EyeToy: Play featured twelve unique games such as: Beat Freak, Wishi Washi, Kung Fu, Slapstick, Soccer and much more. What made EyeToy: Play such a unique experience was the fact that you get to see yourself on TV while you perform crazy activities. EyeToy: Groove offers another unforgettable experience that’ll have you and your friends cracking up at the silly multiplayer mode until your arms have completely dislocated themselves from your body.

The objective in EyeToy: Groove is simple and easy to learn. Like Dance Dance Revolution, you’ll hit a highlighted object (that is of course timed) on the screen in order to earn points. The more accurate you hit the marker, the more points you’ll receive. Groove has a very impressive soundtrack to offer as well as very solid gameplay. EyeToy: Groove has enough modes to make your head spin. There’s the worthy Solo-groove mode, the fantastic multiplayer mode, the psychedelic Chill-out room, the Dance Move Maker that allows you to create and Groove to your very own dance routines, as well as the Calorie counter, that literally counts how much calories you’ve lost while playing. Due to the bounteous amount of modes sported in EyeToy: Groove, it is expected to be apprehensive as to how well all of those modes are actually crafted together, but EyeToy: Groove flawlessly perfects each mode in every detail, and every way.

Naturally, game developers and designers like to sugar-code things and try to make them sound better then they really are, however, EyeToy: Groove lives up to every aspect permitted by Sony.

The Chill-out room is where you’ll kick back, and do some freestyle moves, while playing with the gorgeous effects. Although EyeToy: Play had a very impressive amount of visual effects to toy around with, EyeToy: Groove has completely redefined the meaning of good visual effects. While you’re playing around with the cool visual effects and listening to music, visual effects simultaneously change to numerous interact able environments that are a load of fun. The Chill-out room may be great, but it can’t compare to the Dance Move Maker. Once the music plays, the screen will display six different markers to hit. Your objective is to sporadically hit each marker creating a dance routine that will be played back as a challenge not only to you, but to your friends as well. The multiplayer mode in EyeToy: Play seemed useless, but Groove has restored all the faith that has faded away with EyeToy: Play. Players now stand side-by-side, as they’ll compete against each other in different objectives.

EyeToy: Play felt more like a novelty then an actual game. Although it was still satisfying to play great mini-games, something bigger would have been nice instead of mini-games. EyeToy: Groove offers a very unique experience that gamers will immediately love. Fans of the ever-popular DDR series may find EyeToy: Groove to be better in most ways, as I do. Although Groove may be a very well done sequel, there are minor issues that keep it from completely destroying its forerunner.

At first you may think that your going to be forced to listen to horrible dance beats that were sported in the early 80’s to late 90‘s, but that’s certainly not the case with EyeToy: Groove. Although there are some “oldies” there’s not nearly as much as you’d expect. You’ll be grooving to the up beat sounds of: FatBoy Slim, The Village People, Jamiroquai, Junior Senior, Modonna, Jessica Simpson, The Jacksons, Liberty X, Good Charlotte, and many more. Most of the time you’ll have to dance to the beat of each word of the song, but in higher difficulty levels, you’ll soon be dancing to every syllable sung in the songs. You’re going to find it easy to fall right into Groove with such catchy songs.  . . . . . .

Sony constantly permits the point of EyeToy, “There is no controller needed, because you are the controller” however, it’s a phrase that must be re-thought through with EyeToy: Groove. Although actions would respond properly in EyeToy: Play, which’s not the case with Groove. Selecting items was as simple as waving your hand in front of the icon, however selecting actions in EyeToy: Groove becomes more of a chore than a “hassle free no controller zone”. If the room is not lit properly, then it will be nearly impossible to get through at least the second menu without using a controller. You have to wave your hand in front of the action you’d like to select, until the sensors recognize your action that you would like for it to perform. By solving this problem with the last EyeToy game, players would simply open up windows to get more light in the house, and simply the problem would be resolved. Now, the combination of windows and light do not go together at all. Although people are most likely to only have one or the other, daylight helps the control very little, if not at all. The best time to play EyeToy: Groove is at night, in a dark room, with only a light on in order to experience the proper lighting, but this is more of a pain than anything. It’s best to use a controller to navigate through the menus; it saves you the hassle and the time. One thing that I found very confusing is that navigating through the menus is hard, but during gameplay, all actions respond very well even with little light. So while your playing, you have nothing to worry about, but it’s best to use a controller while your selecting from the menus. . . . . . . . .

EyeToy is packed with loads of replay for many reasons. The Multiplayer Mode is great, and has enough to make you want to play it over and over again. Also, those of you who are trying to lose weight (low carb diet not working?) you can always play the Calorie Counter mode that definitely is very accurate. Needless to say, the game is fun... and playing through it once won’t be enough to quench your thirst for embarrassing yourself. It’s great to show your friends and watch as they humiliate themselves, as well as with parties. EyeToy and parties go together very well, and this will definitely be the center of attention at your next big event.  .

Although we’ve already had a blast with EyeToy: Play, the fun’s not over yet. EyeToy: Groove offers not only another unique experience, but loads of fun extras. Some flaws may get you down, like unresponsive control, or horrible focusing problems, but nevertheless EyeToy once again delivers. Unfortunately Sony seemed to taint this game with an extra dose of “girly-ness” which adds to the embarrassment, but what would EyeToy be without embarrassment?

Graphics: 6.8 | Sound: 9.0 | Control: 4.6 | Replay: 7.5 | Overall Game Score: 8.0/10