Sony has cornered the market on web cam video games. Sorting away the glitz, EyeToy is nothing more than a mediocre computer web camera given some decent software production
values. The kids dig it, though, and Sony's done well to properly capitalize on the emerging market. EyeToy has always doubled well as an excellent party game, too; the Play releases have been full of simple, fast, engaging mini-games that have people up and moving around. It might be difficult to have your mom square off in a few laps of Gran Turismo, but knock down a brick wall with your bare fists in EyeToy Play 2? Well, maybe.
EyeToy Operation Spy is part of Sony's plan to spin EyeToy out of its normal reach through a stealth theme. You basically know what to expect from Operation Spy before you even pop in the disc; instead of collecting a dozen unrelated mini-games, Sony's simply created a bunch mini-games strung together by the idea of spying and infiltration. Loosely, anyway; you'd be hard pressed to figure out what spinning a colored cube around, ala Minority Report, has to do with being Solid Snake, but let's assume English spies are crazy like that. Either way, Sony hasn't become unexpectedly ambitious with Operation Spy.
That's actually the largest disappointment with Operation Spy. There's definitely an opportunity here for someone to come in and create an adventure game that makes use of the EyeToy on a larger scale. Granted, Operation Spy does have a narrative theme, but it's hardly worth writing home about, and most people will be skipping on past. How cool would it be to peak around walls by actually leaning? Or using the EyeToy to take pictures of yourself and create a variety of disguises? Operation Spy proves there's plenty of spy-related mini-games yet to be made, but ripping them out of the context of some kind of story means it's all pretty boring. Certainly, Operation Spy's aimed the younger demographic that might not take as much notice, but at least in this case, it feels like the developers are simply playing down to their audience - or dealing with a small budget.
At least the mini-games featured here are more entertaining than the spy-oriented ones featured in the EyeToy Play series. You're actually thrown into a 3D environment on a number of occasions, i.e. frantically guiding a parachuting character to his landing platform. These are less repetitive than what we've come to expect of EyeToy mini-games, and while zooming around satellite maps and swapping facial features to match criminal drawings aren't exactly the ones you'd pull out during a party, Operation Spy's focus seems to center on enhancing the single-player possibilities of the EyeToy. It's hard to see anyone playing through any of these mini-games more than a handful of times without the incentive for competition or high scores, meaning the replay value drops out quickly.
The bulk of the game is, of course, the mini-games where you're snooping around the room, grabbing items, and interacting with the EyeToy. Another bullet point, however, is that the alarm functions that have simply been carried over from the EyeToy Play games. There are tweaks, updates, and new options available, but the basic setup hasn't changed a lick. Admittedly, having a database of agents who can register on a memory card and log-in through the EyeToy is cool, but most people aren't going to be too comfortable with leaving their machines on for extended periods of time, typically rendering the alarm functions useless. They are, however, really great for playing practical jokes on your inebriated roommates searching the livingroom for the TV remote. While such immature actions are not recommended for the seven-year olds of the world playing Operation Spy, anyone of the right age and a half-crafty mind can come up with a slew of reasons to find humor even within the game's limitations.
Considering Sony's released the EyeToy Play games at a standard $49.99 price point, and Operation Spy's coming out at only $29.99, it's safe to expect less from this latest web cam outing. People who have been keeping up with EyeToy because of it's fantastic party accommodation would be better off waiting for the next release of Play, but younger gamers might get a kick out of the whole wanna-be spy motif.
