Think "collectible card game" meets a scan device that can read those cards and supplement a simulated 3D version of the game on your TV--replete with dozens of ritzy battle animations. On a grid composed of nine "fields," players take turns drawing creature or spell cards from a prebuilt deck of 30 and then positioning them in various ways to initiate battle actions.
Most require magical energy or "mana," which automatically increases as rounds tick by. Each space corresponds to a major and minor element (fire, water, earth, wood, and one neutral called "Biolith"), which either help or hinder occupying creatures by augmenting or curtailing their elemental abilities.
Spells like "Fissures of Goghlie" can be employed to "flip" spaces, reversing major and minor elements, something that can benefit a poorly placed allied unit. You'll more often employ it to cripple your opponent's army. While turn time can be adjusted up from one minute to "infinite," games generally resolve quickly--typically in 15-20 minutes--ending when one player successfully occupies five of the game's nine fields.
As a card game, Eye of Judgment doesn't distinguish itself from other more established franchises like Magic the Gathering with its spells and summoned creatures and mana-driven mechanics, relying instead on the Eye to radicalize gameplay.
In the "Battle Arena," placing cards face up on the map automatically triggers the Eye, which reads a quasi-runic 2D barcode on each card to input which unit you've selected, where it's at on the board, and in which direction it's facing.
Intentionally cheesy "Mortal Kombat!"-style voices echo, battles ensue, stagy combat animations play on-screen (these can be disabled for faster turns), annoying heavy metal music grinds or plays up-tempo to complement pacing, and so on. Occasionally special "action" cards can be held up to the Eye (or, in melodramatic game lingo, "offered") to trigger special actions, check a card's status, or end your turn prematurely for strategic purposes.
On a technical note, where the EyeToy required bright ambient or direct light, the Eye can function as well in naturally-lit daytime interiors as indirect nighttime lamplight, though it's crucial that the lighting be even. I tested the game mostly using lamps with average-brightness light bulbs positioned approximately five feet to either side of the battle mat. I only had to readjust a card to get it to scan properly once.
It's impossible to tell how competitive the Eye may eventually be with the Wii in terms of motion detection and camera resolution, but its light sensitivity has clearly been improved over the EyeToy's.
Online play works essentially the same as offline. After registering your deck by scanning in your cards, the computer automatically shuffles and draws for both sides to prevent cheating, though you still position your cards on the board itself.
While Sony claims to be devising a "plan of action" to deal with counterfeiting, i.e., players willing to use high-quality color reproduction technology to fool the camera by printing off cards they don't own, it's not clear how this would work. (Though at just $4 per booster pack, the cost of printing at high-enough resolution on expensive paper may deter would-be thieves).
In any event, the game itself seems cheat-proof thanks to the check-and-balance deck registration system and ironclad process by which turns proceed.