spell depicted on the cards as you play them.

Due to my past interest in other computer card games, we’ve been forced to rate my anticipation for this game on a scale that rivals the universe itself. That being said, I was extremely disappointed that the game did not ship on time. To make matters worse, I was headed out of town the day it was supposed to arrive, and apparently Sony was only able to produce enough units of the game to cover preorders, so I would be unable to cancel my preorder and go to another game store in the area I would be in and pick it up. I had to settle for getting my hands on the game several days after it came out.

However, once I got the game, I was very impressed by the value of the bundle. It came packaged with the game ($60), the PlayStation Eye ($40), a starter deck ($15), a booster pack ($4), a stand for the Eye to set it at the right height and angle, and a cloth game board; basically a $120 value for only $70.

The game itself plays very much like Magic: The Gathering, but one of the major differences is the 3×3 game board. Winning the game means having creatures on 5 of the 9 squares. Each square on the board has an element associated with it: Fire, Earth, Wood, Water, and Biolith. Some of the squares have a “flipside” element, which you can use certain spells to flip the square and it changes the element of the square. Almost all the creatures are based off an element, and gain boosts or negatives depending on whether or not they’re on their own element.

There are several other gameplay situations and rules involved, but since the computer handles the complexities of the game we were able to concentrate on our strategies instead. It makes jumping into the game as a new player a lot easier.

Playing the game, even offline against the computer was a unique experience. The computer prompts you at each step of the turn, keeping the game going smoothly. Once I resolved any lighting issues I had (gotta have even light on the board) the card recognition worked beautifully. There are four command cards that you can use so that once you get familiar with the game, there’s no need to touch the controller, however the controller does provide some extra buttons that have other functions. The most useful is the one that shows the status of all the characters and the elements of the squares.

The graphics bring the game to life. Each character is well modeled and animated, and the spells are a dizzying array of lights. Having a visual representation of the cards is a wonderful idea, and if I had my way, every card game would adopt this concept.

While the graphics functioned to bring the game to life, the sound effects and voice acting are pretty standard fare and rather forgettable. An echoing voice announces each step in the game, and each unit has a couple of sayings they use each time they attack or defend. It’s nothing much to write home about really.

The only sound that stood out to me was the music. After playing a full game against the computer with the music on, I couldn’t navigate to the options menu fast enough to shut it off. Argyle had warned me ahead of time, but I didn’t take him seriously enough. I guess I should listen to him more often on this type of thing. Metal does not go with a fantasy based game; it goes better with Command and Conquer or another such RTS, if it really needs to be used at all.

After a few games against the computer, and finally obtaining a victory — while I caught on how to play easily, it took me a while to actually win a game — I hopped online to try my luck against Argyle.

Of course, nowadays almost every game has an online aspect and EoJ is no different. Once you register a deck you can test your game skills against other players online. The game offers you the ability to either play a ranked or a custom match. If you join a ranked match it immediately pits you against another player. A warning: don’t click it by accident; I did when I was trying to find the option to locate a game Argyle was hosting and it wouldn’t let me back out. I eventually quit the game using the PS3’s built in options and it scored a loss against me.

Argyle had set up a room for me to join, but apparently there is no such thing as a private room. It took me a little while to join Argyle’s room because I had to configure my camera for my new location. I was on the phone with him while I was doing this and I think I heard him turn away about 6 or so people while waiting on me. One of which would *not* leave. Please Sony, add a private room option!

A possible future problem with online play is the ability to copy the cards. While the makers of the game have said its not possible, there are several people saying they’ve done just that. This just reinforces my desire to only play with friends or trusted players. Maybe they’ll be able to patch the system to add additional security for this issue.

The online game between Argyle and I went smoothly, and for the most part gameplay online is indistinguishable from the in-person play. The biggest difference is that the computer actually tells you which card to draw. Which means you have to have enough room to have all your cards laid out and easily accessable. No one wants to have to wait on you to flip through a 30 card deck to find a card. And for the record, Argyle soundly tromped me on our first game.

My biggest problem has been my PlayStation Eye. It has a nasty habit of freezing up during a game, and reseating the USB cable corrects the problem, albeit temporarily. When it freezes up, the image the camera has is either a solid black, or is the last frame the camera took. Once it froze while I was holding the status card up, and kept repeating the status command until I was able to reseat the USB cable. At this time, I’ve only seen one other complaint for this issue, so it doesn’t seem to be completely wide-spread. I’m hoping I can find a way to get this exchanged. Unfortunately, there still seems to be a shortage of the game bundles, so I’m probably going to have a hard time finding a location that can assist me in swapping out the camera.

Despite the above problem, the PlayStation Eye works very well. However, the lighting situation has to be even across the game board or else it will have a hard time picking up the cards. The good thing is that they have plenty of settings that you can apply to the camera to help it read the cards. It may take some tinkering, but it will work in just about any room.

I was most impressed with the microphone attached to the camera. It picks up well and except for the issues with my PlayStation Eye, we carried on a conversation with ease the whole time we were playing. There was little to no feedback, even with us using our sound system speakers for the voice output.

Overall the game is fun and easy to get into. I’d recommend it highly to anyone. If you’re new to the genre it’s easy to pick up and learn. If you’re familiar to CCG games, you’ll find that it has enough nuances to challenge anyone. Add in the fact that you can play online with anyone across the world, this game is a definite must-have.