Can novelties be innovative? You wouldn't think so, but lately the most innovative games have come from the simplest of places. Take Sony's EyeToy camera for instance. Most of its games are simple and were made for casual gamers, not the hardcore Grand Theft Auto/Metal Gear Solid crowd. Yet they exemplify new techniques and gameplay directions that, if followed through, could turn into the future of what we spend the most time playing on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.

EyeToy: Operation Spy is another one of those games. It's a complex idea made with complex technology for gamers that don't necessarily want things to be complex. The result is an innovative combination of simplistic enjoyment and painful frustration.

Flail Like You Just Don't Care

Anyone who's used the EyeToy before knows that most of its games require excessive flailing. Operation Spy is even more demanding, asking you to wave, push or press (whatever works best – camera detection isn't perfect) in front of the screen to make things happen. Locating a ruthless thug means holding your hands over arrows. The arrows are attached to a satellite within the game that enables you to scan the world and hunt down criminals. The arrows change the satellite’s direction.

Find the criminal, take your hands off the arrows to stop moving the satellite, and it'll automatically snap several pictures for your comrades. Now you have proof of where the perp is and can go and get him.

That's the most basic, run-of-the-mill mini-game and would bore players to death if that's all there was to the game. Thankfully it's not. During the Operation Spy missions you'll get to match facial features of suspected criminals to identify who the real criminal is. You'll get to solve puzzles, skydive, and set up surveillance for your room, among other cool things. Conceptually this is one of the best EyeToy games available.

Skydiving fascinates me, and even though it's not presented in the most realistic way, the mini-game is a blast. It feels like a blast from the past – like one of those arcade games you'd spend $1 to play for three minutes. Stand up with your arms stretched out as far as they'll go. The on-screen indicator tells you where your arms are hitting, and when it come time to land, it'll tell you where to hold your arms to do it.

That's just the basics. Like the other mini-games this one is easy enough for anyone to play, but it's complex and entertaining enough that even hardcore gamers will get into it.

Skydiving is more than just "falling with style," as Buzz and Woody (of Toy Story, in case you forgot) would say. You need to guide yourself to the landing point, and to that you must have one arm down and one arm up. This makes you start to spin, so you have to switch which arm is up to stop yourself from going off course. It's a little confusing at first, but it works extremely well.

 
Look at me I’m solving a puzzle. (That’s not really me by the way.)

Would You Like To Take a Surveillance?

I don't think humor was a part of the design document for this game, but the alarm system resulted in one of the goofiest ways to taunt your friends. By adding targets (key points on the screen's grid) you can very simply program them to be hot spots for anyone who enters the vicinity of the EyeToy. More specifically it's intended to be an alarm for your room - a way of surprising and scaring away potential prowlers.

And how might one do that, you ask? By recording a brief, five-second video that will shock and surprise your little brother the next time he takes your PSP. First you'll need to align the target so that it matches the location of your PSP. If you can't see your PSP on the screen then you either need to move your EyeToy or your PSP. Once finished with that, create a frightening alarm. Stand in front of the camera and wait for the countdown to finish, then quickly jump toward the screen and yell, "Gotcha!" Then every time your little brother comes within that part of the EyeToy's field of vision (the key point you programmed), your alarm video will kick in, letting him know that he's been caught.

That won't stop most little brothers, big sisters, or anyone else who wants to get a hold of your portables. Mom can't punish Billy if she can't be certain he took it, nor can the police put on the cuffs until they have hard evidence. What to do?

Record them!

-- Intruder Re-enactment --

A small figure walks into the room, eyeing the PSP. It stops and takes a look around. You can never be too safe, not since Toys 'R' Us started selling those toy alarm systems. Kids these days, always trying to act so grown up.

With no signs of a kiddie alarm the figure walks deeper into the room. Its face slowly becomes visible, increasing in brightness as clouds drift away from the moon. The moon had been peaking through the window for a few minutes now, though the boy - I mean small figure -- was too focused on his mission to notice.

He approaches the PSP, reaches out to grab it and -

"Gotcha!"

Startled by this horrifying message, the boy quickly turns around. It's EyeToy! "No, this can't be happening," he mumbles. He approached the PSP again and received the same message. It started to amuse him, so he began to wave his body in front of the EyeToy to get the message to play repeatedly.

"I won't be caught," he insisted, grabbing the EyeToy off the top of the television. He stormed out of the room and ran up stairs. The EyeToy was gone, but it did its job: it distracted him from completing his mission. Hours later the PSP was still sitting on the desk, protected by nothing, while Billy walked away with a smile, feeling like he had gotten away with thievery.

Technically he did, but now the PSP was safe.

---End of Reenactment---

 
Whoa…didn’t see that comin’.

It's Not All Fun And Games

The unfortunate downside to all this greatness is that the technology isn't advanced enough to perfectly execute the many things this game attempts. Multiple mini-games are crammed into each mission – there should've only been one. Now if you beat the first bunch, which are always the easiest, you have to play through them all over again when you're nailed by the final mini-game of that particular mission. That happened to me a lot. There are no continues, no extra tries – when you lose, it's back to the beginning of the mission.

EyeToy: Operation Spy is a great concept, but at times it can be really frustrating. Nothing sucks more than using a broken controller. I've never had a Sony controller fail on me. I used my PSone controllers to death and have tossed around my Dual Shock 2 controllers and they work fine. But EyeToy games – which run on new, imperfect technology – are not as reliable. Operation Spy had me waving my hand in the same spot repeatedly to get the game to work. Other times it detected my hand's presence immediately. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how this thing worked. Either it works or it doesn't. That's when the replay value begins to suffer.

Gameplay: 7.3
A collection of mini-games for you to flail at, EyeToy: Operation Spy merges the idea of being a spy with the idea of being a guy who can’t sit still. If it sounds amusing that’s because it is. This is not a game of sophisticated espionage but it is a clever, innovative game that will entertain anyone who has an EyeToy when they’re not being frustrated to death by its limited technology.

Graphics: 6.9
Other than the image of yourself, not much is projected onto the screen. Mostly menus, simple animations, and the most basic of 3D graphics. There’s a lot that could have been done to make this a better-looking game. The picture quality is better than most. You won’t find any pixelation, but I was unable get a perfectly sharp image. Adjusting the lens and re-focusing didn’t improve the picture much.

Sound: 6.5
There isn’t much to the sound either. This game is all about you, getting players to feel like they’re in the game. It does that well, but it does it without much background noise (not enough music, not enough subtle sound effects, etc.). The voice acting is good, but I didn’t care for the way they described missions. The smug tone got old after the first mission.

Difficulty: Medium
It’s not as easy to flail as you’d think. It’s not as wimpy as expected either. This might sound ridiculous, but my arms were sore after the first few minutes. It took time to get used to holding them outward, which can only mean one thing: I need to get back into shape. My New Year’s resolution is to flail every single day starting January 1st, 2006.

Concept: 9.0
A great idea with a ton of potential for future iterations, EyeToy: Operation Spy is the first video game to attempt live surveillance. The results are far from perfect, but the idea and the way in which they tried to execute those ideas is excellent. Mini-games instead of one full game – that’s a tough decision for any developer to make. Again it’s the way they’re executed is what makes them memorable. You may not love this game but you won’t forget it anytime soon.

Overall: 7.0
Geared at the mainstream, EyeToy: Operation Spy is not as intense or as challenging as it could’ve been. That said, this $30 package is a good one. It makes great use of the EyeToy camera with a series of mini-games that relate to your character’s work. Solving these puzzles, frantically moving your hands across the screen to change direction while skydiving, to input a code or solve a puzzle – whether difficult or easy the fun factor is pretty high.

Unfortunately for gamers this is new and unperfected technology and does respond as wonderfully as a game controller. There are times when you’ll be reaching out and the EyeToy won’t detect the movement. You can adjust the camera all you want and move things around your room and its technical limitations will still be a problem. There’s no cure for that.