Customer Reviews

Eye Pet and Friends

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've got four daughters -- the oldest turns 12 this month, and the youngest is 5. After just a day of playing, they're entranced. I'm just wondering how long that will last.

Great intro video, and nice introduction to the pet, "hatching" it and playing games that require you to use your hands, not the Move controller. That was actually a source of frustration, as the kids wanted to use the controller (we just got them, so the new factor hasn't worn off yet) and had to be coaxed to just use their hands. Once they understood, though, they had a blast. Dress-up is a favorite.

I was frustrated by frequent and sometimes insanely long load times (five minutes, at least, once the two new pets were hatched and the initial interactions complete -- shorter if there's just one new pet being hatched, and shorter between other activities, but still a good minute or two with some regularity, though at least it has humorous load screens). Every time you switch activities, there's a load screen, and with two players they seem to be longer than with one. We've also had it appear to lock up -- no indication it was reading/writing to disk, and no response to controls (even the PS button), but that's only happened once. Still, the load times are a turnoff for a game geared towards kids with short attention spans.

I was also frustrated by the controls at times. For example, another review expressed problems with this too, so I know it's not just us: coloring your pet or its clothes are rather hit-or-miss. You can point the controller at the correct place on the screen, press the button...and nothing happens. Try ten times in a row, and maybe on the tenth try it will work. I can't figure out what the issue is, but persistence appears to be the key here. Some changes are previewed before you make them (color changes) and some apparently are not (hair style/length). The entire dress-up mechanism is likely to be a favorite (if LBP is any indication), yet it's very frustrating for kids, and I hope it's improved.

Worth mentioning is that to start with, you can see a ton of outfit pieces -- but can't try them on. You have to "buy" them with in-game currency you "earn" by playing games. That means the kid who would be content to just play dress-up with her pet and never do anything else will be forced to go try to figure out how do other things with her pet to earn more coins so she can buy more clothes to play dress-up. It's a great strategy in an adult game to get you to explore various gameplay mechanics or options, but I'm not sure I'm fond of it here. I don't want my kids to abandon the game because they can't play with it the way they want unless they do things that don't feel fun. Really, the RPG "grind" isn't necessary in a kids game like this, is it?

And if you haven't tried the EyePet demo, you should try it before you buy. As in the demo, you have to put the camera very low to the floor (within 30 inches, I think they recommend) and tilt it all the way down. You then play on the floor. It would be easier, I think, to have a large coffee table and try to use that as your playing surface -- or, get down and roll around on the floor with your kids (if your back can handle it!). That means you'll be moving your camera, as all other games recommend you have your camera immediately above or below your TV, and ours (like most, I assume) is more than 30 inches off the floor. Just be ready for it.

SUMMARY
A lot of fun, at least at first. Annoying glitches and load times cost it a star or two, but there's a lot of potential here.

We haven't had time to explore everything - there's a fair amount of content here, much of which needs to be unlocked by earning in-game currency, so I can't evaluate it all until we play more. We played this New Year's Day 2012, so if you're reading this a few months later and I haven't followed up with an update, add a comment and I'll followup with some details on longevity.

I just bought this for my kids! I have three children 11 year old son, 5 year old daughter, and a 2 year old daughter. They all LOVE this game! First I need to start off by saying the set up was a pain! Maybe because we were doing it at night and the lighting was not perfect? I'm not sure what the deal was but it took FOREVER for it to locate our floor. After we got past the section of finding the floor the rest was pretty easy. Some of the options were not easy to manage. For example my 5 year old wanted to change the pet's color fur, and some of the options or settings you would pick would not work. Then again some of those things could be that we are just not that used to this system yet. My 2 year old loved petting the animal with her hands, as she's not really old enough to use the controller. Both my 11 year old and 5 year old have been having fun playing games, drawing, dressing and changing the look of the eye pet. I got this game at first because there are not a lot of girl games for the PS3 and I thought this was one my daughter would love. It seems to be a good mix for all ages, and genders. Like I said my son has been having fun, he's been giving the pet a mohawk and such. I enjoyed playing the game myself, and thought it was good wholesome entertainment the family could enjoy. I would recommend this game!

My kids both played, and loved, the first EyePet game. They were excited to receive EyePet & Friends as a present as they always wanted to be able to play together at the same time.

Unforunately, EyePet & Friends has been a HUGE disappointment. The same exact Move setup, with identical bright (or dim) lighting that works for the original EyePet game will NOT work for EyePet & Friends in 2 player mode.

At the beginning of the game, you calibrate the controllers, and then need to scan an egg for health and then it will hatch. In TWO player mode, the health scanners simply do not work. Neither egg can be scanned for health, and the game is just stuck in a loop where the instructions to scan the egg just keep repeating. The game is physically tracking the move controller properly, but it does not activate the actual scanner. However, in ONE player mode, the scanner works immediately and the game proceeds as planned.

This bug has also been reported on the European Playstation offical forums, but this bug has NOT been fixed as of 1/1/2012.

Unfortunately, as the whole point of this game for my kids was to play together in TWO player mode, and this mode simply does not work, I cannot recommend this game at all.

Our twin 8 year old girls love this game! They got it for Christmas, and spent several hours playing it yesterday. Great thing is, they get to play it together. Had a little trouble calibrating at first, since our den is not well-lit. Once I figured that part out, the girls had no trouble figuring the rest out for themselves.

You have to listen to some guy explain everything, pre pare to sit for 30 minutes before actually playing the game. YOu cant draw things because when we select the marker and color nothing happens. STUPID, very frustrating, the guy talks super slow and you cant skip him and to make matters worse the loading screens are also slow. Would be cool if the camera didnt have to be exactly knee hight and if the drawing part worked and if you didint have to waste half your life listing to this guy explain things. plus you have to wake up your dog in an egg at the start and that takes forever. Totally disappointing. The DEMO for the Eye Pet one is better than this game by far.